QUICK TAKES: Kentucky 24, Toledo 16

In our regular postgame feature, the Cats Illustrated staff offers its first impressions from Kentucky’s 24-16 win over Toledo on Saturday afternoon at Kroger Field.

JEFF DRUMMOND:

The most important thing today was Kentucky getting the W. This was a Toledo team that came to Lexington expecting to win, and the Wildcats were never truly threatened in this game. On a positive note, the UK defense dominated most of the day. There was a late lapse after going up two scores and a “prevent”-style score at the end of the game that may have frustrated some fans in a certain demographic, but for the most part, Brad White’s unit had its way with the Rockets. Kentucky held Toledo to just 59 yards rushing on 29 attempts, recorded three sacks, intercepted a pass, and stopped three out of four fourth-down attempts by the Rockets. One of those was on the 4-yard line, stopping a potential scoring opportunity.

The offense is a different story. Kentucky wound up with 220 yards rushing, which is good, but 79 of those came on one great play by Dante Dowdell. The passing game was disappointing. New starting quarterback Zach Calzada threw for only 85 yards on 10 of 23 attempts against a team that will feature less defensive talent than all but a couple other opponents on the schedule. That won’t cut it next week against Ole Miss. I don’t think OC Bush Hamdan did him any favors, either. There were times in the first half where the offense seemed to have no design or rhythm. It felt like plays were being drawn out of a hat, regardless of the down or distance. The best example was the read-option play from UK’s own end zone when Calzada was dropped for a safety.

JUSTIN ROWLAND:

I think you have to be impressed with the quality of the defense for most of the game. They let their guard down late and allowed a couple of answer scores, but the defensive line generated good pressure, the linebackers played at a solid level, and for the most part, you saw the experience they returned in the defensive scheme.

The offense was a real problem. The rushing yardage will look good on the box score but the 79-yard run for Dowdell had a ton to do with that. Otherwise, there wasn’t a lot of easy running against a completely retooled MAC front seven. Special teams performed well. Defense is ahead of offense all across the country and we’re seeing that in real time. It’s not a surprise to see a Mark Stoops offense far behind a Mark Stoops defense. Don’t read too much into Week 1, ever, but the offense is a substantial concern going up against a schedule that gets a lot tougher.