Despite a continued aversion to keeping the ball in its possession, the University of Kentucky left the Palmetto State with a victory for the second time in four trips under Mark Stoops.
It was the Wildcats’ seventh win in the series’ last eight meetings, and it was probably the ugliest. Kentucky put the ball on the ground four times, losing two of them, and threw the ball away once in a 16-13 win. It improved to 4-0 on the year and 2-0 in Southeastern Conference play, but it will head into its bout with Florida continuing to rank among the worst teams in the country in turnover margin.
UK was tied with two others, Florida State and West Virginia, for the second-worst margin (minus-6) coming into Saturday (UTEP was worst at minus-11). The Seminoles worsened to minus-7 in their loss to Louisville while WVU stayed flat at minus-6 in its 16-13 loss at Oklahoma. FSU is 0-4 and WVU is 2-2; Kentucky, now at minus-9 in that statistic, has defied the odds to this point.
“We have to create more turnovers, we’re emphasizing that, but for us on offense, some of those fumbles, there’s no excuses,” Stoops said. “We cannot do it and win big games. We can’t keep on playing with that fire.”
Kentucky’s defense through four games has taken the ball away just twice. Both were interceptions, one by Jacquez Jones against Missouri and the second by Ty Ajian against Chattanooga.
The offense, meanwhile, has lost six of its 14 fumbles in four games, compared to seven lost fumbles on 13 dropped balls in 2020. Will Levis has thrown five interceptions, as many as Terry Wilson had last season. His latest came by way of a launch downfield intended for Wan’Dale Robinson midway in the second quarter; it was the fourth pick of the year by South Carolina defensive back Jaylyn Foster.
“I saw him getting over the top and thought that backside safety was playing flat-footed, (so) I needed to give him a better ball, but I should have just moved out of my progression,” Levis said of his latest giveaway. “I shouldn’t have forced it.”
UK’s staff has seemed more forgiving of the interceptions, but the fumbles are another matter. Chris Rodriguez led the day with 144 yards on 26 carries, but two of them ended in fumbles — one recovered by Eli Cox (who saved him from a second lost fumble against Missouri) and the other by himself after it bounced away from a South Carolina defender.
Both of Josh Ali’s fumbles, one late in the third quarter and another early in the fourth, led to short fields for South Carolina. The Gamecocks failed to capitalize, twice dropping passes on fourth-down opportunities in Wildcats territory.
“The turnovers are definitely hurting us,” Stoops said. “They hurt our momentum. They made it become a close game once again.”
The silver lining, of course, is that Kentucky has managed to come out on the right side of multiple games in which it failed in the turnover column. It won its third straight game by seven or fewer points, a first since 1933. And it continues, in big moments, to have faith in guys who’ve coughed up the ball. Rodriguez after his second fumble was handed the ball 11 times over UK’s final 19 plays, and Levis threw a pass to Ali inside the final five minutes that set up Matt Ruffolo’s final chip-shot field goal.
There’s an understanding that creating turnovers is somewhat out of its control, but that doesn’t mean UK’s defense can’t do more to put itself in position to give the offense an extra possession or two each game.
“They say turnovers happen in bunches, so we just need to get one,” DeAndre Square said. “We just need to attack the ball when it’s in the air and strip at it while they’re running the ball. Once we get one I feel like we’re gonna get it rolling. Turnovers come with effort and hard work, and a little bit of luck.”
Ultimately, though, the best thing UK can do to help its own effort is to stop making things easier for its opponents. Kentucky is the biggest reason that Kentucky, instead of winning comfortably the last three weeks, has seen each game go down to the wire.
“Once again we did not make it easy,” Stoops said. “I would certainly like that one time.”
This story was originally published September 26, 2021 12:40 AM.