For Kentucky, Saturday was a tough pill to swallow. The Wildcats fought and clawed in Oxford, however, was simply not able to come out on the winning end against the Rebels of Ole Miss. The game was close, in fact it went down to the wire, with Kentucky having a chance to win all the way down to the last minute before an untimely turnover sealed the deal for Lane Kiffin and his squad.
So where did it all go wrong for Kentucky in this game? They were able to finally show some balance on offense with the return of running back Chris Rodriguez. The defense had some struggles with the Rebels hurry up offense, however, was able to hold a pretty prolific attack to just 22 points. True freshman Barion Brown had a coming out party by absolutely exploding on the football field.
This loss comes down to moments. Special teams had a few hiccups in terms of the field goal unit suffering from bad snaps and timing issues. The defense was unable to take advantage of some errant throws from Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart. A targeting play on quarterback Will Levis that was left unreviewed and therefore never called and then there were the fumbles.
With that, let’s get one thing out of the way, both fumbles were committed by quarterback Will Levis. That being said, the loss doesn’t belong to Will Levis. Let’s keep things in context, The first fumble occurred in the play mentioned just a moment ago after the Wildcats signal caller withstood helmet to helmet contact without a whistle being blown.
The second fumble occurred on the Wildcats last play of the game. Just prior to this, starting right tackle Jeremy Flax was forced to come out of the game due to cramping. With the Wildcats down to their second-string tackle on the following play, the Rebels defense was able to get pressure on the Wildcats Will Levis, causing a fumble just as he was about to release the ball, thus ending the game.
Of course, prior to the final fumble was the Dane Key touchdown that was called back due to Kentucky getting the snap off before all their players were set. Unfortunately for Kentucky, this may have simply be a game where if one ball would have bounced this way or the other, things could have been different in terms of the outcome. However, there were also moments where the execution just simply wasn’t there.
Should the targeting call have been made? That is absolutely a fair debate. However, there was an opportunity to score afterwards and it simply didn’t work out in the Wildcats favor on this day. That being said, let’s keep thing in perspective. These are not multi-millionaire professionals; these are still kids. To add to that, kids who fought back after being down 16-9 at one point of the game.
Were there some hiccups in terms of execution? Yes, but these are things that can be coached up and cleaned up. Also, there was some good execution as well. The running game looked much improved with the return of Rodriguez. Barion Brown showed today that he has a gear in terms of speed that is simply on a different level; as a true freshman. Two fumbles aside, Will Levis made a few incredible throws that only professional quarterbacks can make.
For Kentucky players, coaches, and fans, it is difficult to find the positives after losing in such a heartbreaking fashion. Especially, right after the game. However, the Wildcats still showed a lot to build off of in what has still been a strong start to the season. There will be plenty of ‘coachable’ moments for this team to look at on tape and improve upon. With that, there is too much season left ahead to focus on one loss. For Kentucky, it’s on to next week.
Larry Spicer will produce a weekly column covering both the University of Kentucky Basketball and Football programs for the L4 Security 13th Region Media Network. He is a resident of Corbin, and is married with two daughters. He is a communications major at Eastern Kentucky University and has covered football from the NFL to College since 2017.
