Here are five takeaways from Kentucky’s 50-16 loss to Tennessee:

1. The SEC has figured out how to stop Patrick Towles. During Kentucky’s 5-1 start to the season, Towles completed 60 percent of his passes and threw 10 touchdowns compared to just four interceptions. During Kentucky’s ongoing five-game losing streak, however, he’s completing just 53 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and three interceptions. The Wildcats’ first-year starting quarterback hasn’t imploded or given games away with boneheaded mistakes, but his play has dropped off in recent weeks and so has his team’s. Towles isn’t getting worse, but opposing defenses are figuring him out and adjusting. Unless Towles begins to make some adjustments himself (and I mean that as a thrower, because running more is not a long-term solution), the offense is going to be in big trouble.

2. When opponents silence Boom Williams, the Kentucky offense is in big trouble. Speaking of big trouble, Boom Williams was limited to just one total yard on five touches against Tennessee, and Kentucky’s offense had one of its worst performances of the season as a result. Williams is a dynamic athlete who can impact a game as a runner, a receiver or a returner. However, when opponents limit his touches and bring him down in the open field, it greatly reduces what the Cats can do on offense. Like with any team, if you eliminate its most explosive player the team will struggle. That’s what happened to Kentucky on Saturday, and offensive coordinator Neal Brown must find new, creative ways to get Williams the ball in order to open up the rest of UK’s Air Raid offense.

3. Javess Blue has the talent but lacks the consistency of a No. 1 wideout. Blue has been as puzzling and frustrating as any player on Kentucky’s roster this season. The Cats’ senior wideout had six catches for 131 yards against Tennessee, including three catches of at least 30 yards, yet he’s only gone over 100 yards one other time this season. His six catches were the most he’s had in a game this season, and his 21.8 yards per catch average was also his best of 2014. He’s made dazzling catches in otherwise quiet games, and continues to lead UK in receiving touchdowns, yet Saturday’s loss was his first dominant showing of the year. He has just one game left in his college career, maybe two if UK beats Louisville and reaches a bowl game, and Kentucky is hoping he has another 100-yard day in store for the season finale against the Cardinals.

4. Bud Dupree is still way too good for the rest of Kentucky’s defense. We knew Dupree was the best player on Kentucky’s defense when the season began, but not by this wide of a margin. Dupree is Kentucky’s best pass-rusher, its surest tackler and its best athlete on defense. He makes plays in every way imaginable, from collapsing pockets to stuffing run plays at the line to batting passes down and even blowing up screens with his linebacker speed in a defensive end’s frame. Dupree had 15 tackles and a sack in Kentucky’s loss to the Vols, serving as one of few productive members of an otherwise overmatched defense that has now allowed 113 points in its last two games. He’ll be playing on Sundays next year, which is something no one else on Kentucky’s defense will be able to say. It’s scary to think how much worse this game could have been from a Kentucky perspective without Dupree putting in work in the trenches.

5. The Wildcats’ special teams will cost them a potential bowl berth this season. Kentucky’s special teams held the team back in losses to LSU, Mississippi State and even Georgia last week. Those hoping the issues on special teams would be resolved by this week were sorely letdown on Saturday, as Kentucky allowed Tennessee to have a field day in the return game while its punter, Landon Foster, averaged just 35 yards per kick in the first two and a half quarters of action. It’s unfair to say the loss falls solely on the special teams — the Cats failed in all three phases of the game — but the special teams certainly didn’t help the cause either. Furthermore, the special teams have gotten worse each week during UK’s losing streak, which is a bad sign as Kentucky prepares to close the season against a Louisville team loaded with explosive athletes.