Terry Wilson - UK Athletics Photo
It was probably difficult for Kentucky football fans to hear but SEC Network studio hosts Chris Doering and Gene Chizik were simply being honest about UK’s offense Saturday.
“Does Kentucky know the forward pass is perfectly legal? Doering asked during the halftime break.
“Does Kentucky also know it is legal to get first downs,” Chizik added.
That’s how one dimensional the UK offense was Saturday in the 20-10 loss at Missouri. It might have even been more one dimensional than it was last year with Lynn Bowden at quarterback because Bowden was such a dynamic player that he still made the defense cover a large area. Kentucky’s passing game this year does not do that.
“They have to find a way to throw the football. They are one dimensional,” Doering said.
How one dimensional? Kentucky was 4-for-13 passing for 47 yards — and 26 came on a touchdown pass to Josh Ali. Starter Terry Wilson was 3-for-9 for 35 yards and backup Joey Gatewood 1-for-4 for 12 yards.
Why wouldn’t a SEC defense overplay the run and dare UK to pass?
Kentucky center Drake Jackson said the Cats could never establish a rhythm on offense.
“That’s on all of us. It’s a team game,” Jackson said.
He’s right but the quarterback play has to get better and receivers have to not drop balls and find ways to get open.
Wilson threw for 1,889 yards and 11 touchdowns with eight interceptions in 2018 when UK went 10-3 and relied heavily on running back Benny Snell. He got hurt in game two last year when he had completed 33 of 52 passes for 360 yards and two scores.
This season coming off that knee injury he is 58 of 90 for 564 yards and three scores with one pick. His completion percentage is 64.5 percent.
But here are the troubling numbers. Wilson was 24 of 37 for 239 years and one score against Auburn in the opening game loss. Since then he’s 37 of 62 for only 360 yards in four games. He has not thrown an interception in those four games and has three touchdown passes but he can’t make defenses back off the line. Wilson has also not shown the dazzling speed and running ability he did before his injury, either.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said he’s not sure what he’ll do at quarterback against Georgia next week. Remember Gatewood transferred to UK from Auburn because he did not win the starting job there. We’ve really not seen enough of him yet even with Saturday’s limited reps to know if he would upgrade the passing game — or if anyone can unless the receivers improve.
This is an offense that had THIRTY-FIVE yards total in the second half of a win over Mississippi State when the defense had six interceptions. In the win at Tennessee, the Cats had three interceptions and returned two for scores. So it is not like this has been a well-oiled offensive machine.
Maybe it’s just time to ground and pound even if the box is full of defenders and see what happens.
Could not be much worse than what we saw the second half against Mississippi State or the whole game at Missouri.
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