LEXINGTON — The Kentucky defense had its fair share of question marks heading into their opener with the Rockets. A brand new secondary, no Josh Allen, seven new starters.
Toledo had scored on two of their first three possessions.
Things were looking shaky.
But Toledo’s final 12 possessions of the game resulted in seven punts, a fumble, interception, field goal and a touchdown in the final minutes of the game when it was out of reach.
Adjustments were made on the fly and a Rockets offense that averaged 40 points per game last season was forced to be stagnant. After racking up 231 yards of offense in the first half, Toledo was held to 116 in the second half.
“I was pleased. I thought they made some plays. They made some good plays on the football and settled in, and that’s just part of the playing good as a team. Got them in a little bit more predictable pass situations at times,” Wildcats coach Mark Stoops said.
“Early on it was frustrating. They did a nice job. They were getting us in third and manageable, third and medium, and they were converting. Give them credit. They do a nice job, and we needed to step up. Whether it was well-designed play or them — the quarterback ad-libbing, scrambling, running, but they were converting on some of the third downs. I though that was the key early. That gave them an opportunity to keep some drives alive,” Stoops added.
DeAndre Square racked up 11 tackles, a sack and an interception. Josh Paschal was a force off the edge with a sack and a forced fumble. Chris Oats, prior to his ejection for targeting in the third quarter that knocked out Rockets quarterback Mitch Guadagni, made some key tackles to stall out Toledo drives.
The front four got to Rockets’ QBs four times on the day in total, showing they can progress with life without Josh Allen.
“There were some rush lanes. You know, there were some rush lanes issues. It wasn’t all on them. One of them was a stunt and he got out early and ran on a third down that we could clean up coaching-wise. But overall, I thought — I never felt like even though they rushed for some aggravating rush yards, never felt like we were really out of position. One of our corners was out of position with the long run. I think that was the 14. Our corner, Jamari (Brown), got out of the position there leveraging the ball. But defensive line up front was solid,” Stoops said.
And the secondary? Brand new, allowed just 166 yards through the air on the day.
Having a punter average 54 yards a punt helped flipped the field all day. Max Duffy continually pinned the Rockets deep in their own territory while the punt coverage team also did its job, allowing just three punt returns for six yards.
“Yeah, it was solid. A lot of that has to do with him, where he places the ball, the height, and everything. But the guys have been busting it. They been work ing hard on their coverage units, and Coach Hood does a very good job. We were very effective there today,” Stoops said.
It wasn’t flawless by any means, especially early on when Toledo converted five of their first seven third downs, three of those from eight yards or longer, but Kentucky can take some positives on what was a big question mark entering the season and move forward with them.
Coming up next is another MAC opponent, Eastern Michigan, not figured to be as tough as Toledo might be, the team picked to win the MAC West in the preseason. Following that will come the true test, Florida in a night game on September 14.
Some offensive notes:
STEADY TERRY
Terry Wilson finished 19-of-26 passing for 246 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked just once on the day and ran the ball nine times for 22 yards.
TRIO OF BACKS
Kentucky looks content utilizing three backs in the backfield. A.J. Rose got the most carries, racking up 64 yards on 16 carries and a score. Kavosiey Smoke followed with seven carries for 78 yards and a touchdown while Chris Rodriguez had five rushes for 34 yards. Each broke off a run of at least 21 yards, the longest Smoke’s 40-yard touchdown rush in the fourth to put the game away.
SPREAD THE WEALTH
Eight different receivers caught passes on Saturday, Lynn Bowden the leading receiver with six catches for 77 yards. The highlight-reel catch of the day came from Bryce Oliver on a 32-yard touchdown grab, going up to get a ball in the end zone over a Rockets defender.
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