After blowout loss at Georgia, Kentucky football receives a Sunday surprise
A few notes from the weekend:
▪ I’ll admit I’m surprised Kentucky is still in the AP College Football Top 25. After being thrashed 51-13 by Georgia on Saturday night in Athens, I thought for sure the Wildcats would drop out of the AP poll. Instead, Mark Stoops’ team is ranked 24th.
Personally, as an AP voter, I didn’t include the Cats on my ballot. My final five read: 21-LSU, 22-Duke, 23-Clemson, 24-Air Force and 25-West Virginia.
▪ By the way, Kentucky is 23rd in the coaches’ poll.
▪ I jumped Louisville from 25th to 13th in my poll after the Cardinals takedown of visiting Notre Dame on Saturday night. (I have Notre Dame at No. 20 on my ballot.) U of L ended up 14th in the official poll.
▪ Now 6-0 on the season, Louisville travels to 1-4 Pittsburgh on Saturday. That’s a 6:30 p.m. game on the CW Network.
▪ Another poll note: Some have questioned why some of us voted Texas behind Alabama even though Texas won at Alabama earlier in the season. In my case, the Texas win in Tuscaloosa came in Week 2. I think the Crimson Tide is a better team now. If the two teams met again, I think Alabama would win.
▪ Missouri comes to Kroger Field on Saturday with a 5-1 record after the Tigers’ 49-39 loss to visiting LSU. Mizzou is 24th in the coaches’ poll, but dropped out of the AP Top 25.
▪ Up 22-7 early and 32-27 heading into the fourth quarter, Missouri was outscored 22-7 in the final quarter. LSU’s Major Burns intercepted a Brady Cook pass and turned it into a pick six with 11 seconds left for the final margin.
▪ Missouri’s national rankings:
Total defense: 53.
Scoring defense: 71.
Total offense: 22.
Scoring offense: 39.
▪ Kentucky’s national rankings:
Total defense: 47.
Scoring defense: 43.
Total offense: 87.
Scoring offense: 41.
▪ Games in which Kentucky has allowed 50-plus points under Mark Stoops:
2020 - Lost 63-3 at Alabama.
2014 - Lost 63-31 to Georgia.
2013 - Lost 59-17 at Georgia.
2015 - Lost 52-21 to Tennessee.
2023 - Lost 51-13 at Georgia.
2014 - Lost 50-16 at Tennessee.
▪ After being held to 59 yards on 15 carries by Georgia on Saturday, UK running back Ray Davis dropped to 11th in the national rankings at 108.83 yards per game.
▪ Saturday’s SEC schedule
Noon - Georgia at Vanderbilt (CBS).
Noon - Arkansas at Alabama (ESPN).
3:30 p.m. - Texas A&M at Tennessee (CBS).
3:30 p.m. Florida at South Carolina (SEC).
7 p.m. - Auburn at LSU (ESPN).
7:30 p.m. - Missouri at Kentucky (SEC).
▪ From the Sunday assessments of the SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic on Kentucky: “KENTUCKY: Brutal loss. Can’t lose 19. DL was pretty active. Lot of space underneath given up. Didn’t tackle as well as they had been. DL got pads turned too often. Loved the plan on offense. Just have to help one another. QB sailed a few. WRs dropped a few. Missed a few pressures. Just can’t have that on the road vs best team in the nation. Some of the misses were egregious. OL held up fairly well. Weren’t going to consistently move them. So Liam moved everyone else. 1 made the most of what was there. Really hoping the guys banged up are ok. Still a ton to play for. Need to bounce back quick.”
▪ Georgia coach Kirby Smart on his team jumping to that 21-0 lead over Kentucky: “Our offense made them play a little left handed. You can’t sit there and be methodical if you’re down that quickly. We knew they would struggle to play from behind. That’s not their style of play. The quick start played big time to our advantage.”
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