Kentucky defense is looking to return ‘to who we are’ after humbling defeat
Saturday night in Sanford Stadium was a bad night for Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White and his unit. In a ranked vs. ranked spot against the top program in college football, Kirby Smart’s team delivered a message to the rest of the college football world in a 51-13 beatdown of Kentucky. The game was over from the opening snap. Most notably, a strong Kentucky defense was beatdown for 60 minutes.
At practice this week in Lexington, White’s defense is looking to flush that bad performance quickly. As the Wildcats continue their prep for Missouri, the top goal is get back to play to this program’s established defensive standard.
“We have to get back to what we know and who we are. We’ve gotta execute. Simple things and mistakes that we didn’t make in training camp, we didn’t make in spring, we made on Saturday. You get into that kind of environment and things start to snowball,” White told the media on Thursday evening. “Again, hopefully they can use that as a learning moment.”
Kentucky is embarrassed
There was no hiding from what Saturday was — Kentucky’s defense was awful. Georgia did whatever they wanted to a unit that had only allowed 76 points through the first five weeks. The Bulldogs nearly got to that number in one game. Everyone in the program involved with the defense now has something to prove after a very disappointing performance.
Not the performance that we wanted. I think everybody in that defensive unit — coaches, players, everybody involved — is embarrassed by how we performed. But that is last Saturday.” White said. “Now it’s our job to step up and respond. That’s what we gotta do.”
Kentucky is now looking to bounce-back in a big spot against a top-20 Missouri offense.
Kentucky must play with confidence
The Wildcats were hit with multiple haymakers to begin the game on Saturday night in Athens. Brad White’s defense did not respond well to being hit in the mouth early. Confidence was battered after the loss. However, there is no time to sulk. Kentucky must get back to getting stops.
Playing with confidence is a key focus point this week.
“What you can’t do is your can’t lose confidence. This is a good defense and they just need to go back out and play the way they know how to play and the way that they’ve played in the past. It would be one thing if they had never done it and I’m just speaking in wishful thinking,” White told reporters. “This is a team and a defense that has gone out and they have performed this fall on Saturdays at a really high level.”
Kentucky’s defensive coordinator still has a ton of faith in his unit, but everyone must recognize what happened on Saturday. The Wildcats put out a woeful performance but that does not mean this defense cannot move past that and go play winning football again. Players and coaches all must be better in Week 7 against Missouri.
“That’s the beautiful thing about football — it’s very humbling. You’ve gotta come do it every single week. And they got humbled. We as a coaching staff got humbled” said White. “Now it’s about shaking it off and getting up and getting back to what we know how to do.”
Slowing down Luther Burden III will not be easy
Former five-star prospect Luther Burden III is living up to his recruiting ranking in year two at Missouri. The former five-star recruit from St. Louis leads college football in receptions (54) and receiving yards (793). Through six games, Burden has been the best wideout in college football. One week after playing the best tight end in college football, Kentucky now must stop the best slot receiver.
Burden has recorded at least 96 receiving yards in every outing this season. The sophomore is averaging nine receptions per game. Missouri offensive coordinator Kirby Moore and quarterback Brady Cook force-fed the star skill talent weapon the football. Slowing him down will not be easy.
“He’s elusive, he’s shifty, he can change speeds which is deceiving. He can be smooth and he doesn’t feel like he’s running and then all of a sudden he hits a gear,” White said when asked about Burden. “Those kind of guys are really, really tough to defend.”
Kentucky cannot stop the Missouri offense without slowing down Burden. The Wildcats must do a better job against the pass in Week 7.
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