The Kentucky Wildcats (3-4, 0-3 Southeastern Conference) are not known as a football school, but last year, under head coach Guy Morriss, the Cats finished with a 7-5 record including three SEC victories. Morriss’ departure to Baylor left Big Blue fans wondering, what now?
That’s when Rich Brooks was brought on board. His Cats have been close, but have not started well or finished soundly. After the Wildcats led 21-3 late in the third quarter, the Florida Gators reeled off 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to beat UK 24-21.
Kentucky trailed South Carolina 27-7 to start the fourth quarter. Junior quarterback Shane Boyd came in for an injured Jared Lorenzen (the Hefty Lefty) and led two touchdown drives, but couldn’t get a third for the win.
Analyzing the Cats Offense
Brooks uses a duel quarterback system at Kentucky. Although Lorenzen is the starter, Boyd has frequently appeared. Boyd is faster than Lorenzen, but has neither the arm power nor the experience of the senior quarterback.
“I would say you’re probably going to see (Boyd) more than you saw him in the first five games,” Brooks said. “Maybe not as much as you saw him in (the Ohio game), but he’s certainly going to be a factor in our offense.”
In Kentucky’s 35-14 win over Ohio, Boyd led Kentucky with 85 rushing yards, but only completed three of nine passes for 54 yards. Lorenzen passed for 90 yards and two touchdowns after two first quarter fumbles.
MSU head coach Jackie Sherrill said Lorenzen is still the same quarterback as before.
“People sometimes have the wrong impression of him–that he does things to lose games. But he’s only thrown one interception out of 44 passes,” Sherrill said. “He’s still the same guy and quite frankly, there’s no question that when he was five years old, he dominated the playground.”
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The Wildcat rushing game is mostly based on Boyd’s production. He leads Kentucky with 227 rushing yards for the season. Wildcat starting tailback Arliss Beach only has 159 yards on the ground and only averages 26 rushing yards a game. In UK’s loss at Alabama, Kentucky attempted 23 rushes for 26 yards. Kentucky’s rushing offense is dead last in the SEC.
“At this point we haven’t had anyone break out,” Brooks said. “We’ve been on the verge of it a couple of times and been close on some runs but we just haven’t gotten it yet. The good news is that they are young backs and hopefully somebody will emerge.”
Kick returner Derek Abney is an X-factor for Kentucky. Abney has returned five punts and two kickoffs for touchdowns in his career. Two of the five punt returns came in last year’s game in Starkville to throttle the 45-24 victory.
Dissembling the UK Defense
According to SEC media relations office, Kentucky has the second-youngest defense in the league only behind Tennessee. The Wildcat defense starts one senior.
“I believe that our defense is gaining more confidence,” Brooks said. “We have to remember they’re a young group and inexperienced.”
Despite its youth, the UK defense ranks third in the SEC with 19 sacks for a loss of 123 yards on the season and has a strong pass defense that ranks 39th in the nation.
Free safety Muhammad Abdullah leads UK with four interceptions and inside linebacker Dustin Williams leads the team with 77 tackles. Senior defensive end Jeremy Caudill has 3.5 sacks on the season and says Kentucky and State are very much alike.
“They are a team that is just like us. They’re coming in thinking they can beat us, just like we think we can beat them,” Caudill said. “I know that they are probably confident, and with Sherrill retiring at the end of the year, I am sure they want to get him a couple more wins before they go out. They are a tough team.”