It took a lot going wrong for Kentucky to knock off Florida on Saturday.
The Wildcats aren’t bad or even mediocre, but they’re not as good as the 2018 team that ended the streak and finished with ten wins after a bowl victory. This year’s outfit might get to ten in the regular season because they’re already halfway there at 5-0 with winnable contests against Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vandy, New Mexico State, and Louisville still to go. Heck, no one would bat an eye if they beat LSU at home this week with how things are going in Baton Rouge right now.
But, that’s why we don’t judge teams solely on win counts alone. I’d take the ’18 UK team over this year’s by a touchdown or two. That fact makes Saturday’s loss that much more infuriating, but let’s hold on that for a sec.
The offensive line played its worst game of the season by a mile. Richard Gouraige might be the only individual player who didn’t have his worst game, and to wit he was the only guy not to earn a flag. All four other linemen got at least one false start, and Ethan White and Kingsley Eguakun each had holds on top of them.
Eguakun especially had a rough night. He had his flags and missed blocks, but miscues with snapping the ball on time led to other guys getting false starts. It was his first time in a loud environment, and these kinds of mental mistakes can snowball if a guy just gets off his rhythm too much.
Malik Davis had his lowest rushing average on the year and had his own false start. Emory Jones ended his two-game streak of not putting the ball in danger with passes. The edge blocking from receivers and tight ends wasn’t up to par compared to what they’ve done earlier this year.
Florida won time of possession by more than 15 minutes. The Gators held the ball an entire quarter’s worth of time more than Kentucky did. They ran 71 plays to UK’s 47. They should’ve been able to wear out the Wildcat defense and pull out the win, but four of the team’s six second-half drives suffered due to offensive line penalties in key spots. One of the two that didn’t had such a flag ended after Jones’s pick on the second play.
UK couldn’t consistently sustain drives, so it took three big negative plays against Florida to get Big Blue some points. Kentucky’s first or second-best offensive player, Wan’Dale Robinson, made a terrific play on a terrifically designed screen for a 41-yard TD. Then, the Wildcats returned a blocked field goal for a score. How many field goals get blocked, and how many of those get returned for touchdowns? Exactly. And then, the ‘Cats cashed in the short field after the interception for their final score. If Florida punted on 2nd & 14 instead of calling a pass, the game probably goes to overtime tied at 13.
So yeah, it took a lot of bad stuff happening to make this outcome what it was.
I haven’t even gotten into the game plan, which was half-good. The defense played about as well as it’s capable of doing without Kaiir Elam available. They got three stops on 3rd or 4th & short and also turned the Wildcats over. UK had only one drive longer than 47 yards, and it took at 41-yard touchdown to make it happen. I’d have liked to see better angles and tackling attempts on that screen, but one truly bad play out of 47 is a good percentage.
But on offense? Almost every decision in the situation in which it was made was defensible to some degree, but Dan Mullen did a lot of missing the forest for the trees.
The offense moved the ball best when it moved it through the air, but Mullen didn’t stick with the passing game as much as he should have. Jones looks the most comfortable when throwing on the move, and him getting out of the pocket more would’ve made things easier for the struggling line. There wasn’t much of that, though, and the air game was mostly short and safe stuff.
I do have a little, limited sympathy for Mullen here. It’s hard to call a cohesive game when the offense is getting flagged once every six or seven plays. He’s also boxed in with Jones; downfield passing would loosen things up, but Jones stares down his receivers so much that it’s also exceptionally dangerous when it’s not a 50-50 ball to a tall guy on the sideline. Plus, he had the touchdown play on 1st & Goal at the end but Jacob Copeland slipped while making a move and put his knee on the ground.
Jones is the biggest issue. He stared down Kemore Gamble on the pick, making it painfully easy for J.J. Weaver to jump the route, and he stared down Trent Whittemore on the Gators’ final play. He’s exactly what I said he was three weeks ago: a great runner who’s never going to be even an above-average passer, and those kinds of guys can no longer be a difference-maker. They could in 2007, but not today.
It all comes back to Mullen, of course, which is why my sympathy is limited. He makes the game plans. He supervises the assistants who put a frazzled offensive line on the field and didn’t feed the hot hand at running back. He, more than anyone, is responsible for the development of Jones. If Jones is not going to cut it as a passer against good defenses, then Mullen needs to get someone else ready. Yet, he coached the someone else like he’s even more afraid of him throwing than he is with Jones.
Regardless, no one should come away from that game thinking Kentucky is the better team. They’re not. Florida is clearly better, but it played its worst game of the season. UK played one of its better ones, and there is a spot on the intersecting bell curves where UK’s B- game can beat Florida’s D+ game. So it goes.