You Looking For Beef? Stein is 100% Angus
(LEXINGTON)- Well, that escalated quickly.
Just a mere seven days ago Kentucky walked into their home locker room at Kroger Field after taking thumping from the Tide. THIRTY TWO unanswered points in the Second Half of a nationally televised game that was (supposed) to be Will Stein’s coming out party left a lot of BBN (myself included) feeling as if we might be in for yet another long football season.
It presented the first-year coach with his real test. Not in the playbook, not recruiting, not even a press conference. The test was one question, and that is, “What is your team going to do after such a tough defeat?” Apparently, the answer is to go to one of the rowdiest environments in all of college football and knock off the #9 ranked Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field.
Not a bad answer Coach.
Kentucky shocked the nation on Saturday in College Station. A 10-point victory that could have been more and a complete and utter domination of a team that was supposed to be in the conversation for a deep run in the College Football Playoff. Quite frankly, the Cats made it look easy.
Texas A&M had scored 50 and 48 points in their first two games of the year. Both demolition derby’s of the football variety at Kyle Field. After the Ags went up 7-0 and Kentucky fans had the “here we go again” feeling they have come to know all-to-well enter their thoughts.
Except this time it was different.
Kenny Minchey Jr. led Kentucky down the field and found Tight End Henry Boyer for a short toss to pay dirt that evened the game up. They went into the locker room at Half tied.
Then came the Third Quarter. Kentucky didn’t just win the Third Quarter. They took Texas A&M out back to the wood shed and made them pick their switch. Kenny Minchey couldn’t miss a pass, receivers were open by five yards, the offensive line was getting more push on the line than A&M could handle. Kentucky outgained TAMU 196-20 in the Quarter (that’s about 10/1 for those keeping count).
Kenny Darby made up for what was a costly drop early in the game and found the endzone after making an A&M receiver touch grass quickly coming out of the locker room. That set the tone and showed some resiliency. CJ Baxter found the endzone twice and showed himself to be tougher to take down than a Christmas tree on December 26th.
Twenty-one points in the Quarter. Now, that is something BBN is not used to seeing. Much less against a top-ten opponent on the road.
This looked more like the offense I expected from Stein. Deep shots, aggressive play, managing the clock well. He checked all of the boxes for me in this game.
DJ Miller caught five passes for 96 yards while QB1 Minchey went 14/18 and tallied up two passing touchdowns of his own.
That’s winning football.
“The more physical team won the game”, Stein told reporters in the post game press conference.
Let’s not forget about the defense either. My goodness. Sam Greene came to play like a man with a bone to pick. Maybe he didn’t like the rambling from the A&M Yell Leaders the night before about the same old jokes thrown Kentucky’s way.
(I don’t know if that was the motivation for his performance but seriously Ags, learn some new material. Last time I laughed at those I fell off of my dinosaur).
This wasn’t some fluky upset where Kentucky stole the game either. This was a downright beating. ”They beat our ass”, Coach Mike Elko said after the game. I have to agree with him. Kentucky was the better team on the field in every single aspect of the game. Even the Coaching was better. I do respect him not dressing it up and calling it like it was though.
Now Kentucky welcomes South Alabama to Kroger Field on Saturday. I don’t expect that game to be particularly close. The following week Kentucky will make the trip to Columbia, South Carolina for Will Stein’s next test.
Texas A&M didn’t completely erase the Alabama game. Nor would Will Stein want it to. Remember how that felt, then remember how the A&M game felt. Which one did you like better? That will be an easy answer for the players as well.
Stein wanted the trifecta on Saturday. He wanted toughness. He wanted grit. He wanted competitiveness. He cashed his ticket and left BBN with a line that they will remember for years to come.
“I’m not surprised.”
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