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It’s the end of Week 5, and the Kentucky Wildcats are still unbeaten. And no, it’s not yet basketball season. And yeah, the jokes are getting pretty tired, I agree.
The Wildcats defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks 24-10. Kroger Field in Lexington was decked out in blue and the ‘Cats rose to the occasion. A 21-point 2nd quarter helped lead them to a victory despite not scoring a single point in the 2nd half. The defense stepped up big time while the offense couldn’t muster much, as it was a total team effort on Saturday night.
No surprise, the Wildcats were boosted by the play of Benny Snell. The star running back just missed gaining 100 yards, ending the night with 99 on 28 carries. He found the end zone once, and was one of three players to score a rushing touchdown. He along with quarterback Terry Wilson and Asim Rose put up the points in the 2nd quarter on the ground, showing off their stuff.
The Kentucky defense made life miserable for Gamecocks quarterback Jake Bentley. He tossed one touchdown to Deebo Samuel but was otherwise ineffective. He threw for just 148 yards, completed 13 of 28 passes and also threw three interceptions. Darius West, Mike Edwards and Derrick Baity all came away with those aforementioned picks, but the defense wasn’t done there. They forced three fumbles on the night, as well. Josh Allen, Jordan Jones and Jamar Watson all made life miserable for their opposition, each racking up a forced fumble.
The running backs for South Carolina didn’t fare much better. The Gamecocks averaged only 3.7 yards per carry against the stingy UK defense. The usually deft Rico Dowdle was ordinary, rushing for just 44 yards on 13 carries. A.J. Turner had 6.6 yards per carry, but he only had 33 yards to do that talking with. Not exactly what you want.
The victory asserts UK as the second-best team in the SEC East, bar none. Now, what you make of that is what you make of that, of course. But there’s no denying their current status. They do host the Georgia Bulldogs down the line if you want to get really weird about it, too. Nonetheless, Kentucky has something to cheer about right now. And for the folks in Lexington, enjoy all of it.