Congratulations to the Florida Gators for an easy and well-deserved win. They outclassed Kentucky athletically and execution-wise. Kentucky came out and played well early, but three turnovers led to three touchdowns in the first half which effectively put the game away early.
Honestly, I have very little to say about this game. It was riddled with egregious errors that Florida exploited for a ton of points. All in all, Kentucky's offense played better, except when they were helping Florida win by turning the ball over in a bewildering variety of ways. Offensive line play was the worst I have ever seen in a college game, and Morgan Newton repeatedly paid the price by getting crushed by unblocked defensive players.
Games like this are just better off forgotten. Kentucky was the underdog, and deservedly so, and Florida showed why they are a top 15 team. They ran for huge chunks of yardage, threw for touchdowns, and pretty much owned us as they have the past two and one half decades. The speed and execution of Florida was vastly superior to that of Kentucky in every aspect of the game. Kentucky did move the football, particularly through the air, but once again struggled to run the ball on the ground, even if their struggles were not epic as they were against Louisville.
Kentucky's defense played valiantly, but they were overmatched, and it was just a matter of time before Jeff Demps or Chris Rainey got loose in the secondary. And they did, all too often.
On the plus side, well, Kentucky did pile up some offensive yardage, although nothing like an impressive amount. Most of the time, UK would gain yardage for a while and punt. Kentucky also managed not to rack up a bunch of stupid penalties. They had a few, but for the most part they avoided them on both sides of the ball. The defense played very well against Florida's second string. Against the first string, not so much.
Anyway, if UK brings this into Deaf Valley next weekend, the score could be even more brutal. It's hard enough to win down on the bayou if you are playing well, but when you spend 25% of your plays acting like a high-school team, it's just too tough for anyone to overcome.
Who knows, maybe the light will go on sometime soon. This game and the next two were always likely to be losses, so there is really nothing here but opportunity -- too much opportunity for us to deal with, to be sure, but you never know.
I know it's not much, but that's all I've got. Feel free to add yours below. I'm gonna hit the bottle.