Three takeaways from Kentucky football’s win against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels

Three takeaways from Kentucky football’s 28-17 win against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels on Saturday at Kroger Field:

1. We should have expected a tougher-than-expected game

Never mind that the Colonels began their 2023 campaign getting crushed at Cincinnati 66-13 last week, that Eastern Kentucky gave up nearly 700 yards of total offense and seven — count ‘em seven — completions of 20-plus yards in the first half alone to UC’s Emory Jones, the former Florida quarterback.

As UK head coach Mark Stoops said after Saturday’s closer-than-expected win, EKU is a prideful program. The Colonels have a proud tradition. They have talent. They have an excellent quarterback in Parker McKinney. They have a good coach in Stoops’ friend Walt Wells, who has a couple of former Cats on his staff in quarterbacks coach Maxwell Smith and tight ends coach C.J. Conrad.

What Wells (who worked for Stoops before being hired in Richmond), Smith and Conrad know about the UK program sure didn’t hurt the Colonels. Nor did it hurt that Eastern wanted to make amends for their poor showing at UC’s Nippert Stadium.

“We want to get into the fourth quarter and we did that (today),” Wells said Saturday. “We didn’t last week. We didn’t get in the first quarter last week.”

This week, Eastern led Kentucky 10-7 in the third quarter and trailed just 21-17 in the fourth. Give the Colonels credit.

2. Two games in, Kentucky needs plenty of work

The good news is that the Cats are 2-0. The bad news is that for the seconds straight week, you got the feeling that Stoops’ team is playing well below its capabilities.

For example, Kentucky took the opening kickoff and quickly found itself in a three-and-out, then allowed Eastern Kentucky to block Wilson Berry’s punt. The Colonels capitalized by covering the 30 yards to the end zone in six plays for a 7-0 lead.

After the Cats scored late in the first half to take a 7-7 tie into the locker room, the UK defense started the second half by giving up a 20-yard pass from McKinney to Braeden Sloan, then a 28-yard run by Sloan to set up a field goal and a 10-7 EKU lead.

And when Kentucky rallied to take a 21-10 lead, Eastern got itself right back in it by going 75 yards in nine plays with McKinney finding Joshua Carter for a 39-yard gain on a third-and-4. The drive ended with McKinney burning a UK blitz by hitting a wide, wide-open Sloan on a middle screen for a 9-yard touchdown to make it 21-17.

“We’ve got to get into more third-and-longs,” UK defensive coordinator Brad White said afterword. “There are to many third-and-mediums, second-and-mediums. We have to do a better job there.”

The Cats must also be more disciplined. They were penalized 10 times for 70 yards.

“Penalties,” Stoops said, “are really hurting us.”

3. Kentucky does have some undeniable weapons

Despite the uneven nature of the Cats play in these first two games, it’s obvious that Stoops and offensive coordinator Liam Coen have some weapons in their arsenal.

Barion Brown is certainly one. In last week’s 44-14 victory over Ball State, Brown returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown. Saturday, he turned the momentum in UK’s favor with a 65-yard punt return that set up the Wildcats’ first score.

Tayvion Robinson is one. The senior caught six passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns. The transfer from Virginia Tech caught passes of 24 and 25 yards, and took a pop-pass from Devin Leary and motored 56 yards in the third quarter.

By the way, that 24-yard catch was a touchdown at the end of the first half — set up by Brown’s punt return — that was both a beautiful throw and catch.

“That was a great ball,” Robinson said. “Honestly, I didn’t think it was coming to me the defense played it, I thought it was going to Dane (Key). But he took a chance and we scored.”

And Devin Leary is a weapon. For the second straight week, the quarterback got better as the game progressed. He ended up going 24 of 38 for 299 yards and four touchdowns with one interception.

“I feel like each week we get better in chemistry,” Robinson said. “We feel more comfortable as a unit. I think going into this week we’ll practice hard and be better next Saturday.”

Good luck figuring out this Kentucky football team after two games

Final statistics from Kentucky football’s 28-17 win over Eastern Kentucky

Does ugly win over EKU signal worries for Kentucky? Maybe not.

UK football overcomes first half struggles for another closer-than-expected win over EKU

College football final: Kentucky 28, Eastern Kentucky 17