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Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 10-05-2015, 09:20 AM:

Towles second half passing was the only bright spot.

Give Kentucky offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson credit being what I would call blunt honest after Kentucky’s overtime win over Eastern Kentucky Saturday night.

The Wildcats passes for 329 yards and three scores, but ran for just 55 yards on 36 carries. Sure, some of that was because quarterback Patrick Towles was sacked for losses of 33 yards. Still, leading rusher JoJo Kemp had just 46 yards on 14 carries, well below his average. Mikel Horton had managed just 13 yards on nine tries. Towles lost 4 yards on 13 carries. Kentucky’s longest run was NINE yards.

So why could a Southeastern Conference team not run the ball on Eastern Kentucky? Surely not having Boom Williams — who did not play and was not dressed in game gear even though coach Mark Stoops said after the game that he was not suspended despite missing two days of practice — could not have impacted the running/blocking that much.

“I don’t know. I’m going to have to go back and really study the film,” said Dawson about the lack of rushing yards. “I will say part of it was them and I will be honest with you and say part of it was their front.”

He’s right. Eastern’s defensive front was far more physical than Kentucky’s offensive line and at time it looked like UK’s running backs at times may not have stayed with the play long enough before trying to get outside.

Link

Posted by GA Cat (Member # 642) on 10-05-2015, 11:00 AM:

I think this was a classic trap game:

1. We were coming off a top 25 win
2. We were playing a FCS team
3. They had just lost a player in a tragic car accident
4. Then there was the summer fight

EKU had every reason to be fired up and we had every reason to have a let down.

I will brush this one off and move on, but we have to learn to play a complete game. Early in the season we played great early and collapsed late and then held on. Now we are playing poorly early and coming on late. I want to see an sustained offensive performance and the defense that was hungry like the Missouri game.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 10-05-2015, 12:59 PM:

GA Cat, you always make so much sense.