Wildcats offense stagnant against No. 5 Bulldogs in 14-3 loss at home
LEXINGTON, Ky. (BVM) — Going into this season, Wildcat fans were optimistic. Senior quarterback Terry Wilson was finally healthy again. The offensive line looked as strong as ever in program history. The energy was there and it seemed the team was ready to roll. Since then, not much of the early hope has come to fruition. Instead, a stagnant offense and questionable play calling has led to a frustrating 2-3 record.
Saturday was another classic performance from the 2020 University of Kentucky football team. The Wildcats (2-3), who took on the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs (3-1) at home, struggled offensively, yet were kept in the game by their defense. Such has been the story so far this season.
The Wildcats fell to the Bulldogs 14-3, and will look to improve during their bye week.
The Wildcats were not faced with an easy task in the first start of the young career of sophomore quarterback and Auburn transfer Joey Gatewood. As one of the top five teams in the country, the Georgia Bulldogs were bringing one of the best defenses in the nation to Lexington.
Throughout the game, the offensive load was placed on the capable shoulders of running back Chris Rodriguez Jr. and the offensive line. Rodriguez rushed for a total of 108 yards on 20 attempts, breaking off a long of 23 yards. Rodriguez, known for his power, began the season behind Kavosiey Smoke on the depth chart. Smoke has been out for the past couple of weeks due to a rib injury and Rodriguez has produced since then. Saturday was the second time Rodriguez collected 100 yards on the ground this season and the fourth time he has done it in career. Yet, like the rest of the offense, he was kept out of the endzone.
The rushing game, despite the lack of scoring, is a bright spot in the Wildcats’ offense. The air attack has struggled mightily this year, with only four touchdowns through the air in six games. With Terry Wilson not practicing for multiple days leading up to the game, Joey Gatewood was poised to take over.
However, the highly touted transfer only managed 91 yards on 15/25 passing with no interceptions.
“Overall he did some good things. I think there’s a lot to build on,” said Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops following the game.
Stoops was also asked about the deep passing attack, which did not seem to be part of the game plan for the Wildcats on Saturday.
“We had [plays] called down the field to try to hit some verticals, try to hit some slants, try to hit some big plays that [Georgia] took away. So it’s not like we didn’t have those plays called. We did. We need to create them. We need to make some plays down the field, obviously, and we definitely were working at that today. It didn’t always show up with the balls getting down there, getting down the field,” Stoops said. “I think that was the big difference in the game, obviously, our inability to create big plays.”
Wildcat fans are starting to get restless. Offensive coordinator Eddie Gran has taken much of the heat and those within the program are aware of the problems the offense has had.
“We have to create explosive plays in the pass game and we got to be creative,” Stoops said. “We do have to take more shots. I mean, Eddie knows that. Eddie’s been hard on himself.”
The postgame press conference seemed to indicate the Wildcats did in fact have the deep plays called. The run game was clearly working, but long passes simply did not connect. When Joey Gatewood was asked the key to finding more explosive plays, he said “We need to execute whatever play is called.”
As the Wildcats head into their bye week, Stoops said he is unsure who will be the starter in the next game against Vanderbilt.
Despite the lackluster effort from the offense, who only managed three total points, the defense once again played well. They forced two more interceptions, bringing that total to 11 on the year.
Ultimately, Stoops said he was proud of his team.
“They have really worked exceptionally hard,” Stoops said. “The guys were extremely energetic on the sidelines, pulling for each other, played extremely hard, played very physical. There’s things we have to do better but that was a great effort and I appreciate that.”
But, as everyone knows, there’s more to football than just being proud of your performance. According to Stoops, “we’re way beyond any kind of moral wins and losses. I mean believe me, we’re practicing and playing to win.”
