Photo: Regina Rickert
Kentucky ended a 17 game SEC losing streak Saturday by beating Vanderbilt 17-7. Kentucky is now 3-1 on the season, the first time UK has started a season 3-1 since 2010.
**THE GOOD**
Kentucky’s defense played as good a game as I’ve seen them play in the last five or six seasons. UK held Vanderbilt to just 139 yards of total offense, the fewest yards allowed in an SEC game since holding Vandy to 91 total yards in 1996.
Kentucky picked off three passes and now has six interceptions in 2014, passing the 2013 total through just four games.
The crowd was a lot better yesterday, the official attendance was 56,940. Not a sell out but a lot better then the first two home games.
Punter Landon Foster punted five times for a 46.8 yard average including a season-long 52-yard punt. Foster dropped two punts inside the 20-yard line and now has 10 punts downed inside the 20 in 2014 and 38 in his three-year career.
Kentucky’s 99 yard opening drive was the longest of the year in terms of plays (16), yards (99) and time (6:15).
Stanley “Boom” Williams rushed a career-high five times for 27 yards, also caught three passes for 39 yards. The freshman running bck is getting better each week.
Braylon Heard rushed a career-best 15 times for 62 yards, also catching two balls for six yards.
Jojo Kemp didn’t get many touches, but he made them count when he did get the ball. Kemp had 60 yards on 8 carries, including a long run of 30 yards. Most of Kemp’s touches came in the fourth quarter when Kentucky ran the Wildcat.
Junior LB Josh Forrest had another solid game finishing with a finished with a team-leading six tackles. Forrest also recorded his first career sack.
**THE BAD**
Kentucky’s offense really struggled to move the football, especially in the second half. Take away the 99 yard drive to open the game, Kentucky only had 285 yards of total offense the rest of the game.
Patrick Towles didn’t have his best game, but even the best quarterbacks have bad games. Towles was 23-30 for 201 yards, one touchdown and an interception and was sacked 4 times.
Here’s what Coach Stoops had to say about Patrick after the game:
Patrick will bounce back. He did some good things, I think early on, outside of the pick, he had an awful lot of completions. I think his percentage in the first half was extremely high through the pick and then the dropped ball. All in all, there are just a lot of mistakes. Patrick will play good next week, and he will get those things fixed.
**THE UGLY**
The play call on 4th and 1 in the fourth quarter. Vanderbilt had 8 or 9 players in the box and everybody in the stadium knew Patrick was going to run a quarterback sneak.
