Cats Welcome Their Neighbor
For the sixth time in seven years, the Kentucky football team won its opener under Mark Stoops. On Saturday they look for a 2-0 start for the eighth time in his 11 years in Lexington. It’s another out-of-conference game but the annual match-up against an FCS school. Their opponent is only 25 miles to the south via Interstate 75. Let’s look at both clubs and give you a series history and a score prediction as Kentucky Hosts Eastern Kentucky.
Looking For More Consistency
On paper Kentucky’s 30-point win over Ball State looked pretty impressive. However, Stoops was not pleased after the game. Of course, no coach is ever totally happy but the Cardinals did hold the ball for nearly 39 minutes and had two more first downs (18-16.) Throw in some better but still shaky at times offensive line play and it’s enough to create nervousness in the BBN.
Playing in his first game in nearly a year since his season-ending injury, Devin Leary completed 18 of 31 passes for 241 yards with one touchdown and an interception. Ultimately, he battled consistency all day. Leary completed eight straight in the second half but had four straight incompletions in the first. More positive news Ray Davis ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns while Dane Key led the way with 96 yards on five receptions. Trevin Wallace paced the defense with 12 tackles, two for a loss and a half sack. Speaking of Wallace he earned Defensive Player Of The Week Honors.
🏈 WK1 | SEC Football Player of the Week
DEFENSIVE: Trevin Wallace@UKFootball x #SECFB pic.twitter.com/0TqmwYSpbf
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) September 4, 2023
Barion Brown earned special teams player of the week after his 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. It’s the second straight year Brown took one to the house in the season opener. As you can see there was a lot to like last week, but definitely some things to improve on. Continuing our preview as Kentucky hosts Eastern Kentucky let’s look at the school from just down the road.
Lots Of Familiar Faces
When the Colonels roll into Kroger Field on Saturday there will be a number of former Cats on the sidelines. Head Coach Walt Wells was a quality control aide under Stoops in 2018-19. You may remember Wells suffered a heart attack last August. Nevertheless, he was back coaching on the sidelines three weeks later.
Maxwell Smith, who was the quarterback for Stoops’ first win in 2013, is EKU’s quarterbacks coach. Lastly, C.J. Conrad a former great, is the tight ends coach. Both spent time as graduate assistants at Kentucky. In addition, there are three other former Wildcats on the current roster.
EKU comes into Saturday with an 0-1 record losing 66-13 to Cincinnati. That of course was the Bearcats’ first game as a member of the Big 12. The Colonels are led by super senior quarterback Parker McKinney. A season ago McKinney threw for 3,956 yards and 33 touchdowns as they finished 7-5 making the FCS playoffs. Against Cincinnati McKinney threw for 177 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions.
Continuing our preview as Kentucky Hosts Eastern Kentucky let’s look at the previous matchups between the two schools.
Series History
This will be the sixth time the Wildcats and Colonels have met on the gridiron, all since 1998. To no great surprise UK has one all five. Be that as it may, what is surprising is the last two have been very close. Back in 2015, Eastern Kentucky led 27-13 with seven minutes left. Jojo Kemp scored from seven yards out to cut the lead to seven. Then with 52 seconds left, Patrick Towles hit Dorian Baker on a five-yard touchdown to tie it up. Another Towles to Baker score gave the Cats a 34-27 win and in the process avoided a major upset.
In the last meeting in 2017, EKU led 16-10 in the third quarter. Led by Stephen Johnson UK rolled off the last 17 for a 27-16 win.
Not that we’ve previewed both teams let us give you a prediction as Kentucky Hosts Eastern Kentucky.
Who Wins On Saturday
We need to mention this is the Wildcats annual game airing on ESPN+ On paper this should be a blowout for Kentucky. Although, as we’ve seen the Colonels have played the Wildcats well the last two meetings. Considering EKU gave up 667 yards to Cincinnati last week a similar result is expected by the Kentucky faithful.
Look for both Leary and the Liam Coen offense to have a more consistent effort on Saturday. It’s one of those games where you want to jump out to a big lead and get some playing time for your reserves. In the end, the Wildcats picked up their 18th consecutive regular season win against non-conference opponents.
Kentucky 49 EKU 17
Thanks for previewing the game with us here at Last Word On College Football as Kentucky Hosts Eastern Kentucky. We’ll be back after the game with a wrap-up.
