Kentucky lost a hard fault game to the Louisville Cardinals yesterday 27-13. Kentucky has made drastic improvements over the last 3 weeks, and should have plenty of time to get better before Florida comes to town Sept. 28.
************************************************Positives**********************************************************
Kentucky’s defense played a lot better yesterday with Avery Williamson leading the way with 15 tackles. Bud Dupree added 8 tackles and Kentucky held Teddy Bridgewater to 250 yards passing. Kentucky’s young secondary played as well as they have played all year. If Kentucky can keep improving the way they have over the last three weeks, they will pull an upset at some point this season.
Penalties
Kentucky was much more disciplined yesterday only committing 4 penalties for 34 yards. Last week Kentucky was over 100 penalty yards.
Javess Blue
Javess Blue continues to be impressive. The junior caught 4 passes for 58 yards, and returned 5 kickoffs for 134 yards.
Ryan Timmons
Timmons caught 3 passes for 72 yards, and carried the ball 2 times for 13 yards.
Jojo Kemp
Jojo Kemp had arguably his best game as a Wildcat totaling 80 yards rushing on just five carries. Kemp had a long run of 47 yards, one he nearly broke for a touchdown. Coach Stoops said in his post-game press conference that Kemp is going to have to play more.
Jason Hatcher
Jason Hatcher is getting better every week. Hatcher only had 4 tackles yesterday, but he was very disruptive on the defensive side of the ball causing Louisville a lot of problems.
**************************************************Negatives*********************************************************
Quarterbacks
Kentucky quarterbacks Max Smith and Jalen Whitlow struggled to find any rhythm throwing the football yesterday. Smith finished the game 9-20 passing for 109 yards. This is not the quarterback we have seen the past two games. For Kentucky to compete in the SEC, the quarterbacks have to play better than they did against Louisville. I know the receivers dropped passes that should have been caught, but Smith and Whitlow both made some bad throws. Whitlow finished the game 8-17 for 105 yards with an interception and a touchdown. Smith did go out with an injury in the second half and as of right now we don’t know the severity of the injury, but Max said after the game that he would be able to go against Florida in two weeks.
Kentucky has two weeks to prepare for the Florida Gators, another top 25 team. The schedule the next few weeks for Kentucky is brutal as they host Florida Sept. 28, then travel to South Carolina October 5, before returning home to host #1 Alabama on October 12.
Here are highlights of the Kentucky-Louisville game.
