Kentucky football falls short of its standard in win over Chattanooga

Let’s see, Kentucky’s offense was sporadic, its defense leaky, its special teams nothing to write home about and its overall Saturday performance not what you would want from an SEC team against an FCS team.

How’s your blood pressure, Mark Stoops?

“Not good,” replied the UK coach.

It could have been worse, of course. In case you missed it, the Wildcats did defeat pesky Chattanooga 28-23 before an announced crowd of 55,214 at Kroger Field to improve to 3-0 on the season.

“We’re never going to apologize for a victory,” Stoops said.

That was followed by a lengthy but. To use one of Stoops’ favorite phrases, the Cats were “aggravated” with an afternoon in which they struggled with the visiting Moccasins, a team that lost to OVC member Austin Peay (30-20) in its season opener before blanking North Alabama (20-0) last Saturday, the same Saturday that Kentucky celebrated an important 35-28 win over Missouri in a key early-season division matchup.

And yet when UTC’s Aaron Sears booted a 30-yard field goal with 13:27 left in the game Saturday, “UPSET ALERT!!” flashed on scoreboards across the nation as Chattanooga had grabbed a 16-14 lead on Stoops’ squad.

To Kentucky’s credit, the Cats responded. In the midst of an up-and-down day, UK quarterback Will Levis engineered a seven-play, 77-yard scoring drive, connecting with hybrid tight end Izayah Cummings in the right corner of the end zone to put the Wildcats back in front 21-16 with 10:18 remaining.

Senior safety Tyrell Ajian had to make a play to seal it. Undeterred, Chattanooga marched right back down the field, crossing the Kentucky 35-yard line before quarterback Caleb Copeland saw his throw picked off by Ajian at the UK 5-yard line. Next thing you know, the Mocs were watching Ajian rolling down the left sideline 95 yards — the third-longest interception return in school history — for the touchdown and a 28-16 Kentucky lead with 7:40 remaining.

So a win is a win is a win, right?

“I’m not very pleased,” Stoops said. “We’ve got to get better.”

There were plenty of reasons to be displeased. Chattanooga rushed for 171 yards on 28 carries, an average of 6.1 yards per attempt. Not good. The Mocs popped a 48-yard run by Ailym Ford early and a 33-yard dash by Tyrell Price late. “We knew their backs were really good,” UK linebacker Jacquez Jones said.

Kentucky also knew Chattanooga boasted an experienced defense. Twice the Moccasins intercepted Levis, who ended up 23 of 35 through the air for 246 yards and two scores. The visitors held UK’s run game in check, limiting the Cats to just 3.8 yards per carry. After rushing for 198 yards last week, UK star running back Chris Rodriguez managed but 46 yards on 13 Saturday carries. After gashing Missouri for 340 yards on the ground last week, Kentucky gained 102 against the Mocs.

“I’m not happy with myself,” said Stoops, saying he needed to do a better job of getting his team ready to play. “We’ve got to do better, and that starts with me.”

It wasn’t like a letdown came out of the blue, however. The victory over Missouri might have been the most important of the season. It’s human nature for a team — “We have to remember these are young people,” said defensive coordinator Brad White on Saturday — busy accepting back-pats to perhaps fail to take a lower-division opponent as seriously as it should.

Still, if you are the players on this Kentucky team, and you want to accomplish feats that most Kentucky teams have never accomplished, you need to establish and maintain a certain standard of performance. That’s especially true when next Saturday’s game at South Carolina (7 p.m. on ESPN2) begins a stretch of seven consecutive conference games.

“It’s always great to win a college football game,” said Jones, the transfer from Ole Miss. “But even me, I sat in the locker room for 20 minutes after the game just disappointed because I know we can play so much better.”

Not just can, but have played better. Just last week, as a matter of fact. And with the the heart of its SEC schedule approaching, the time is now for these Cats to get back on track.

Next game

Kentucky at South Carolina

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

TV: ESPN2

Five things you need to know from Kentucky football’s 28-23 win over Chattanooga

College football final: Kentucky 28, Chattanooga 23

First Scouting Report: UK football facing first SEC road test at South Carolina

Kentucky football without two linebackers against Chattanooga on Saturday