By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
A three-week turnaround has Kentucky in bowl contention going into the final two weeks of the regular season.
The Wildcats (5-5) notched their third straight win with a dominating 42-10 rout over Tennessee Tech on Saturday, ending the Golden Eagles’ quest for a rare perfect season and ending their school-record 15-game winning streak in UK’s home finale.
“It was a very good win for us, just appreciate the team approaching the week the right way,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said. “We had talked about it all the time to continue to play with great effort, continue to try to improve in the execution. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We’ve just got to continue to worry about ourselves, continue to get better. I love this team’s attitude and effort and really greatly appreciate the seniors playing for the last time in Kroger Field.”
Although outmatched by the hosts, Tennessee Tech, ranked No. 6 in the FCS Division, carried a 10-0 record into the contest and had not lost since dropping a 37-21 decision at Western Illinois last October.
“We hate losing, and that is a disappointed locker room which means the standard has changed at Tennessee Tech,” Golden Eagles’ coach Bobby Wilder. “We knew what we were facing coming into this against an SEC team, but I loved how we competed and proud of what I saw.”
Building on last week’s dominating 38-7 blowout over Florida, the Wildcats picked up where they left off and accumulated 468 yards of offense, while limiting the guests to just 264 total yards.
Kentucky quarterback Cutter Boley had another solid performance in his eighth start of the year. Boley threw for 236 yards with one touchdown and rushed for another. Boley displayed his versatility with an impressive 30-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
Boley was perfect on his first eight passes and threw for 154 yards in the first half. After taking a sack for a 12-yard loss in the third frame, Boley threw a 45-yard touchdown strike to Harvey Gilmore IV on the ensuing play for Kentucky’s lone touchdown in the third quarter.
Under Boley, the Wildcats have scored 30 or more points in three of the past four games.
Boley’s favorite target, Kendrick Law, hauled in a career-high 11 passes for 124 yards, including a 43-yard catch in the opening half that set up Seth McGowan’s touchdown, the first of three scores by McGowan in the first two quarters.
Law said the performance against the Golden Eagles is “just a reflection of what we do every week.”
“That’s the simplest way we can put it,” he said. “We go out there, we prepare to win, and we go out and we win. I like the progress we’re making.”
McGowan rushed for 72 yards and three touchdowns as the Wildcats complemented the passing attack with 207 yards rushing, with 113 of those coming in the first half. Dante Dowdell had a team-high 87 yards rushing and one touchdown.
“We’ve always known our identity, how powerful this team is,” McGowan said. “Everything that’s happening now is something that we’ve known since camp. We’ve just got to stay consistent and keep it and look forward to Monday.”
Kentucky, which lost four of its first five Southeastern Conference games, closes out the league schedule Saturday at No. 13 Vanderbilt. The Commodores had an open date on Saturday. The Cats close the regular season at rival Louisville the following week.
“It’s on to the next, and we’ve been handling it very much with the mindset of one week at a time, one day at a time, and, again, appreciate the effort and them preparing and taking care of business,” Stoops said. “Now it’s on to the next opponent and we’ll get back to work.”
Gametracker: Kentucky at Vanderbilt, 3:30 p.m., Saturday. TV/Radio: ABC, UK Radio Network.