By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
It wasn’t an offensive explosion but Kentucky did just enough to defeat Toledo, 24-16 in the season opener on Saturday.
With a roster stocked with 55 newcomers, the Wildcats got a big lift from three of their 27 transfers, including running backs Dante Dowdell (Nebraska) and Seth McGowan (New Mexico State). Dowdell and McGowan combined for 207 yards rushing for the Wildcats who wore down the Rockets’ defense with 220 yards rushing.
The Wildcats (1-0) won their sixth straight home opener, a string of five in a row and did so against the gritty Rockets, a preseason favorite to win the Mid-American Conference this season.
In his seventh year at the collegiate level, quarterback Zach Calzada threw for 85 yards in his debut with the Wildcats. Calzada added 14 yards rushing and scored the team’s first touchdown of the season on a 1-yard rush in the first quarter. Calzada made several deep throws and connected on 23-yard completion to Willie Rodriguez, his longest completion in the contest.
The revamped offensive line didn’t surrender a sack and had just three penalties for 30 yards, an improvement from last year’s squad that struggled with mistakes and miscues at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball last season.
While the offense was hit and miss in the opener, the team’s defense was on task and limited the Rockets to just 59 yards rushing and had an interception in the first half. The Wildcats gave 329 total yards, most of which came in the fourth quarter behind Toledo veteran quarterback Tucker Gleason.
Gleason, one of the top returing players in the Mid-American Conference, threw for a game-high 270 yards and one touchdown.
It was the Wildcats’ defense that set the tone early and had a pair of fourth-down stops, including a goal-line stand on their own 4-yard line in the first half. Kentucky linebacker Alex Afari produced the crucial tackle at the goal line and led the Wildcats with 13 tackles. Afari had nine solo tackles, one sack and two tackles for a loss.
GAMETRACKER: Ole Miss at Kentucky, Saturday, 3:30 p.m. TV/Radio: ABC, UK Radio Network.