By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
If a crushing defeat to Southern Mississippi to open the season wasn’t enough, Kentucky was dealt another punch to the gut in a 45-7 loss to Florida Saturday in Gainesville.
It marked the team’s 30 straight loss to the Gators, a winless streak that goes back to 1986 and was the first time the Wildcats suffered a setback in the second game of the season since a 35-27 loss to Mississippi State in 1997.
The Wildcats, who gave up 34 unanswered points in a 44-35 setback to the Golden Eagles last week, failed to score in the first three quarters as the Gators amassed 564 total yards against a Kentucky defense that has given up 89 points and 1,084 yards to open the season.
The Gators also finished with 28 first downs and was 14-20 on third-down conversions.
It wasn’t the kind of start Mark Stoops envisioned to open his fourth season as coach of the Wildcats and the Kentucky coach finds himself looking for answers going into Saturday’s contest against New Mexico State.
While the defense failed to show any kind of improvement during the second week of the season, the offense wasn’t much better. Drew Barker, making the first road start of his career, struggled and was eventually benched in the second half in favor of backup quarterback and junior college transfer Stephen Johnson.
Barker was 2-10 for 10 yards and threw a career-high three interceptions. Barker finished with minus 19 yards rushing on six carries. Johnson’s lone completion on three attempts was a 45-yard touchdown strike to Jeff Badet to avoid the shutout. Prior to Badet’s touchdown, Kentucky hadn’t scored in the previous five quarters.
Kentucky finished with just 149 total yards and was led by junior running back Stanley “Boom” Williams, who rushed for 66 yards on 12 carriers. The Wildcats managed just nine first downs, ran 48 plays and gave up five sacks.
Florida signal caller Luke Del Rio was 19-for-32 for 320 yards and four touchdowns. Del Rio, son of Oakland Raiders coach Jack Del Rio, also threw an interception.
Gators receiver Antonio Calloway hauled in five passes for 129 yards and a score while running back Lamical Perine collected 105 yards on 17 carries.
Game tracker: New Mexico State at Kentucky, Saturday, 4 p.m. TV/Radio: SEC Network-Plus, 98.1 FM WBUL.
Keith Taylor is a senior sports writer for KyForward, where he primarily covers University of Kentucky sports. Reach him at keith.taylor@kyforward.com or @keithtaylor21 on Twitter