Wildcats return to SEC play vs. Bulldogs
After an emotional win over Florida and a rout of an FCS opponent in Murray State, things begin to get serious again for Kentucky.
The Wildcats (3-0) begin a stretch of seven consecutive Southeastern Conference games Saturday when they host 14th-ranked Mississippi State.
“We are going to have to kick it up a notch,” said coach Mark Stoops, whose Wildcats ended a 31-game losing streak against the Gators and are coming off a 48-10 win over Murray State in their last two games.
The Bulldogs (3-0) have won three in a row by comfortable margins, though their opener was over an FCS opponent (Stephen F. Austin) and last week they whipped a lower Sun Belt team (Louisiana) 56-10.
But their 31-10 road victory at Kansas State is legitimate enough.
Little seems to have changed with coach Joe Moorhead’s arrival from Penn State to take over for Dan Mullen, now at Florida. With a big, bruising quarterback in senior Nick Fitzgerald (6-5, 230) leading the way, the Bulldogs have punished three foes to the tune of 588 yards a game in total offense while holding their three opponents to a three-game total of 777 yards.
Matching up to Mississippi State’s physicality will be a key for his Wildcats, coach Mark Stoops said.
“I guess it is, because that’s the nature of this league. You have to be,” he said. “You can look to the success of Mississippi State because of the way they play.
“They’re as physical as anybody you’re going to play in this league, if not more. So you have to match them. It starts there. But again, there’s a lot of other things that are going to go into it. But that’s a big piece of it.”
The game looks to be a potential showcase for both quarterbacks. Fitzgerald, who was suspended for the opener, has passed for 397 yards and rushed for 266 in two outings.
Kentucky’s Terry Wilson has passed for 392 yards and rushed for 233 in his three starts. He was particularly accurate against Murray State, going 19-of-25 passing, after going 22-of-34 the first two games.
Stoops said he sees the comfort level in the junior college transfer growing each outing.
“It does say a lot about him, because we’ve seen that,’ Stoops said. ‘You’ve heard me talk about that at least two or three times. He makes improvement often. He takes the coaching, he works at it. He comes in early, he stays late.
‘He does what he has to do, studying on his own and also take the coaching. It does not surprise me much because I anticipated that. I mentioned that after Week 1 in here that he’s a sophomore and in Game 1 there was no doubt in our mind he would improve. He has.”
The Wildcats will be looking to go 4-0 for the season for the first time since they won their first four games (Louisville, Norfolk State, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky) in 2008. A 17-14 loss to Alabama ended that streak, and they finished the year at 7-6.