Allen, UK Defense Take a Turn in the Spotlight
Benny Snell Jr. and Josh Allen – the two players for whom Kentucky launched award campaigns this week – have a friendly competition going on.
The record-setting junior running back and dynamic pass-rushing senior linebacker compare Snell’s touchdowns to Allen’s sacks.
Snell had a 7-3 lead entering Saturday, but Allen made up some serious ground vs. South Carolina.
“It’s amazing,” Snell said of his defensive counterpart. “It’s amazing I get to see and watch what he does. He’s so great on that defensive side. He always tells me, ‘I’m going to match you. I’m going to match you.’ He outmatched me today.”
Indeed, Allen had three sacks to Snell’s one rushing touchdown. The totals were reflective of the night in general for UK, as the Wildcats used a staunch defensive effort to hold on to a big early lead in a 24-10 victory that sent them to 5-0, their first unbeaten start through five games since 2007.
“I thought our defense did an exceptional job of limiting big plays,” Mark Stoops said. “We were able to play one short in the run game most of the night to put hands on and be able to protect us a little bit better, more than we normally would in coverage, and that’s why you saw some rush yards early and got a little soft in there at times, but we were trying to limit explosive plays.”
As soon as he began preparing for South Carolina, Stoops was immediately wary of the Gamecocks’ big-play ability. UK allowed one 58-yard touchdown to the dangerous Deebo Samuel on pass that was nearly intercepted, but allowed only two other plays of 20 yards or more in holding South Carolina to 321 total yards and just 4.7 yards per play.
It was actually UK’s defense rather than South Carolina’s offense that made its living on big plays. The Cats forced four turnovers – three interceptions of Jake Bentley and a fumble Jordan Jones both forced and recovered on an impressive first-quarter tackle in the backfield to set up a field goal. Jones was acting on a tip from fellow linebacker Kash Daniel, who told him about a friend in the NFL who described the technique of punching the ball out mid-tackle.
“I just gave it a try,” Jones said. “One for one.”
Then there was Allen.
Held without a sack in the first half, Allen was dealing with double teams and chips from South Carolina running backs. In the second half, he adjusted. And when he saw one-on-one matchups, he didn’t waste the opportunity.
“I know what’s going to happen now,” said Allen, who had eight tackles — four going for loss — a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry. “I still have to play football. I still have to make plays. I still have to do my job, so I can’t make that an excuse. That’s where I feel like I’ve grown from last year.”
Allen’s growth after bypassing the NFL Draft has turned him into a bona fide star. In fact, his head coach says Allen compares favorably with any edge rusher he’s previously coached. That’s heady praise, considering how many high-level players Stoops has coached.
Stoops does have one complaint about coaching Allen though: His combination of pass-rushing skills and coverage ability creates a play-calling dilemma.
“He’s really a dominant player and he’s exceptional on his feet as well,” Stoops said. “Yeah, half the time I do want to look at, wonder why in the world I’m dropping him sometimes because he’s not blockable. But he’s dang good in coverage as well.”
Wherever Allen ends up on any given play, he’s an impact player. He was crucial to UK closing out yet another SEC win, which in the past would have been cause for a raucous celebration. But on Saturday, the Wildcat locker room was far tamer.
“It did feel a little different in there,” Stoops said. “Because they, we truly expect to do that. And, honestly, I think we all feel a little like we left a lot out there.”
That’s a strong statement considering UK had just beaten an SEC opponent by a fairly comfortable margin, but it’s reality right now for the Cats. As well as they might have played in one of the memorable months of September in program history, they still see brighter days ahead.
“It just means that we’re not playing at our best,” Jones said. “You guys still haven’t seen our best yet. You guys have seen some good parts of us, but there’s still a lot of things we’re going to go over on film and get cleaned up. It’s just going to make us even better.”
