Kentucky football lost their first game of the season 45-17 to Alabama. The Wildcats came out hot and were in control of the game for 40 minutes. Late in the third quarter, the Crimson Tide
took the lead and never looked back. In the second half, a lot of the Wildcats weaknesses were exposed. Most of these weaknesses were on the offensive side of the football, so let's review that side of the football.Kentucky's offense struggled and showed a lot of weak spots on Saturday. Quarterback Kenny Minchey had a tough day, and a pick six gave Alabama their first touchdown of the football game. On the first play of the game, Minchey threw a turnover worthy play. Both defenses came to play and had the young quarterbacks were rattled early, but the Tide
offense started to figure some things out in the second half.
Kentucky had one touchdown drive offensively, it came in the second quarter on a 13-play drive for 83 yards that was capped off with a Henry Boyer touchdown off a play action look. Kentucky could not get the run game going, they had 32 total carries for just 63 yards, averaging just two yards per carry. Jason Patterson was the only running back that found consistent success for the Wildcats.
In my opinion, there were some glaring issues that got exposed in this game. Kentucky's top two receivers in the preseason were slated to be Nic Anderson and DJ Miller... Miller still has not caught a pass through two weeks, and Anderson has just two catches for 17 yards. These two players have to turn this around, as the receiver room is currently being led by true freshman Kenny Darby who has exceeded expectations early.
Another thing that is abundantly clear is that the staff has to lean on the tight end room, they are the difference makers on this offense. Willie Rodriguez had another phenomenal game. Henry Boyer scored the only offensive touchdown, but struggled as a blocker in this game. Mikkel Skinner had just eight snaps on Saturday, and that is flat out unacceptable.
The offensive line struggled at times as well, allowing four sacks and six tackles for loss on the day. There's a lot to fix before heading to College Station on Saturday. Right tackle Malachi Wood continued to struggle, and showed a lot of what we saw in 2024 when he got action early in his career. Wood struggles with twitchy pass rushers and that was also exposed over the weekend.
Kentucky's offense has to get Anderson and Miller going because the wide receiver room looks lackluster outside of the true freshman Darby. Mikkel Skinner has to play more, he is a mismatch in the passing game and him logging just eight snaps is baffling. This was an extremely talented defense, but the offensive line has to be more dominant in the run game. Kentucky could not get Alabama out of a two-high shell most of the game, which limited the Wildcats opportunities to take shots down the field.
The play calling was questionable in the second half, but the offensive line was struggling which certainly plays a factor. The failed fake punt really took all the momentum the Wildcats had left. Kentucky gave Alabama three drives in the second half that all started across midfield, and the Crimson Tide capitalized all three times. On the bright side, Will Stein needs to fix his offense and you should have confidence he will figure something out.
This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: Kentucky offense review: How the Wildcats weaknesses were exposed
