Kentucky football won their third consecutive road game against the Oklahoma Sooners. This was a tough game against an elite defense, but the Wildcats offense found just enough success to leave with a win. Will Stein and Joe Sloan had an unbelievable opening game script, but Brent Venables made adjustments and made it tough for Kentucky to move the football. The staff clearly emphasized starting fast and playing clean to get out of Norman with a win.
The Wildcats opened the game with a 13-play, 67-yard touchdown drive that I thought was the best opening game script of the season. Kentucky converted on multiple third downs, we saw Nic Anderson convert on a 3rd & 4 and later Kenny Darby catch a pass on 3rd & 5 on a crossing route over the middle.
The Wildcats then showed a tush push look they scored against LSU, but instead handed it off to tight end Mikkel Skinner on a sweep play to move the chains on 4th & 1. They capped off the drive on a third down play action pass to Willie Rodriguez out in the flat for the score.
It was critical for Kentucky to start this game fast and they did that offensively. The game script was magnified because Venables is a phenomenal defensive mind that will find ways to make adjustments. And a credit to Oklahoma, they made it tough sledding on the Wildcats the rest of the game. However, down 13-7, Kentucky found a way to get another scoring drive to start the fourth quarter.
Kentucky started the drive in the third quarter that would eventually lead to a 7-play, 44-yard touchdown drive when the Wildcats needed it the most; they were set up with good field position following a Ty Bryant interception. Jason Patterson really stepped up this drive as the Wildcats were without their starting running back CJ Baxter. Patterson has four carries on the drive for 15 yards and caught a check down for an 8-yard gain. This set up a phenomenal play call, as the Wildcats went five strong and ran a swap four vertical concept and Kenny Minchey had his best throw of the day to Willie Rodriguez for a touchdown.
Kentucky had to scratch and claw to score points in this road environment against an elite defense. They went for a 4th & 3 in the red zone, where Kentucky had a touchdown on a screen pass but Will Stein called a timeout as the play clock was winding down. Stein likely regrets that timeout because the next play resulted in a sack and a turnover on downs. This is clear that Stein is going to live and die by his aggressiveness as the head coach, and that is something we have to get accustomed to.
That was the third great drive of the game for this offense that unfortunately did not result in points. The 8-play, 40-yard drive was ended with the fourth down decision that easily could have come back to bite the Cats, but it did not. Kentucky's defense really stepped up in the fourth quarter, and we will get into that preview next. Jay Bateman and his defense deserves a ton of credit for getting this win.
We mentioned the heavyweight scheme matchup all week between Stein and Venables and it did not disappoint. Kentucky found just enough offense to leave with a victory, and I thought the Wildcats had a great gameplan offensively. This was always gonna be one of the more difficult games as Oklahoma has the best defense on Kentucky's schedule, and this was Stein's first time going against a Brent Venables' coached defense which can make things even harder. Kentucky now sits ranked 12th in the country with Vanderbilt coming to town before the bye week, and the Wildcats keep finding ways to win football games.
This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: Kentucky offense review: Cats find enough success for road win
