After an offseason of hearing about how Liam Coen’s offense would result in Kentucky getting pass-happy, the Wildcats took care of business in a much more traditional Mark Stoops way on Saturday — with a slashing power running game and a grinding defense that threatened to overwhelm Florida throughout the game, a 33-14 victory that frankly felt more one-sided than the final score.

After 4 weeks of games in which Kentucky struggled at times to handle mediocre opponents, Florida represented a unique opportunity for the Wildcats. Kentucky found itself favored (albeit by a very slim margin) against Florida for the 1st time since 1988. The Wildcats played like a favorite — like the team that’s now 4-2 against Florida in the past 6 meetings of the series, instead of the one that the Gators took down (checks notes) 31 times in a row. The back half of Kentucky’s schedule is much tougher, but the Wildcats are 5-0.

Player of the Week: Ray Davis

It was a historic day for Davis, who had topped 200 rushing yards by halftime and finished with 280, 2nd best in Kentucky history. Amid all the hype over Devin Leary before the season, the addition of Davis from Vanderbilt might have slid a bit under the radar. Suffice it to say that having games like he did Saturday will put him on everyone’s radar. After an opening drive that included 3 runs of 10-plus yards by Davis and resulted in a UK field goal, Davis hauled in a dump pass and broke multiple tackles on the next drive for UK’s 1st touchdown. He followed that with a 75-yard jaunt that extended Kentucky’s advantage.

Davis rushed for 1,000 yards at Vanderbilt last season, which isn’t exactly the sort of thing that frequently happens in Nashville. While Kentucky likes to spread the ball among a group of veteran backs, Davis is certainly on pace to put together a 1,000-yard season at Kentucky. It may take 1,000 years of SEC football for anybody else to replicate that accomplishment.

Freshman of the Week: Walker Himebauch, snapper

Yes, Kentucky continues to use very few freshmen. In fact, no UK freshman defender had a tackle, no freshman Wildcat had a touch on offense and the only Wildcat freshman who was readily apparent in contributions was Himebauch. Senior kicker Alex Raynor connected on a 50-yard field goal in the 4th quarter that iced the game — all made possible by a snap from Himebauch.

Biggest concern: The broken passing game

Passing was not supposed to be a concern for UK. Leary put together an outstanding career at NC State. He inherited a pair of stud sophomore receivers in Barion Brown and Dane Key, each of whom had more than 500 receiving yards a season ago as a true freshman. Add in former Virginia Tech standout Tayvion Robinson and a crowded tight end room, and Kentucky figured to be a better bet passing than rushing.

It hasn’t really happened yet. Leary misses some easy throws, is frequently victimized by receiving drops and has thrown 5 interceptions (and has probably been lucky to avoid another couple picks). The passing game simply has not been dependable for the Wildcats, which has forced the team to lean harder on the defense and the ground game than expected. Saturday, UK finished 9-for-20 passing for 69 yards. Just 3.5 yards per pass attempt won’t always work for the rest of the season.

Developing trend: Living by the big play

Part of the issue with Kentucky’s offense has been that it just looks different than it has before. The difference is very much apparent in the history of the UK ground game that Davis re-authored Saturday. Kentucky’s top rushing marks were previously held by Moe Williams, an option back who would grind out big-yardage games with 38 or 40 carries, many of the 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust manner. Davis picked up his big yardage on just 26 carries, in part because that included rushes of 75, 33, 31 and 22 yards. That’s 161 of UK’s 398 total yards on just 4 carries.

UK had 5 more 20-plus-yard plays. The Wildcats were 4th in the league in those plays coming in, and they now have 33 in 5 games. UK had 47 of those plays last season in 13 games.

Key stat: 329-69

That’s the rushing differential between UK and Florida. That gap is made more impressive by the fact that while UK entered as the SEC’s top rushing defense (allowing 77 yards per game), the 2nd best was Florida, which had allowed 82 yards per game and 2.9 yards per carry. That’s to say Florida had allowed 328 yards rushing for the season. And it then allowed 329 yards rushing to Kentucky.

Meanwhile, Kentucky’s rushing defense stats keep getting better. Five games in, the Wildcats haven’t allowed an opponent to rush for 100 yards (Vandy was closest with 97). Considering that Kentucky’s remaining SEC opponents entered Saturday ranked 1st, 5th, 7th, 11th and 14th in the league in rushing (Florida was 6th), the Wildcats’ run defense might be in pretty good shape throughout the rest of the schedule.

First impression about Georgia: So you’re telling me there’s a chance?

Look, the bottom line is unchanged, even for a 5-0 Kentucky team that figures to be ranked heading into Athens. Georgia is still one of the sport’s big dogs, and Kentucky’s margin for error will be a million miles smaller than it has been in Weeks 1-5 combined.

That said, this Georgia team has played some fairly underwhelming football at times. And Kentucky’s strengths align with some of UGA’s weaknesses. UK hasn’t bested the Dawgs since 2009, but in a topsy-turvy year of college football, that might just be Kentucky’s music coming up next in the parade of underdogs.