UK football crushes UT Martin 59-14
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The word kept coming up, bubbling out Saturday in the afterglow of the University of Kentucky football team's season-opening, 59-14 romp over Tennessee-Martin. That sure was fun, the Wildcats and their coaches said over and over.
They'd all but forgotten the feeling during a brutal 2-10 season in 2013, coach Mark Stoops and his staff's first year on the job. But suddenly, the word was rolling off the tongue again.
"This is the most fun I've had in a football game since (November) of 2012 probably," said offensive coordinator Neal Brown, who was commanding a top-15 offense at Texas Tech back then. His first Kentucky offense ranked 109th nationally last fall.
But Brown's "Air Raid" took flight again Saturday – led by sophomore quarterback Patrick Towles, with a healthy assist from the Cats' loaded backfield – racking up 656 total yards, fourth-most in school history. Kentucky (1-0) didn't punt until the fourth quarter. The defense forced five turnovers and likewise didn't allow a score until the backups took over in the final minutes.
"I've been saying all along that we're better. I think it was pretty evident today that we were better," said Stoops, acknowledging that the Skyhawks, a middling Ohio Valley Conference team, are not exactly Southeastern Conference-caliber competition. Still: "There were times (last season) when we couldn't do the basics, and we are significantly better."
Towles, making his first career start, completed 20 of 29 passes for 377 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions. He ran three times for 30 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown scramble. Since all-time great Tim Couch's debut, the most productive first start by a Kentucky QB was Dusty Bonner's 409 total yards in 1999. Towles had 407.
"This is a feeling that I haven't had in a while, but I'm glad I have it now," said Towles, a former four-star recruit and Mr. Football from Fort Thomas who barely played as a UK freshman and sat out last fall. "This is my first start in the better part of three years, so it's nice to go out there and be in control."
Towles completed passes to nine different receivers and connected on throws of 29, 36, 44, 56 and 79 yards Saturday. What the 6-foot-5, 238-pound rocket-armed righty did in between those big plays impressed Stoops most.
"The big thing was, to me, he was very poised and he made very good decisions," Stoops said. "We know he has the talent to get the ball down the field. I think it was important for him to be efficient in the intermediate area, and I thought he did that."
Towles also benefitted from a robust running game. The Cats rushed for 234 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 8.4 yards per carry. After sophomore Jojo Kemp scored the season's first touchdown, two new guys led the way.
Nebraska transfer Braylon Heard carried it just twice, both for touchdowns – of 73 and 43 yards. True freshman Mikel Horton bulldozed his way to 45 yards and on seven carries, including touchdown rumbles of 14 and 18 yards. It was a big day for fresh faces.
While sophomore Ryan Timmons had a team-best 75 receiving yards on just three catches, rookie wideouts Blake Bone, Dorian Baker and Garrett Johnson were among Towles' favorite targets. Bone hauled in two passes for 65 yards, including a 29-yard catch and run on a screen play for a touchdown.
Players not on last year's team accounted for 325 yards and five touchdowns on just 23 touches offensively and 31 tackles, six for loss, three forced fumbles and an interception on defense. Junior-college transfer A.J. Stamps was a revelation at free safety, piling up a team-high eight tackles, one for loss, and a one-handed interception.
Kentucky's defense, which ranked 115th in turnovers forced last season, collected three fumbles – linebacker Khalid Henderson returned one 89 yards for a touchdown – and picked off a pair of passes. In one afternoon, the Cats' secondary doubled its interception total for all of 2013.
All of that is significant, but none of it matters much without a competent quarterback, which UK lacked last season. In Towles, the team also has a confident QB.
"He thinks he can make every throw. He thinks he can make every run. And that's exactly what you're looking for," Brown said. "I knew he was going to be ready to play. On Wednesday, he had his very best practice that he's had since I've been coaching."
The coordinator sent his quarterback a text message the next morning: You're going to have a big day, kid. And Towles did. But after a big first half, he stumbled out of the chute in the second Saturday.
He made two "poor decisions," misfired on three consecutive throws, and the Cats missed a field goal to start the second half. The next drive, Towles threw a 16-yard strike to his tight end, then rolled left, looking to pass, but saw only grass in front of him so he sprinted in for a touchdown.
In Brown's book, it was Towles' most important sequence of the day.
"That's the thing: bounce back," said Brown, who expected his QB would. "The kid's a winner."
Towles went 38-1 at Highlands High School. He led that team to three consecutive state championships. But the last title game, in the fall of 2011, was Towles' last start before Saturday.
He, like so many Wildcats, had forgotten what it was like to dominate a game.
"It was a lot of fun," Towles said. "But there's a lot more fun to be had."
Kyle Tucker can be reached at (502) 582-4361. Follow him on Twitter @KyleTucker_CJ.