With one quarter of the 2022 Kentucky Wildcats football season in the books, an awful lot has gone right.
As of Sunday, Mark Stoops and troops sit No. 8 in the AP Top 25, No. 9 in the USA Today AFCA Coaches Poll.
On Saturday, when then-No. 9-ranked UK (3-0, 1-0 SEC) blanked FCS foe Youngstown State 31-0, it gave Kentucky its first victory as a top 10-ranked team since Nov. 19, 1977, when Art Still, Derrick Ramsey and the No. 7 Cats finished off a 10-1 season with a 21-17 victory over Tennessee.
Two Saturdays ago, when Kentucky discombobulated Florida wunderkind quarterback Anthony Richardson and beat the then-No. 12 Gators 26-16 in Gainesville, it moved Stoops (now 62-53) past Bear Bryant as UK’s all-time coaching wins leader.
The Kentucky defense appears to have a chance to be the best of the Stoops era. UK’s transformed wide receiving corps has been better than advertised.
Yet if the Wildcats are going to complete the “special season” for which the Big Blue Nation has been pining for four-and-a-half decades, the UK football brain trust is going to have to find answers to three pressing questions.
Is UK’s offensive line fixable?
For Kentucky, the numbers that are often interpreted as reflecting the quality of an offensive line’s play are not great.
Out of 131 FBS teams, UK stands 125th in sacks allowed. Will Levis has been sacked a whopping 11 times in three games.
Meanwhile, Kentucky stands No. 122 in rushing yards, averaging a measly 74.3 yards a game. Ten times on Saturday, the Youngstown State defense tackled a Kentucky player for a loss of yardage.
“It is aggravating to give up negative-yardage plays consistently,” Stoops said. “We’ve got to get that fixed and run the ball downhill. There’s a big difference between second-and-8 or second-and-7 or second-(and)-6 or second-and-12 or 13.”
It’s not shocking that Kentucky has had some offensive line growing pains in 2022. UK lost three starters from last year’s “Big Blue Wall” and the two returning starters have switched positions — Eli Cox from right guard to center and Kenneth Horsey from left guard to left tackle.
It has not helped that, due to injuries, UK has yet to start the same five players on the offensive line in any game.
“We can make all the excuses we want, but the reality is we’ve got to block (opponents) better,” Kentucky offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello said. “I’ve got to call better plays and we’ve got to do a better job.”
Can Kentucky figure out its red-zone issues?
In 16 trips inside the opponents’ 20-yard line so far this season, UK has scored touchdowns on only eight. Otherwise, UK has kicked five red-zone field goals, missed a field goal and thrown two interceptions.
The inability to punch the ball in with the run has put more pressure on Levis to make throws in the red zone. Needing to make concise throws against defenders in a compressed space is a tough place to put a quarterback whose accuracy sometimes is errant.
Star running back Christopher Rodriguez bringing his physical running style back to the field in game five after missing the first four games due to a suspension will help Kentucky in the red zone. How much C-Rod will help likely depends on how UK answers the first question.
What we do know is that with games coming up against four of the nation’s top 21 scoring teams — No. 3 Tennessee (52 points per game); No. 17 Georgia (43.3); No. 18 Mississippi (43.0); and No. 21 Vanderbilt (42.0) — UK will need to make better use of its own scoring opportunities moving forward.
What will happen after J.J. Weaver’s injury?
Kentucky’s standout rush end/outside linebacker played all of three snaps against Youngstown State before he had to leave the game for good under a trainer’s supervision.
UK Radio Network sideline reporter Dick Gabriel later reported that Weaver was standing in the tunnel through which Kentucky enters and exits the field watching the game with his left arm in a sling and what appeared to be a brace around his elbow.
One reason Kentucky’s defense seemed so stout in the victory at Florida is it was the first time in more than a year that Kentucky had its two primary edge rushers, Weaver and strong-side linebacker Jordan Wright, fully healthy and on the field together in a game.
The result was a team-high nine tackles for Weaver and SEC co-Defensive Player of the Week honors for Wright after he made six stops, two tackles for loss, a QB sack and set up a touchdown with an interception.
Asked at his weekly news conference Monday at Kroger Field about Weaver’s status, Stoops said the Moore High School product “will be week to week. It doesn’t look like he’ll be able to play this week” against Northern Illinois.
“Week to week” sounds like good news for the Cats. Against the high-octane offenses that lie ahead on the UK slate, the ability to deploy healthy versions of both Wright and Weaver would seem vital to Kentucky’s ability to produce the type of breakthrough season the BBN craves.
