QUICK TAKES: Kentucky 31, Youngstown State 0
In our regular postgame feature, the Cats Illustrated staff offers its first impressions from Kentucky's 31-0 win over Youngstown State on Saturday at Kroger Field.
JUSTIN ROWLAND:
Folks would have liked to see more scoring but it's tough to find fault in a 31-0 victory even against an outmatched opponent. To shut a team out, the defense really has to be dialed in and doing a lot of good things. They certainly did. Kentucky kept YSU under 200 yards of total offense and they did almost nothing in the first half. The receivers are explosive and an obvious strength and Levis made some really good throws. You can see the potential of the offense and C-Rod will improve the running game when he returns. But the offensive line just has to get better. Three weeks in, we've seen enough to know that Kentucky can probably go as far as that unit will take them. They gave up too many sacks and TFLs today, and Levis was throwing on the run or off balance more than you'd like to see against an FCS team. But overall it was a quality performance, just one you'd like to clean up on offense a bit.
JEFF DRUMMOND:
A little rough around the edges, but it's hard to complain about a 31-0 victory without getting rolled eyes in your direction. When the game ended, I didn't feel like Kentucky had done a lot offensively, but then you look down and see 480 total yards, including 377 passing for Will Levis. I think that number could have been 400-500 if he had gotten better pass protection from the O-Line. Another nice showing from freshman wideout Dane Key, who now has a TD reception in the first three games of his college career. The Big Blue Wall is not getting a great deal of push in the run game. That remains a concern moving forward. Good to see the defense finish off a shutout and six straight scoreless quarters going back to halftime at Florida. Brad White's unit seemed dialed in all day long, allowing just 192 total yards and no third-down conversions. I can't recall the last time I saw the latter from a UK defense. The health of outside linebacker J.J. Weaver, who appeared to suffer an elbow injury on the first defensive series of the game, is on everyone's mind now. The junior outside linebacker is a huge key to the Cats' goals this season, so hopefully he won't miss too much time.