A.J. Rose (SEC Photo)
After watching a lot of Kentucky football games, I cannot remember a more depressing start to a UK game than the one Saturday against Ole Miss. The Rebels shredded the UK defense for 75 yards in eight plays in 2 minutes, 22 seconds to open the game. Kentucky responded on its first play when senior running back A.J. Rose broke free for what looked like it would be a 75-yard touchdown run
But Rose started raising fingers in the air about the 20 and got tackled at the 3-yard line. Two players later — you guess it — Rose fumbled at the goal line and Ole Miss recovered.
That just set the tone for what turned out to be a 42-41 overtime loss and I am not sure if UK fans are going to forget Rose’s boo-boo any time soon — or maybe ever.
“The BIGGEST WTF are you doing I’ve ever witnessed,” former UK running back Anthony White posted on Twitter after Rose was caught from behind.
Kentucky fans were livid after he fumbled. Several immediately wanted him benched the rest of the game.
“I wouldn’t say that JUST YET. We don’t want to lose his head for the game or season,” White responded.
The good thing for Kentucky is that Ole Miss might have the worst rushing defense you can find. In the first quarter alone UK ran for 182 yards, including 93 by Rose.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops went back to Rose on the first play of UK’s third series and he ran for 18 yards. Then on the goal, Stoops snapped the ball to him again on third down in the Wildcat and he bulled his way into the end zone. He finished the game with 12 carries for 117 yards.
I asked Stoops about Rose’s mistake and he admitted they “definitely” didn’t help send the right message to his team.
“We have been a very unselfish team throughout the years,” Stoops said. “That is a mistake you can’t have. A.J. means well. He’s a great young man. I am not going to give up on him for one mistake. But he understands that is not acceptable. It’s not how we do things. It definitely has an impact and definitely is not the right message. It’s not okay but I am also not going to give up on him for one mistake.”
Still, UK fans are not likely to be forgiving based on the immediate social media reactions.
“Seniors KNOW better than to do that,” @UKCatGirl tweeted.
That’s one of the most UK football series I have ever seen. And that’s saying something. So dumb,” UK fan Jim Sword tweeted.
“AJ Rose and I have something in common today. We are both going to be *watching* the rest of the game… #dontstoprunning,” tweeted Dan Stewart.
Now in fairness, some UK fans — and media members — were a bit more forgiving and probably should be considering Rose has been a model citizen at UK and never done anything but bust his butt in games.
‘I appreciate our coaches giving Rose another chance this early in the game. He is a great guy and is well aware he messed up,” UK fan Cathy Reynolds.
“I know Rose had a fumble on the goal line, but he has been great so far this season. Running hard and has shown the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield,” CameronMillsRadio.com writer Chandler Wilcox tweeted.
However, the problem is that there was a lot more wrong than Rose’s two key mistakes.
— Kicker Matt Ruffolo missed an extra point in overtime after UK scored to go on top 42-41. He also missed a long field goal during the game and almost missed another extra point when it hit the upright and bounced through.
— Cornerback Kelvin Joseph, a LSU transfer and preseason all-SEC pick, got victimized for the second straight week. He gave up a touchdown pass and his interference call in the end zone set up another Ole Miss touchdown. He just has not been able to contain elite SEC receivers.
— Kentucky’s defense gave up 459 yards and Ole Miss quarterback Matt Corral completed 24 of 29 passes for 320 yards and four scores. He also ran 13 times for 51 yards. Kentucky had two quarterback sacks but could not get consistent pressure on Corral.
— And the coaching decisions at time were a bit baffling. Late in the game it seemed certain Stoops was playing for overtime when he didn’t call timeout with over a minute left and Ole Miss in third and long. That told me he had zero confidence in his defense getting a stop. When UK got the ball back deep in its own territory with 25 seconds left, he just ran a harmless run into the line.
“We just have to play better. We got a two-touchdown lead and then we just played poor on defense,” Stoops said. “The margin for error is small and you have to do things right.”
And through two games, UK just has not done nearly enough right when it really counts.
