UK Handles Business, Beats Murray State
Zy’Aire Hughes might only be a redshirt freshman, but he knows Kentucky football.
Growing up in Paducah, Kentucky, Hughes remembers watching games like Saturday’s – against a nonconference opponent with the Wildcats favored heavily – and seeing UK struggle.
“Our team is a little different now,” Hughes said. “I remember back my freshman year and my sophomore year (in high school), we would look at Murray State and think we have them beat and then go out there and be in a game with them.”
No such thing would happen this time.
UK drove 91 yards on the game’s opening possession, with Terry Wilson capping it off with a 42-yard scramble, en route to a 48-10 victory over visiting Murray State. With the win – UK’s most lopsided since 2015 – the Wildcats moved to 3-0 on the season.
“I was pleased with our effort today,” Mark Stoops said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of good things out there. You could see the strength of our team and our depth. Obviously, you know, it’s going to pay off when you face a team like Murray. I really credit Murray, for their coaching, the way they played. They’re a quality football team, they played exceptionally hard. I just thought with our strength and experience and depth, it wore them down.”
UK’s lead was a comfortable 17-3 at halftime, but the Cats would really create some separation immediately after the break. The defense forced three consecutive three-and-outs and the offense scored 17 third-quarter points, meaning the starters didn’t even have to play the fourth quarter.
“Definitely a good day,” said Benny Snell Jr., who ran for 75 yards and a touchdown. “You can always get better. I expect a lot out of the team, to jump on opponents like this early. It’s always about how you start. It doesn’t matter the level of competition. You always gotta bring that fire when you come out.”
Snell made his last play of the day count, as he lined up in the Wildcat formation on second down from the Murray State 43. He pitched forward to a Wilson on an end around, who lateraled to Hughes. Hughes sprinted 43 yards to give Snell his first career touchdown pass.
“I thought it was going to be mine,” said Wilson, who completed 19-of-25 passes for 163 yards and ran for 80 yards. “He was talking about that on the sideline. He was like, ‘Yeah, that was my touchdown, Terry.’ I was like, ‘You can have it.’ But it’s good, man. We scored, so I’m glad.”
Wilson was hardly alone in feeling that way. Hughes’ touchdown was celebrated wildly on the UK sideline, with no one wilder than Lynn Bowden Jr.
“Crazy. Crazy,” said Bowden, who caught eight passes for 89 yards. “I lost my helmet, my hair cap. I lost everything.”
Hughes was the first of three freshmen who scored UK’s final three touchdowns, with Allen Dailey and Danny Clark to follow.
“It’s great to see those guys go out there because sometimes in practice they don’t get all the reps,” Wilson said. “I was really glad to see those guys go out there and do big things. I was cheering them up and stuff like that. That’s huge.”
On defense, even more youngsters saw significant time. In fact, on Murray State’s final drive, 10 of the 11 players on the field were freshmen, with the exception of junior Tymere Dubose.
“There’s no replacing game reps,” Stoops said. “And we have a few seniors on this team and so we’ve got to get some guys ready to go for the future as well. So we got to get them some experience and get them playing and we got some talent there.”
That bodes well for the future, but UK’s present doesn’t look too bad either. The Cats are unbeaten heading into a crucial three-week stretch that begins with a home game next Saturday against No. 16 Mississippi State.
“We’re pleased with where we’re at and, you know, we’re excited to get back to work here for this week,” Stoops said. “We really are. It’s going to be a great opportunity, and we’ll be excited and ready.”
You can count on that.
“Nothing’s going to change,” Snell said. “We’re going to take it game by game, opponent by opponent and we’re going to bring that fire. We know what we can do. We know what Kentucky football is. It’s all about coming out early, offense doing our job, defense doing a great job on their end getting stops, us getting movement on the O-line and we’re going to do us. We’re ready.”
