The Kentucky Wildcats used a power run game to finally get enough distance from a pesky Central Michigan team for a 35-20 season opening win.
Benny Snell Jr rushed for 125 yards and 2 touchdowns and A.J. Rose gained 104 yards and also scored twice as they led the Wildcats to 299 yards on the ground.
The running game overcame a shaky passing game from Terry Wilson (11-18, 2 INTs) and Gunnar Hoak (4-9, 1 TD) that head coach Mark Stoops thought the quarterback play wasn’t that bad for a couple of guys that are really young.
“You know, I think early on, you know, I think we could do a better job of putting a little bit of pressure on Terry, and a lot of those plays are reads. And we’ll look into that, try to put him into a situation to get him comfortable and get him started. And I was really proud of the way Gunnar came in — I just mentioned that to the team — because the quarterback battles are always so public. And a lot of these guys that are young players, maybe redshirt a year ago are freshmen now, and they come in here and they’re used to be a superstar, and we have a lot of good players now. And so when they don’t get their opportunity, I use that as a great example, because Gunnar, when we sat in my office and we went through that, I talked about being prepared and when he gets his opportunity, show what he can do. And what a moment to come in there when we’re losing in the first half, and I think it was 55 seconds and drive us down and score a touchdown, said an awful lot about Gunnar and his character and his ability, and I was really proud for him. And it was good. Then Terry coming back in, settling down, playing much better in the second half. Good effort overall by the team.”
Take a look at the stats from today’s game:
