Kentucky football: Grading comeback win over Arkansas
On a night when UK honored its former quarterback, the recently deceased Jared Lorenzen, the Wildcats engineered a second-half comeback led by a wide receiver playing quarterback. It wasn’t always pretty, but Kentucky upended Arkansas 24-20 for the team’s first SEC win of the year to take a big step toward reaching postseason play for the fourth season in a row. Here’s a look inside the victory.
What I Liked
Super Bowden
In his first start at QB, Lynn Bowden did everything but sell popcorn. He rushed for 196 yards and two touchdowns, completed 7 of 11 passes for 78 yards, and at one point returned a punt, making him the only SEC QB in recent memory to do that. In his first extended QB action since high school, the junior receiver avoided turnovers or costly mistakes, and led a power rushing game that netted 330 yards on the ground.
Rose and Smoke
Kentucky’s running backs also had their moments, with A.J. Rose netting 90 yards on 16 carries and Kavosiey Smoke adding 45 yards on 11 carries. Kentucky limited the number of downfield shots that Bowden took at QB, but the Wildcats did find ways to get lots of players involved. The good work from the running backs was pivotal to the victory.
A timely kick
Walk-on kicker Matt Ruffolo connected on a 50-yarder in the third quarter for his second career field goal. Ruffolo had missed a 47-yard try earlier, but his successful kick drew Kentucky within a field goal of Arkansas in the third quarter.
The pass rush
Kentucky had three sacks of Arkansas QBs Nick Starkel and Ben Hicks, plus the Wildcats managed four additional QB hurries. For much of the night, Kentucky outpassed Arkansas, which is more a tribute to the Wildcat defense than any Air Raid tactics from the UK offense.
The atmosphere
Despite three consecutive SEC losses and a chilly evening, over 57,000 fans nearly filled Kroger Field. Given how fickle college football fans in general can be, it was an impressive showing from the Big Blue Nation — and one that probably impacted the result of the game.
What I Didn’t Like
A terrible start
On the game’s second play, Razorbacks running back Rakeem Boyd broke a 74-yard run after the nearest Kentucky defender literally turned his back to the man with the ball. Kentucky allowed only 230 yards for the rest of the game, but they put a new quarterback in an immediate hole and boosted Arkansas’ confidence right out of the gate.
Short-yardage plays
Kentucky had massive offensive difficulty in short yardage situations. Bowden took all snaps in the shotgun formation and, while Kentucky tried to disguise inside runs, most of them were wildly ineffective. Nowhere was this more apparent than a 4th-and-1 gamble late in the first quarter which Arkansas turned back — and then converted into a field goal. While much of Kentucky’s revamped offense was successful, the short-yardage game wasn’t.
Too many penalties
Kentucky had seven penalties on the night, and several times gave up some offensive momentum. With a converted receiver running the offense, Kentucky had to stay out of long-yardage situations, and several times UK gave up yards via the penalty flag. The Wildcats have to clean up those kinds of minor execution flaws, especially when they basically offer little downfield passing threat.