Will Stein and the Kentucky Wildcats headed down to Knoxville on Saturday after a much-needed bye week to take on the #13 Tennessee Volunteers for a game that included a lot of playoff implications for both teams. A win for either team would increase their chances of getting in the 12-team playoff field. For Kentucky specifically, it meant advancing to 8-1 overall as playoff chances and conference championship chances grow.
But, it was just an ugly night in Knoxville. Defense was the story early, with turnovers and penalties really limiting the Kentucky offense throughout the first half. That trickled into the second half, as Kentucky just could not find the endzone as Tennessee’s defensive pressure got to them all game, which showed in the turnover margin, penalties and the scoreboard, as they fell to the Vols 34-6. This marked the first game all season in which Kentucky did not score a touchdown.
Mistakes reared its head early for a Kentucky team that has been extremely efficient this season. It started with a holding penalty that erased an explosive play on the Wildcats’ first drive. Then, an interception in the endzone ended a very efficient drive, before yet another holding penalty killed their third offensive drive. Defensively, Kentucky’s defense played well early, but allowed a 66-yard wide open touchdown run to put Tennessee up 7-0 heading into the second quarter. Kentucky was able to get their first points in part thanks to a holding penalty on 3rd and 16 after Kenny Minchey was sacked. That led to them getting in scoring range for the field goal to make it 7-3 before Tennessee added one of their own. Mistakes then continued to hurt Kentucky, as a Jovantae Barnes fumble gave the Vols the ball near scoring territory, making it two first-half turnovers by the Wildcats. Luckily, Kentucky stopped them and were able to get another field goal on the board, going into halftime down 10-6.
In the second half, it was clear that Kentucky needed to clean up the costly mistakes on offense with the turnovers and penalties and really just start finding the endzone. Kentucky started out the half holding Tennessee to a field goal, but the offense still struggled finding points in the third quarter, not only punting on its first second-half drive, but Kenny Minchey was strip-sacked as Tennessee took over in Kentucky territory heading into the fourth quarter. That led to a Tennessee touchdown as the Wildcats entered the danger zone down 20-6, in desperate need of points, and quickly. Unfortunately for Kentucky, a Kenny Minchey sack on a crucial fourth and 1 down two scores led to another Tennessee score to go up 27-6. From there, Kentucky just could not overcome the big deficit.
A game where turnovers turned out to be huge, Kentucky was just on the wrong side of it, and it started early. Kentucky has been a very efficient team for much of the season, but they ran into one of the best defenses in the SEC and one that really loves to pressure the quarterback. Kentucky’s offense just had no answer against Tennessee’s pressure. Their mistakes in the first half continued into the second half. It was just a very uncharacteristic night, especially for the offensive line, who crumbled against the blitz…