LEXINGTON – It’s no secret that Kentucky’s offense runs through Benny Snell Jr.
The junior running back shouldered the load on both of the Wildcats’ scoring drives in a 14-7 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday, but Kentucky will be looking for more production out of quarterback Terry Wilson and his receivers moving forward.
“Offense could be so much better. We really haven’t played our best football yet. I don’t want to say that I’m disappointed but we should have pulled off in this game. In the passing game. I just feel like we were right there. We’ve got the good looks, Terry’s putting the ball in the right spot, but you know it’s windy and the conditions are what they are,” said Snell. “We need to pick it up in the passing game but we’ve got to be sound as offense too. No penalties, we’ve got a lot more learning to do.”
Wilson turned the ball over twice on Kentucky’s first four plays of the game. The first was on after a 13-yard run when LaDarius Wiley knocked the ball loose and Jordan Griffin recovered it. It led to Vanderbilt’s only score of the night – a 29-yard pass from Kyle Shurmur to C.J. Bolar that capped off a six-play, 44-yard drive.
Snell ran the ball for 15 yards on Kentucky’s next offensive play, but it was followed by a toss backwards to Lynn Bowden that he couldn’t come up with. Griffin recovered his second fumble of the game for the Commodores.
“When you finally get a drive starter, Terry makes a good decision on second down, rips off a 15-yard run, puts it on the ground, that doesn’t help,” said Kentucky coach Mark Stoops. “Then we go to throw the ball, throw a little swing pass, put that behind us, fumble it. You’re behind the sticks all night. Those kind of conditions don’t help us. We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot.”
Vanderbilt held the lead at the end of the first quarter and had the ball for 10:42, running 10 more plays than the Wildcats. None of Kentucky’s nine plays in the frame were passes. Wilson finished with just three completions for 18 yards on the cold, windy night. Bowden was the only receiver to catch a pass.
“It is what it is. It’s football,” said Wilson. “We just gave Benny the ball and did what we needed to do to get the win.”
One of Bowden’s three catches was a 5-yard reception that tied the game, but Snell was the story of the drive. He carried it eight times in the 11-play drive to tie the game.
On the game-winning, 80-play drive in the fourth quarter, Snell carried the ball 10 out of the 12 plays for 74 yards. He finished with 172 yards on 32 carries.
“That’s Benny Snell football. If its 20 carries, 30 carries plus, I’m going to make it happen,” said Snell. “That’s what I want. I want the ball in my hands.”
After getting the ball only 13 times in a 20-14 overtime loss to Texas A&M on Oct. 6 – Kentucky’s only loss this season – the Wildcats knew their star offensive player needed to get going. He was denied the ball on third-and-two at the Aggies’ 17-yard line in overtime of the loss. Instead, Wilson was sacked and Miles Butler missed a 43-yard field goal attempt.
“I mean, when we sat there and told you all week that we need to get back to being who we are, I think everybody knew what we were talking about. Being a physical football team,” said Stoops. “Certainly we want to throw some pass game off of that, some play-action. Need to improve in that area, and we will. We’ll get it going.”
DEFENSE DOES IT
The Kentucky defense has kept them in games throughout their 6-1 start to the season and Saturday was no different. They held the Commodores scoreless after Shurmur’s first-quarter touchdown pass and limited Vanderbilt to just 68 rushing yards on 31 attempts.
Kash Daniel and Josh Allen, two of Kentucky’s defensive leaders, came up big again Saturday. Daniel led the team with 11 tackles. He also forced a fumble on fourth-and-one at the Kentucky 16 early in the fourth quarter when the game was still tied. Josh Allen sacked Shurmur and forced him to fumble to seal the victory.
“It just shows that one player isn’t just out there making plays. It’s awesome seeing everyone work together,” said Daniel. “You have 11 guys always flying to the ball to get a tackle and that’s one of our standards, it’s what we hold ourselves accountable to.”
BOWL BOUND
It took the Wildcats just seven games to become bowl eligible for the third straight season. It’s the 18th time in program history and something that has become the expectation for Stoops’ teams.
“I think we know that, expect that,” said Stoops. “Once again, it says a lot when you’re not playing your best on a tough night, find a way to win, just get a victory. It means a lot.”
UP NEXT
Kentucky will travel to Missouri next week for a 4 p.m. game. Vanderbilt will hit the road again, heading to Arkansas for a noon kickoff.
