Kentucky Lets Florida Rally Late Again
Throughout the years the Kentucky football program has had a history of making backup quarterbacks look like Tom Brady replacing Drew Bledsoe. Unfortunately, it happened again on Saturday night as Kyle Trask led the Gators to a victory. While they dominated most of the game Kentucky blows another to Florida 29-21.
Taking Their Foot Off The Gas
For two and a half quarters Kentucky pretty much dominated leading 21-10. However, the Cats went for it on a fourth and one at the Gators 38 yard line. A. J. Rose was tackled for a loss and the momentum swung on that play. True Blue fans are questioning whether it should have been Kavosiey Smoke in the backfield rather than Rose. Florida stopping the Cats came on the heels of the UK defense stopping Feleipe Franks on a fourth and one. Unfortunately, Franks suffered a dislocated right ankle and is likely done for the 2019 season.
Enter Trask who calmly led Florida down the field for a score. Lamical Perine took it the final eight but the Cats still led 21-16 after they missed the two-point conversion. Following a trade of punts, Shawn Davis intercepted a Sawyer Smith pass at the Florida 18 yard line. With Kentucky seemingly playing too conservatively Trask and the Gators marched down the field. A questionable targeting penalty on TJ Carter following a sack gave them great field position. The defensive lineman got ejected joining cornerback Yusuf Corker who was tossed earlier. Judge for yourself if it was indeed targeting.
They They killing the game!!! 🗑🗑 https://t.co/rAfDp7XZ7c
— Tj Carter (@TjCarter_) September 15, 2019
Ultimately Florida took a 22-21 lead after Trask ran it in from four yards. However once again they missed the try for two.
Kentucky still had time and Smith led the Cats right down the field. This time instead of trying to punch the ball in the end zone they simply ran the ball three times to set up a 35 yard Chance Poore field goal attempt. His kick sailed right and the Gators once again came from behind to beat Kentucky. In 2014, 2015, 2017 and now this year Kentucky put themselves in position to beat Florida only to have the Gators win in the end. While we have focused mostly on negative let’s now look at a couple of positives.
Sawyer Smith Played Well
If you read our preview of the game one of the big keys would be how the Troy transfer would play in his first game replacing Terry Wilson. The short answer is pretty well. He completed 23 of 35 passes for 267 yards and two touchdowns. However, he did throw three interceptions. Of course the last was on a “Hail Mary” at the end of the game. He also ran one in for another touchdown and joined some pretty exclusive company at Kentucky. Including, Jared Lorenzen and Randall Cobb.
On Smith’s second interception he ended up making the tackle and in the process seemed to injure his wrist. Following that play and for the rest of the game, his accuracy was definitely off. That’s going to be something to watch going forward.
Former Iowa Basketball Player Continues To Amaze
Ahmad Wagner turned in another stellar performance against the Gators with three more catches. In addition, he tied Lynn Bowden for team-high in yards with 70. However, it was his 26-yard touchdown reception that has everyone talking.
.@Ahmad_Wagner #SCtop10 @SportsCenter pic.twitter.com/TfjSQtUZcS
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) September 15, 2019
You won’t likely see a catch any better than that. So far in 2019 Wagner has been targeted 19 times. He has nine receptions and has drawn nine penalty flags. That means only once has there not been a positive result for Kentucky.
What’s Next For Kentucky?
Last season the Cats broke a 31 game losing to streak to Florida by winning in Gainesville. For nearly three quarters it looked as if Kentucky would earn their first two-game winning streak against the Gators since 1976-77. However, Kentucky reverted back to what fans around here call “typical Kentucky football.”
For many around the program, this loss hurts even more because they thought they had progressed beyond games like this. The conservative nature of playing not to lose on both sides of the ball definitely played a factor. This loss is going to sting for a while however playing in the SEC you can’t dwell on it. Kentucky hits the road for the first time in 2019 when they travel to Mississippi State on Saturday. The Bulldogs are coming off a surprising 31-24 loss to Kansas State. However, everyone knows with those cowbells ringing constantly.
Again after dominating for most of the game Kentucky blows another to Florida 29-21. Thanks for checking this and all of the great content here at Last Word On College Football.
