It may not have been unexpected, but it was impressive. For months, Kentucky fans had heard speculation about what could happen with Penn State transfer Will Levis at quarterback and Nebraska transfer Wan’Dale Robinson at wide receiver. While the obvious tools of both athletes were abundantly clear, what might not have been was how, due largely to their influence, Kentucky looked … well, not like the same old Kentucky.

“We haven’t had balance,” coach Mark Stoops said after Saturday’s 45-10 win over Louisiana-Monroe, his 50th at Kentucky. “Anytime you’re one-dimensional any which way, it’s not good.”

It — meaning the offense — had not been good at Kentucky. In each of the last two seasons, the Wildcats were last in the SEC in passing yardage. In 2019, it was understandable. For the last two-thirds of the season, UK essentially ran an altered service-academy offense with a wide receiver at quarterback. But 2020 featured a returning starter at quarterback and a highly touted backup transfer. And not much changed. Until Saturday.

Kentucky’s 419 passing yards were the most by a UK team since a win over FCS opponent UT-Martin in 2014. With Robinson and super senior Josh Ali each eclipsing 100 receiving yards, UK had two 100-yard receivers in a game for the first time since 2011. It was the first time UK had a 300-yard passer, 2 100-yard receivers and a 100-yard rusher (Chris Rodriguez Jr.) since 2006. Statistics aside, it was the first time Kentucky had a truly fear-inducing offense in a long while. And much of the difference came back to the two new players.

For Levis, in from Penn State, where he had started exactly one game in 2020 while serving mostly as the “running quarterback,” the game started badly but then improved in a hurry. His first UK pass was deflected by Ali and turned into a UL-Monroe interception. But after that, he settled in, took advantage of plenty of time in the pocket and picked apart a porous defense through the air. Levis hit a 58-yard bomb to Ali and a 33-yard corner strike to Robinson, came back to Robinson again for a 62-yard catch-and-throw, found tight end Brenden Bates on a dart in the end zone and generally opened a new chapter of UK offensive history.

“You can see that he’s all that he’s been advertised for his arm strength,” Stoops said of his quarterback, whose 367 passing yards were the most ever by a UK player in his first game.

“You gotta have your eyes open,” said Ali of Levis’s arm strength. “One day in practice I blinked, and it didn’t work out too well for me.”

Another guy who left the other players unable to blink was Robinson, the former Mr. Kentucky football who committed to UK in late 2018, then ripped the staff’s hearts out a month later by committing to Nebraska. After two seasons as a Cornhusker, he was back in his home state, and he went past or around virtually the entire UL-Monroe team on Saturday.

His first touch was a 33-yard touchdown reception that was UK’s first score of the season. It was a play that even a defensive coach could appreciate.

“You can thank me for that one,” Stoops admitted after the game. “I said, ‘Get Wan’Dale a touch,’  and it was a touchdown. So I’m one-for-one.”

Robinson was elusive throughout the opener, hauling in a long pass from Levis and ducking under a defender to pick up another 10 or 15 yards at one point, taking a jet sweep and cutting up field for yardage on another play (that was wiped out by a penalty), and perhaps most impressively, catching a slant in the red zone, working around one defender and dragging another into the end zone. Certainly not since Lynn Bowden and perhaps since Randall Cobb has Kentucky had such an impact wide receiver.

It was a special day for Robinson, whose 5 catches amassed 125 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He admitted after the game that playing in a stadium where he had grown up watching games was a unique experience.

“Today when I came into the Cat Walk,” Robinson said after the game, “I just looked around and was like, ‘Wow. I’m here.’ … I just wanted to go out there and perform.”

It was a day for special performances — a day that brought back memories of Tim Couch and Craig Yeast, Jared Lorenzen and Derek Abney, Andre Woodson and Keenan Burton. Kentucky really did look like a different team — and much of the difference came down to a pair of transfers who looked very comfortable in their new Kentucky home.