Photo: Regina Rickert
Kentucky and South Carolina played one of the best games I have attended in my 16 years of going to Kentucky football games. 62,135 fans were in attendance to watch Kentucky take down South Carolina and the Ole Ball Coach, who was not very happy after the game.
Kentucky is 4-1 on the season and 2-1 in the SEC and receiving votes in both Top 25 Polls.
*The Good*
*Watching the coaches and players celebrate the wins while the fans rushed the field.
*The crowd was loud the entire game, especially when South Carolina had the ball on third downs.
*The Kentucky uniforms looked great with the chrome helmets, black jerseys and black pants. This is probably one of my favorite uniform combinations.
*Kentucky scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to post its first fourth-quarter comeback win since a 2011 win over Ole Miss.
*Jojo Kemp was the star of the game. Kemp finished the game with 131 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries. Kemp carried Kentucky in the fourth quarter. Kemp is the second Kentucky player to have a 100 yard rushing game this season. Braylon Heard ran for 116 yards in the season opener vs. UT Martin.
*The trick play in the second half to give Kentucky the lead 24-17 is probably the best play Neal Brown has called since his arrival in Lexington. I’ve never seen a receiver as open as Ryan Timmons was on that play.
*A.J. Stamps recorded his third interception of the season and had 7 tackles and 2 pass breakups in the game. I’m not sure where Kentucky’s offense would be without Stamps, but Stoops knows where they would be.
Not as good. Not as good. He’s a very good football player and very good instincts. So we’re glad we have him.
*Each and every week Josh Forrest continues to play consistent defense. Josh finished last night’s win with 13 tackles.
*Matt Elam played his best game of his young Kentucky career. He wasn’t in on a lot of tackles, but he was in the backfield constantly. Officially Matt finished with one tackle and one pass breakup.
*Braylon Heard carried the ball 6 times for 67 yards. Heard’s 38-yard TD rush was his longest since a 73-yard TD run in the season opener vs. UT Martin. Heard now has three rushing touchdowns on the season.
*Mikel Horton is establishing himself a valuable player for UK. Horton carried the ball eight times for 44 yards. Kentucky’s had 239 yards rushing for the game.
*The Bad*
*Even though Patrick Towles bounced back from a sluggish game against Vanderbilt, finishing 20-29 for 208 yards and a touchdown and was only sacked one time, Towles needs to learn how to hold onto the ball. For the second straight game Towles fumbled the ball when he dropped back for a pass. If I was Patrick I would try wearing a glove to get a better grip on the ball. I’m afraid one of those fumbles will cost Kentucky a ballgame.
*The Ugly*
Kentucky’s defense is going to have to be able to stop the running game. South Carolina ran the ball at will on Kentucky. Mike Davis had 183 yards on the ground, and for some reason Steve Spurrier quit running the ball in the fourth quarter and started passing. I’m glad he did because it helped Kentucky, but terrible decision making on Spurrier’s part.
Here is what Spurrier had to say about running the ball after Kentucky scored to take the lead. Remember USC had all 3 of their timeouts left.
“It was two minutes. We got a two-minute drill. We thought of it. We don’t usually make as long of runs as other teams do. Although, Mike Davis had some good runs. Brandon Wilds had some early. They all had some good ones, but obviously not good enough. Y’all watched it. We’re not a great team. You know that. Hopefully we play better the rest of the season. I told the guys we’re going to try to have a winning season somehow and we have to do some work to do that. We’ll obviously try to make some changes somewhere. I don’t know exactly where, but we have to do something different.”
