Kentucky Football Drinking Glass Half-Full and Half-Empty: EKU Edition

The air came out of Commonwealth Stadium when EKU took a 27-13 lead with under eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.  It took a 4th-and-2 fade pass from Patrick Towles to Dorian Baker to send the game to overtime before the Kentucky Wildcats escaped with a win.

There is not a lot of good that can come from an overtime victory against an FCS foe, but we will extenuate the positives and embellish the negatives from Saturday's game.

The Glass Half-Empty

• Woof. That's really all you can say after UK snuck by EKU in overtime. UK looked dismal for over three quarters, and really had no business winning the game.
• Kentucky's defense has been rock solid for the past three weeks, but this week laid an egg as they gave up over 200 yards on the ground to an FCS opponent.
• From one half to the next, it seems like Patrick Towles is a different player. In the first half, he did rush for a touchdown, but also threw two interceptions. He was late on a lot of throws and never got in sync.
• Objectively after five games, you can say that the offensive line is porous and has not played well to date. They continually give up too much penetration to opposing defensive lines. The pass protection has not been good either. Moving forward, the offensive line has got to improve as UK heads into a tough stretch of SEC games.
• It would have been nice to have Boom Williams on Saturday night. His personal issues, or whatever you want to call them, could have cost Kentucky a victory.

The Glass Half-Full

• A win is a win. No matter how you slice it Kentucky got a "W" on Saturday night. The record is now 4-1, two games from a bowl bid. Two extremely winnable games remain; Charlotte and Vanderbilt.
  
• For all the talk about how embarrassing an overtime win over an FCS opponent is, you have to appreciate the grit and toughness the team showed by scoring 21 unanswered points. Most Kentucky teams in years past fold after going down two scores. This team showed a will to win and came back.
• The Kentucky defense line is much better than anticipated. 19 tackles by a defensive tackle is unheard of, and CJ Johnson deserves a lot of praise after his big game Saturday night.
• Great to see Dorian Baker have his breakout game.  Baker hasn't had a game like that in his career. He became the go-to guy in the fourth quarter and played very well when UK needed him most.
• UK almost beat Florida, who by the way, just smoked Ole Miss (who beat Alabama). If that doesn't show you how much UK has improved, then I don't know what will.