Kentucky’s run defense is a concern, but its passing attack is trending up after UT loss

Kentucky football’s losing streak might have been extended to three games with a 33-27 defeat at the hands of Tennessee on Saturday, but UK coach Mark Stoops sees progress from his team.

“I’m happy with the growth, but very disappointed with the outcome,” Stoops said. “But I’m proud of our football team for their approach and the way they are working and the commitment that we gave for the past couple of weeks.”

The loss featured the best performance from the UK passing attack this season. While the defense struggled to stop the run, there were moments when that unit stepped up with key stops too.

Of course, none of that led to a different result than the disappointing performances against Georgia and Missouri.

“Walking away with a loss today, it puts a sour taste in your mouth a little bit, but now it’s back to the drawing board,” quarterback Devin Leary said. “You don’t praise yourself too much for coming off something that still ended with a loss. There’s still room for improvement. We’ve got to get back to work starting tomorrow, watching film and just build off this.”

Where does Kentucky go from here? The weekly UK football stock watch looks at what is rising and what is falling after the loss.

RISING: Sophomore wide receivers

When Kentucky signed Leary as one of the top-ranked quarterbacks available in the transfer portal, the hope was the presence of Dane Key and Barion Brown as his top receiving options would lead to a dynamic passing attack.

Instead, Leary and the receivers have struggled to find their chemistry for much of the season. Both Key and Brown have been plagued by dropped passes, making it difficult to describe their sophomore seasons as anything but a disappointment through seven games.

Against Tennessee, those receivers finally combined for the type of performance fans dreamed of during the offseason.

“Really proud of those two,” offensive coordinator Liam Coen said. “Really am. They were so locked in throughout the course of the bye week and this week of preparation. Their communication with the coaches, with their teammates. Just their energy was something that we can build off, we can feed off. I sure do.

“Really proud of the way they competed, really proud of the way they played. Wish I could have done a little bit more for them.”

Key totaled seven catches for 113 yards and one touchdown. Brown added five catches for 58 yards and one score. Several of the receptions were through tight coverage or the kind of bullet throw that resulted in too many dropped passes earlier in the season.

The play of Key has actually been trending up since the Georgia blowout loss, but Brown has been hampered by a nagging hamstring injury in recent weeks. The fact that both sophomores looked like stars against Tennessee — along with the contributions of sophomore tight ends Jordan Dingle and Josh Kattus with five catches for 96 yards — gives hope the passing game can carry Kentucky to a strong finish.

“I just feel like the way we came out for practice is what helped us translate it to the game,” Key said.

FALLING: Run defense

Kentucky entered the game ranked 13th nationally in rushing yards allowed per game (95.7), but Tennessee gashed the Wildcats for 254 yards on the ground.

Tennessee’s high-octane offense is generally known for explosive passing plays, but the rushing attack has been more effective for the Volunteers this season. Stoops was clear throughout the week that the Volunteers’ tempo and wide receiver splits made it difficult to defend the run, but that awareness did little to help players actually slow that portion of the Tennessee offense.

“It was frustrating,” Stoops said. “The tempo at which they go gets some of the guys, their eyes a little dirty. And credit them. They have a very good scheme. … If you are not very precise, they will make you pay.”

The tone for the evening was set when Tennessee running back Jaylen Wright scored on a 52-yard run on the Volunteers’ fifth offensive play. Kentucky was able to hold Tennessee to field goals instead of touchdowns for much of the night, but several of those red zone stops were aided by Tennessee penalties.

When Kentucky needed the ball back for one last shot at a game-winning drive, Tennessee was able to run the final 4:24 off the clock with only one pass attempt.

The good news is no other offense Kentucky will face in the final month will stress the defense in the way Tennessee’s did. But considering how many missed tackles contributed to the explosive runs Saturday, Kentucky still has work to do.

“This team puts you in a space that not everybody does,” Stoops said. “So, therefore, you are going to see some of that. We talked all week about having to win some one-on-one’s, and we won some and lost some. You are in much more space with a team like this, and their backs are elite.

“I think that is some of it. No excuse. It is just to credit them. And they are good players and they put you in some precarious positions to make plays. They stress you.”

RISING: Devin Leary

The improvement of Key and Brown went hand in hand with Leary’s best showing as a Wildcat.

The N.C. State transfer completed 28 of 39 passes for 372 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He completed his first six passes of the game and even showed off timely scrambling ability that helped extend a couple of drives.

“The kid’s preparation, his practice habits came to life,” Coen said. “The player that Devin Leary is really came to life tonight. I thought he played extremely well, operated extremely well. Really played well enough for us to win. Proud of the kid. Really proud of the way he competed, the way he saw the field and gave kids opportunities to make plays. I thought he took a huge step forward for us.”

Leary had thrown for 300 yards just once in the first seven games, but the quality of competition was much higher Saturday than it was in his previous 300-yard game against Akron. Leary was not perfect against the Volunteers, but the handful of bad misses that had led to inconsistency in the first seven games were largely missing.

“I think it’s just No. 1, for me, making sure I’m reading my correct reads, going through my right pre-snap process, post-snap process,” Leary said. “Then overall just executing. It’s tough that we’re coming off a loss like this because of how much work we put in coming off the bye and everything.”

FALLING: Fourth down plays

Kentucky converted just one of four fourth down attempts in the first seven games, but the execution in those situations was even worse against Tennessee.

On the Wildcats’ second offensive drive, Kentucky failed at two attempts to get 1 yard, first on a quarterback sneak and then on a Ray Davis run out of the shotgun formation on fourth-and-1 at UK’s own 34-yard line.

With a chance to take the lead in the third quarter, Leary’s pass to running back Demie Sumo-Karngbaye on a wheel route was batted away at the Tennessee 9-yard line, ending another scoring threat.

After the loss, Stoops said he regretted the early fourth down attempt on Kentucky’s side of the field but did not regret the second one since the field goal attempt would have been around 50 yards, kicker Alex Raynor’s career long. Later in the game Stoops elected to give Raynor a shot at a 53-yard field goal that missed badly.

As for the play calls on fourth down, offensive coordinator Liam Coen second-guessed himself, suggesting he might have given Leary an easier completion with a different call, but said Leary made the correct read to try and hit Sumo-Karngbaye in a one-on-one matchup.

“Demie is really hard on himself,” Leary said. “He knows he can make a play like that. I know I can throw a better ball, but come to practice on Monday, we’ll probably get that throw like 15 times after practice so that we won’t make that mistake again.”

▪ The Southeastern Conference announced that Kentucky’s game against Alabama on Saturday, Nov. 11, will kick off at noon and be televised by ESPN.

Next game

Kentucky at Mississippi State

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

TV: SEC Network

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Kentucky 5-3 (2-3 SEC), Mississippi State 4-4 (1-4)

Series: Tied 25-25

Last meeting: Kentucky won 27-17 on Oct. 15, 2022, in Lexin

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