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Garrett Johnson had six catches for 119 yards
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Kentucky coach Mark Stoops admits he’s normally “stingy” handing out game balls to players. However, he had no problem giving one to quarterback Patrick Towles Saturday night after UK beat No. 25 Missouri 21-13.
That’s the same Towles who was being roasted by many fans after his performance against Florida in a 14-9 loss along with the way UK ended last season 0-6. Many were hoping that Stoops would give redshirt freshman Drew Barker a chance to lead the offense.
Instead, Towles responded with probably his best overall game at UK. He completed 14 of his first 15 passes for 120 yards and also scored a touchdown. He finished the game 22 of 27 passing for 249 yards and two scores. He became the first UK quarterback since Andre Woodson in 2007 to throw for at least two scores and rush for a score in the same game. Woodson did it in a win over eventual national champion LSU and while this win may not go down in the same historical significance, it was a signature win for Stoops, Towles and UK.
Stoops said he “really didn’t say much” to Towles during the week other than to support him.
“I want to make sure I don’t hinder the playcaller and the quarterback,” Stoops said. “I thought he played a really good game and made good plays with his feet and was aggressive down the stretch.”
And remember that Kentucky won despite having a 48-yard pass to Dorian Baker negated by a holding call and an interception return by A.J. Stamps wiped out by a pass interfence call.
“We are better football team and can overcome some of that now. I think as we get better then we can overcome some critical things,” Stoops said. “I thought it was good to see us get in attack mode and make plays when the game was on the line. That was a confidence builder for sure.”
That’s because Kentucky had a lot of players other than Towles play well.
— Freshman tight end A.J. Conrad finally got a chance to look like Jacob Tamme as coaches had predicted he would. His first UK catch was a 28-yard gain in the second quarter and then he had a 24-yard scoring reception in the third quarter, the first TD catch by a UK tight end since Steven Borden in 2013.
“Everybody was wondering when he would break out of his shell. It was good to see him make some plays. We knew it would come. Just a matter of when,” Stoops said.
— Garrett Johnson posted his second career 100-yard receiving game with six catches for 119 yards and Baker, who dropped a pass in the end zone on UK’s first series against Florida, had five catches for 51 yards and a score.
— Junior running back Jojo Kemp gained 66 yards on 13 carries in the second half after Boom Williams seemed to put himself in Stoops’ doghouse when he failed to make a block on a Missouri blitz.
“One game this guy might be hot. He (Kemp) made some tough runs. I don’t know why it was JoJo tonight. He had some tough runs. He runs some of gap runs better,” Stoops said. “At the end of every victory, we have got some critical runs. That is how you win close games. If you are not able to do that, you lose. We are getting better at that and big part of why I hired (offensive coordinator) Shannon (Dawson).”
— C.J. Johnson had the best performance of his career with 11 tackles and one-half sack playing in place of injured Regie Meant. Johnson had set a career-high in tackles with seven at halftime. He had set his career high with six tackles against Florida a week earlier.
— Senior Josh Forrest had nine tackles, including half a sack and a tackle for a loss.
— Junior Jason Hatcher made a career-high eight tackles, had his first pass break-up, a quarterback hurry and half a tackle for a loss.
— Freshman linebacker Denzil Ware recorded his first sack, two tackles for loss and five total tackles along with a quarterback hurry.
— Senior linebacker Ryan Flannigan had eight tackles, two pass break-ups and his first career quarterback hurry in his first game of the season.
“We don’t need guys to go be Supermen. We have a good team. We just need them to go play within themselves,” Stoops said
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