UK to Count on Improving Defense against Mizzou
Kentucky’s defense had a lot to live up to this season.
The Wildcats fielded one of the best units in America in 2018. Headlined by Josh Allen, Jordan Jones and a secondary full of seniors, Kentucky’s defense was consistently outstanding and often dominant.
Now, all those seniors are gone. In their absence, their successors have begun to find a rhythm.
“The way the defense is improving, certain guys are improving,” Mark Stoops said. “That is very good to see. I feel like there were some inconsistencies at times this year with our standards as far as how hard we play. I think these guys are understanding that, playing very hard and playing more and more confident, and so I’m pleased with that progress.”
In each of UK’s last four games, its defense has allowed fewer total yards than its previous outing. Kentucky yielded a season-high 438 yards in a loss to Florida on Sept. 14, but just 270 on the road against a top-10 Georgia team last weekend.
“They played hard,” first-year defensive coordinator Brad White said. “That’s what we’ve told these guys, we’ve preached. We want them to play hard. We want them to play physical, and they did that.”
Relying on that physical play, UK held Georgia scoreless for the first two-and-a-half quarters last weekend until D’Andre Swift took advantage of a short field and busted a 39-yard touchdown run. The Bulldogs would add two more scores, due in part to mistakes the Cats are working this week to clean up, but UK’s improvement on defense is unmistakable.
“I think we’ve grown up,” Boogie Watson said. “People like myself and the front seven on defense, we’re supposed to be the guys on defense. We’re starting to produce like we’re supposed to and it’s helping everybody out.”
The pressure will be on that front seven again this weekend with Missouri (5-2, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) coming to town at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Tigers are averaging 35.3 points per game behind Clemson transfer quarterback Kelly Bryant and had not been held under 31 until a loss at Vanderbilt last weekend.
“It’s going to be difficult,” Stoops said. “It is what it is. Our guys understand that. So it’s just a new challenge, it’s the challenge of the week and Kelly’s had a really good year and can make all the throws, he can certainly hurt you with the run game. They have some designed Q run game as well that puts a lot of pressure on you with as well as they throw the ball and how fast is their receivers are.”
Mizzou features a balanced attack, averaging 255.6 yards per game through the air and 192.9 on the ground. That passing game could be limited by a forecast that looks about as rainy as the weather that UK played in at Georgia last week. As of Thursday morning, WKYT’s Chris Bailey is calling for one to three inches of rain this weekend, with totals potentially exceed four inches in some areas of central Kentucky.
That might not sound all that pleasant to you, but the UK defense doesn’t mind the rain one bit.
“If it rains, that kind of makes them run the ball,” Watson said. “Kind of like last week. We can be physical up front, so it’ll be a slugfest. I think that’s what we want.”
UK is dealing with injury entering that slugfest, as linebacker Kash Daniel left the Georgia game and did not return while outside linebackers Josh Paschal and Jordan Wright are also dinged up. That could mean the first action for a couple true freshmen in Jared Casey and J.J. Weaver.
“You get to this point in an SEC grind, you’re going to have bumps and bruises and nicks,” White said. “This is that point when some younger guys are going to have to step up.”
It’s a good thing stepping up has been a theme for the UK defense of late.
“If we keep that mentality for the second part of the season and continue to improve, I like our chances,” Stoops said.
