*An SEC environment at Commonwealth Stadium!! Beautiful stadium. Capacity crowd. Loved it.
*An outstanding performance by the defense!!! UK held the Gators to 14 points, and seven of those were via a short field after the early INT. I thought the UK front seven got the better of UF's o-front more often than not. Going forward, this is an encouraging performance.
*Florida had 3-4 possessions where they drove inside the UK 30 but didn't score. That's huge. Florida had short fields all night long too. The defense was under constant pressure, and they came through much more often than not.
*In one score games, the team that makes the most mistakes typically gets beat. Tonight, that was Kentucky. The dropped touchdown pass to open the game was just one of many self-induced big blue errors.
*Dropped balls were a problem tonight, but poor throws was the bigger issue. Like I've said before, with Towles, you take the good with the bad. There are nights when he has throws that just don't make any sense. The air mail over Bone in the endzone tonight was a good example. He failed to give Bone a chance to make a play on the ball. He also air mailed one to Baker on a critical play. The throw behind Badet on the final drive really hurt, as did the sack he took. Tonight is hardly on one player, but Towles just didn't get the job done.
*He wasn't alone. UK's mediocre tackle duo looked poor tonight. Everyone that played the position allowed pressure. It isn't all on them though, IMO. It was up to Shannon Dawson to recognize that and do something about it. Maybe throw a slip screen. Tunnel screen. More screens to the backs. An extra blocker. Something. Florida's DE's pinned their ears back, and UK didn't adjust.
*Tough night for Dawson. You have a line allowing pressure. You have a woefully inaccurate quarterback. You have WR's dropping balls. You have a defensive front seven manhandling your o-front in the run game. I thought Dawson should have called more quick pass stuff on first down, but it's easy to be critical after the game. Not to mention, with the way UK was playing on offense, there weren't any obvious avenues to success, IMO.
*First down really killed UK. Kentucky spent seemingly ALL NIGHT in 3rd and long. A lot of that is because UK just couldn't do anything on first down.
*I thought trying to run the ball down Florida's throat on the goal line was a mistake. UF was just better up front. They got good push all night long. If you want to run there, doing it out of the shotgun in a spread formation might have been the better option. UK just doesn't have the big uglies needed to push a d-front like Florida's backward.
*Mark Stoops decision to punt again (3rd quarter) when UK had a 40+ net on the previous punt was confusing as hell. Predictably, the Gators made Stoops pay by returning it deep into UK territory. Not a game changer though, because the UK defense stepped up big on that possession.
*Losing is beyond frustrating, but this isn't a game that will discourage me going forward. UK would have won the game had they simply made the plays that were available to be made. The drop on that first possession was just so frustrating. As was the throw behind Badet on that final drive.
On to Missouri. I imagine UK will be favored or possibly a very slight dog. Missouri has really struggled on offense this season. Tonight's loss will be brutal for the team and fans to get over, but there's no reason UK can't be 4-1 heading into the THU night game with Auburn.
GBB!!!
*An outstanding performance by the defense!!! UK held the Gators to 14 points, and seven of those were via a short field after the early INT. I thought the UK front seven got the better of UF's o-front more often than not. Going forward, this is an encouraging performance.
*Florida had 3-4 possessions where they drove inside the UK 30 but didn't score. That's huge. Florida had short fields all night long too. The defense was under constant pressure, and they came through much more often than not.
*In one score games, the team that makes the most mistakes typically gets beat. Tonight, that was Kentucky. The dropped touchdown pass to open the game was just one of many self-induced big blue errors.
*Dropped balls were a problem tonight, but poor throws was the bigger issue. Like I've said before, with Towles, you take the good with the bad. There are nights when he has throws that just don't make any sense. The air mail over Bone in the endzone tonight was a good example. He failed to give Bone a chance to make a play on the ball. He also air mailed one to Baker on a critical play. The throw behind Badet on the final drive really hurt, as did the sack he took. Tonight is hardly on one player, but Towles just didn't get the job done.
*He wasn't alone. UK's mediocre tackle duo looked poor tonight. Everyone that played the position allowed pressure. It isn't all on them though, IMO. It was up to Shannon Dawson to recognize that and do something about it. Maybe throw a slip screen. Tunnel screen. More screens to the backs. An extra blocker. Something. Florida's DE's pinned their ears back, and UK didn't adjust.
*Tough night for Dawson. You have a line allowing pressure. You have a woefully inaccurate quarterback. You have WR's dropping balls. You have a defensive front seven manhandling your o-front in the run game. I thought Dawson should have called more quick pass stuff on first down, but it's easy to be critical after the game. Not to mention, with the way UK was playing on offense, there weren't any obvious avenues to success, IMO.
*First down really killed UK. Kentucky spent seemingly ALL NIGHT in 3rd and long. A lot of that is because UK just couldn't do anything on first down.
*I thought trying to run the ball down Florida's throat on the goal line was a mistake. UF was just better up front. They got good push all night long. If you want to run there, doing it out of the shotgun in a spread formation might have been the better option. UK just doesn't have the big uglies needed to push a d-front like Florida's backward.
*Mark Stoops decision to punt again (3rd quarter) when UK had a 40+ net on the previous punt was confusing as hell. Predictably, the Gators made Stoops pay by returning it deep into UK territory. Not a game changer though, because the UK defense stepped up big on that possession.
*Losing is beyond frustrating, but this isn't a game that will discourage me going forward. UK would have won the game had they simply made the plays that were available to be made. The drop on that first possession was just so frustrating. As was the throw behind Badet on that final drive.
On to Missouri. I imagine UK will be favored or possibly a very slight dog. Missouri has really struggled on offense this season. Tonight's loss will be brutal for the team and fans to get over, but there's no reason UK can't be 4-1 heading into the THU night game with Auburn.
GBB!!!
