By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
Not all wins are pretty and this one won’t go down as one of Kentucky’s most memorable performances of the year, but it counts.
It took a fourth quarter comeback and a touchdown in overtime for the Wildcats to avoid an upset to FCS neighbor Eastern Kentucky Saturday night and escape with a 34-27 triumph going into a bye-week before a Thursday night encounter on Oct. 15 against Auburn.
“We just feel very fortunate,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said after the close call to the Colonels. “That’s the word that jumps out at me right now.”
The Wildcats are indeed counting their blessings after Eastern gave Kentucky its best shot in the four-game history of the series. The previous three contests between the two teams, all won by the Wildcats, were determined by double digits.
In what could have been a disaster for a program seeking to turn the proverbial corner, Kentucky converted a crucial fourth-and-short for the game-tying touchdown on Dorian Baker’s 5-yard touchdown pass from Towles in the fourth quarter, capping a 14-point comeback in less than eight minutes.
Baker hasn’t always been consistent this season, but Kentucky offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson didn’t hesitate to get the ball to Baker in a moment that separated a win from a loss. Baker said it was an adjustment at the line of scrimmage that resulted in the successful pass play that tied the score at 27-27.
“With the game on the line, you want to get the ball to your best playmakers,” Dawson said. “I was going to live and die with him.”
Dawson eventually breathed a sigh of relief in overtime with another Towles-to-Baker scoring toss, this time for 3 yards, all Kentucky needed to fend off the upset-minded Eastern. Although things were bleak at the time, Baker, who caught eight passes for 86 yards and two touchdowns, remained confident.
“I was never thinking about losing,” he said. “I always think we are going to win and I just knew I had to make plays. It’s homecoming. Who wants to lose homecoming?”
The fourth-quarter rally helped erase the pain of the first three quarters that saw the Colonels dominate the line of scrimmage. In what many considered would be a walk in the park for the Wildcats turned out to be a struggle that didn’t end until both teams walked off the field.
Stoops was happy to get the win, but wasn’t thrilled how his team got the result.
“I would have liked to have seen us play and improve and move (and take steps) forward as a team,” Stoops said. “Not sure we did that tonight. But getting a victory was obviously very critical. We have to get better. We all have to do a better job starting with me and that’s what we plan on doing.”
Towles threw for a season-high 329 yards and three touchdowns, the finish wasn’t indicative of his performance for most of the contest. Towles had two interceptions and was sacked by Eastern’s defensive line four times.
“Patrick was struggling, but it was great to see him come back and make some plays,” Stoops said.
The outing was similar to Kentucky’s showing in the five-point loss to the Gators a week after defeating South Carolina 26-22 on Sept. 12 in Columbia and signaled the Wildcats aren’t ready to handle prosperity.
“We don’t respond very well to that,” Stoops said. “You can’t be nice at all. That’s the game of football. You have to respect the game, preparation and the opponent and play with toughness and a mental edge about you.”
Now 4-1 and two victories away from becoming bowl eligible, Kentucky has won each game by single digits. The lone setback was a 14-9 loss to Florida, marking the first time in school history the first five games have been determined by eight points or less.
“At the end of the year, it doesn’t matter, nobody will know how or what it looks like, a victory is a victory and very fortunate to get that tonight,” Stoops said.
Sometimes it’s not how you start, but how you finish that matters.
Notes
* Kentucky defensive tackle, C.J. Johnson, the Southeastern Conference defensive lineman of the week, collected a career-high 19 tackles, setting a school record for a defensive linemen.
* The overtime win was Kentucky’s first since beating top-ranked LSU in 2007.
* For the first time since 1993, Kentucky’s starting lineup on offense was without a senior.
* Senior linebacker Ryan Flannigan recorded 11 stops and has had at least 10 tackles in three of the past four games.
* For the first time in five years, Kentucky has held four straight opponents to 27 points or less.
Keith Taylor is a columnist and senior sports reporter who covers UK sports for the NKyTribune