By Joshua Huff

[email protected]

The pressing concern for UK football following the LSU game was the disappointing play of its special teams and the inadequacy of its passing game. Fast forward two weeks, and the pressing concern now lies squarely at the feet of UK’s running game while the praise is heaped on once forgotten quarterback Patrick Towles.

Running Into A Wall

Few positives can be said about the results stemming from the Mississippi State game on Saturday in regards to the ground game. Running backs Jojo Kemp, Braylon Heard and Mikel Horton touched the ball a total of nine times for a combined 27 yards.

Buried within those stats is a disturbing trend in the run game. During UK’s loss to LSU, the leading rusher was Horton who touched the ball just five times. A total of five running backs touched the ball that game for just 55 yards. Now jump back to September, in yet another SEC loss, to Florida, the Cats’ running backs rushed for just 59 yards.

The last time I checked, the running game was a vital component to any form of success on offense. Not only does it set up play-action, but it also opens up the passing game for a relatively good quarterback and a dangerous group of receivers.

UK will not win many more games this season if Towles continues to be atop or near the top of the leaderboard in rushing, especially with the schedule that remains.

The one saving grace for the Cats is Stanley “Boom” Williams, who is by far UK’s most talented running back. Williams has been relegated to the bench twice this season due to a suspension and a concussion. When healthy, Williams is an explosive talent whose role should continue to expand as the regular season progresses and on into the future.

When The Bell Towles

With a secondary as highly regarded as Mississippi State’s, it is a safe assumption that not many people saw Towles unleashing his inner-Madden on Saturday. The Bulldogs themselves did not see it coming.

But it did.

Towles harked back to his playground days enroute to one of his best games of the season. The sophomore had a statistical field day as he threw 24-for-43 for 390 yards, two touchdowns along with 76 yards rushing and two more touchdowns.

Those numbers are a far cry from the egg he laid against LSU. Despite the previously mentioned run game, UK is in an advantageous position. It has potentially found its quarterback of the future; that is, if he continues to play the way he has.

Consistency has been an issue with Towles this season. He followed up a so-so game against Ohio with an impressive outing against Florida but then struggled against a Vanderbilt defense that sacked him four times.

I’m not sure which “Towles” we’ll see in Missouri but, it is a safe bet to say that if we see the same impassioned and determined quarterback we all saw in Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday, then the odds may be in UK’s favor.

It Is What It Is

At this point, discussing UK’s poor performance from its run defense has become a broken record. Not much is going to change from here until the final regular season game at Louisville. UK entered the matchup against the Bulldogs allowing 270 yards on the ground, a trend that continued and was eclipsed on Saturday.

The depth on defense is shallow, so UK is stuck with whom they have. The scheme may be tweaked, but don’t look for the same success the men’s basketball team had when head coach John Calipari famously instilled his “tweak” before the Cats’ run through the NCAA Tournament.