Three takeaways from Kentucky football’s win over the Florida Gators in Gainesville

Three takeaways from Kentucky football’s 26-16 victory over the Florida Gators at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday night:

1. Give Roman Harper a game ball

The SEC Network analyst not only predicted that Florida would handle Mark Stoops’ Wildcats easily in “The Swamp” on Saturday, the former NFL defensive star took it one step further, calling the Cats “soft.”

UK recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow heard it — or heard about it — and made sure that everyone in the Joe Craft Football Training Football Facility heard it, too, from Stoops to quarterback Will Levis to everyone else on the Wildcats’ roster. “We may be a lot of things,” said Stoops on Saturday, “but soft is not one of them.”

This game certainly proved that. I’s running game struggling in the first half, its offensive line unable to keep a clean pocket for Levis, its special teams uncharacteristically shaky, UK found ways to win. Outside linebacker Jordan Wright, back from a one-game suspension, made a key first half interception. Keidron Smith, the cornerback transfer from Ole Miss, took a second-half interception to the house.

Best of all, the Cats contained Florida’s star quarterback Anthony Richardson to a mere four yards on six carries. Forced to try and beat UK with his arm, Richardson was scattershot all night, completing just 14 of 35 passes for 143 yards with two interceptions.

“Hats off to the guys,” Brad White said afterward. “They executed so well. There’s no magic plan calls. It’s just about guts and determination, and they had that.”

On second thought, give White the game ball.

2. A change in Kentucky’s run game helped change the game

Over the first six quarters of the 2022 college football season, Kentucky went from having one of the best running games in the country to having no running game. UK managed but 50 net yards on the ground in last week’s win over Miami (Ohio). Through the first 30 minutes Saturday, the Cats had managed a net two yards on 15 attempts.

Then something changed in the second half. With some tweaks here and there from new offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello, along with some better execution, the Cats finally began to eat some yardage on the ground over the final 30 minutes.

The final stats of 70 net yards on 38 carries didn’t tell the story. When the visitors had to run the football, they were able to run the football.

After a three-and-out on UK’s first series of the third quarter, Kavosiey Smoke ripped off a 13-yard run to start the second possession. Two plays later, Chauncey Magwood caught a tipped ball from Levis for a 25-yard gain. Four plays later, Smoke ground out another 13-yard gain that helped set up Matt Ruffolo’s 24-yard field goal to tie the game at 16 with 6:35 left in the third quarter.

Then in the fourth quarter, Smoke had an 18-yard run, plus a critical 11-yard run that gave UK a first-and-goal at the Florida 5-yard line with 138 left. That forced the Gators to use all three of their timeouts before Ruffolo’s chip-shot 26-yard field goal with 1:24 left sealed it.

“We made a few adjustments,” Scangarello said afterward. “And more importantly, I felt like the drives that didn’t finish the way they could have, but I felt like early on (Florida) was going to try to consume us in the run with their front and they did. So you have to run some play-action, and I think that soften them up. And over time ... they eventually have to be a little more disciplined and when they do, you can be more balanced as a play-caller.”

3. Kentucky is currently the better football program

Saturday’s win marked the first time since 1976-77 that the Wildcats have beaten the Gators in back-to-back years. More than that, UK is now 3-2 over Florida over the past five years. Had a couple of bounces gone UK’s way in that 28-27 loss to the Gators in Lexington in 2017 and that 29-21 loss to Florida at Kroger Field in 2019 and Stoops’ team would be 5-1 over its SEC East rival in the past six years.

What does this do for the rest of the season? It’s early, of course, but Kentucky is now 1-0 in the SEC with a conference road win, to boot. Tennessee is off to a 2-0 start. That game in Knoxville will be a tough one. And there are no easy SEC games — not South Carolina at home or Ole Miss and Missouri on the road.

Still, Saturday’s win was the first step, an important step, toward making that Nov. 19 matchup with Georgia in Lexington mean something.

It was also a confidence boost for a team, that did not play particularly well on offense, but still made the big plays — the 55-yard TD pass from Levis to Dane Key; the Wright interception; the Keidron Smith pick-six — you need in these types of games to win these types of games.

Remember, once upon a time, Kentucky lost 31 straight games to Florida. Times have changed.

Watch Mark Stoops after win: ‘We may win, we may lose but, by God, we’re gonna be tough.’

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What to know about Kentucky football star freshman Dane Key after Florida touchdown

Final statistics from No. 20 Kentucky football’s 26-16 win at No. 12 Florida