Kentucky football avoids ambush, but still disappointed by close call against Chattanooga

LEXINGTON – Undefeated but unconvincing, Kentucky has yet to learn how to grab a football game by the throat.

The Wildcats continue to play down to the level of their competition, to dawdle when they ought to dominate, to perform as if good enough were good enough, infuriating fans who have lately been conditioned to expect more of a program not all that far removed from its doormat days.

“There’s some frustration ‘cause it shouldn’t be that way,” safety Tyrell Aijan said Saturday afternoon. “But we’ve just got to buckle down, play football, do what we’re supposed to do (and) not try to do too much.”

In the wake of a 28-23 win against ostensibly overmatched Chattanooga, about the only thing separating the Wildcats from a mortifying loss was Aijan’s 95-yard interception return that ended a potential go-ahead drive and provided UK with a double-digit fourth-quarter cushion.

Aijan had not tried to do too much, but by the time he was done weaving his way across the field and then down the sideline, he was out of breath and feeling the pain of too many teammates pounding on his helmet. What might have been a comparatively perfunctory celebration had Kentucky been taking care of business was instead the kind of rejoicing that usually attends a rescue operation.

Had the senior safety not picked off Cole Copeland’s pass five yards from Chattanooga’s goal line and returned it by a circuitous route to the opposite end zone, the Wildcats could have exceeded Florida State as victims of the season’s biggest upset.

Favored by point spreads that fluctuated in the low 30s – by 33 points according to ESPN Saturday morning -- Kentucky trailed Chattanooga as late as the fifth minute of the fourth quarter. By their own admission, the Wildcats were sloppy, sluggish, unfocused and undermotivated. They had practiced as if preparing for a cakewalk and nearly wound up with a figurative pie in the face.

“Obviously we knew the opponent we were facing and (were) lackadaisical sometimes,” Kentucky receiver WanDale Robinson said. “Now we know we can’t do that against any opponent from here on out basically.”

“We knew we kind of underestimated them ’cause they’ve got some great running backs,” said UK linebacker Jacquez Jones said. “I don’t know what happened. . .That performance was a bad performance.”

“In the run game today, I thought we were soft,” said defensive coordinator Brad White. “We needed to dominate the line of scrimmage and we didn’t.”

It’s human nature, of course, to assess the degree of difficulty of a given task before determining how much devotion that task requires. It’s not unusual for a Power Five football team coming off a tight conference game to experience a letdown when faced with a representative off the lower-level Football Championship Subdivision.

The purpose of these games is generally two-fold: 1) To provide the more prominent program with a virtually guaranteed victory; 2) To provide the FCS school with a budget-balancing payday. But every once in a while, college football’s sacrificial lambs bare their teeth and take a bite out of the standardized script.

Every once in a while, some big-time school gets a humiliating lesson about hubris.

“You got to be good enough to win when you're not at your best,” UK head coach Mark Stoops said. “You have to respect the game, and I talk about it daily, respecting the game. This game we love is about preparation.

“The game is whatever happens, happens. You could live with it if you do your absolute best in preparation. I'm not happy with myself on that and I’ve got to find a better way to motivate them.”

College coaches customarily volunteer for blame whenever their players fall short of expectations. But it’s seldom that simple. Players often have other things on their minds besides getting geared up for an anticipated blowout.

"They’re still young men that have a lot on their plate," White said. "They’re trying to piece it all together. Every week every offense is different and they’re trying. The effort is not an issue. . .

"(But) We’ve got to clean up the, 'Hey, that one’s on me' 'cause everybody raising their hand, that’s not good enough."

Accountability is important. Playing with purpose, however, is paramount.