Motivation Aplenty for Cats, Dogs after Losses
Kentucky emptied its tank against Florida last weekend.
The Wildcats spent the ensuing week making sure they are refueled and ready to go for another important Southeastern Conference tilt on Saturday.
“With this, moving on to Mississippi State, we don’t have much time to dwell on it,” Mark Stoops said. “It’s next man up, next battle, next punch, next time to get another opportunity against a quality team on the road.”
Indeed, Kentucky will hit the road for the first time this season after playing its first three games at Kroger Field. The Wildcats are headed to take on the Bulldogs – the SEC West foe they face annually – at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium.
Of course, the venue for Saturday’s game presents unique challenges, as Mississippi State fans will be ringing those infamous cowbells at every opportunity. In practice this week, UK has piped in noise to simulate the environment.
“It’s louder than it would ever be anywhere,” Eddie Gran said. “It really forces them to concentrate, lock in and I thought they did a heck of a job.”
Pre-snap communication will be important, but that’s still secondary to post-snap execution against a Bulldog team that on paper is eerily similar to Kentucky. Both squads defeated nonconference opponents in their first two games by scoring 38 points in each before losing fourth-quarter leads against quality opponents in their third outings.
Adding to the similarities, UK is outscoring opponents by an average of 32.3-23.3, State by an average of 33.3-24.7. The Cats have picked up 72 first downs and given up 60, while the Bulldogs have picked up 71 and yielded 61.
Both teams are built from the inside out, boasting strong offensive and defensive fronts, while injury has struck at the quarterback position. Penn State transfer Tommy Stevens began the season as State’s starter, but a shoulder injury has forced him out of the last two games and been replaced by true freshman Garrett Shrader.
“There’s really not much difference in what they do and how they call plays, how they run the offense,” Stoops said. “There’s really not much difference at all. Both of them are very effective at running the Q (quarterback) run game that they like to do. Both of them are throwing the ball well. It’s set up off of their power run game. Not much has changed.”
For Kentucky, Sawyer Smith has stepped in after a season-ending injury to Terry Wilson. Smith was impressive in his starting debut last weekend in accounting for three touchdowns.
“I knew my game going into the game,” Smith said. “I knew what I could do and I knew what I couldn’t do. I knew what I’m best at and I knew what I wasn’t as good at. We went out there, we executed a lot on third down. That was good. If we can do that, we’ll have a good season.”
Smith’s task this week will be to address the four turnovers he committed. One came on a desperation heave as time expired and another was the result of a miscommunication, but the others were due to Smith’s own decision-making. The good news, however, is Smith bounced back immediately.
“I was very proud of him,” Gran said. “… The couple things that he did wrong, he came back and he showed a lot of courage and I thought he battled. I was really proud of the kid.”
Now, Smith will take a UK offense that has consistently moved the ball all season to Starkville, Mississippi, to contend with State’s characteristically big and physical defensive front. The Cats will also need to be on the lookout for Brian Cole II, who leads the Bulldogs in tackles for loss (5.5) and sacks (2.0) from his safety position.
“He’s really good,” Gran said. “He’s active. He reminds me a lot of Mike Edwards. He’s shifty and he’ll make you miss. You gotta know where he’s at.”
The value of a veteran safety has never been clearer than last week, when UK lost starter Yusuf Corker to a first-half targeting penalty and backup Taj Dodson later to an injury. Florida capitalized and scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns on a thin UK secondary. Thankfully, Corker will return Saturday.
“That’s behind us,” Brad White said. “We gotta find a way to stop this really powerful, rugged, physical running game. It’s going to be a big, physical fight up front between our d-line and their o-line leaning on each other, our linebackers trying to tackle.”
Run defense, as expected, has been a strength of this UK team through three games. Take away a 76-yard touchdown Florida scored on an end-around against a zero run blitz and the Cats have allowed just 3.4 yards per carry on the season.
Mississippi State’s Kylin Hill, who is third nationally and first in the SEC with 431 rushing yards, will prestent the sternest test to date.
“Kylin Hill is a terrific back,” White said. “Arguably the best one we’ve seen. He’s got great vision, great patience and then can go from zero to 60 in a heartbeat.”
Hill was held to a season low in yards and yards per carry and kept out of the end zone for the first time in 2019 in that loss to Kansas State, so he won’t be lacking in motivation. That figures to be a theme Saturday.
“They’re going to be spitting snot bubbles,” Gran said. “They lost a game, we lost a game and it’s going to be a heck of a deal. There’s nothing like it, going on the road. It’s our first one and we gotta get this crud out of our mouth.”
