Redshirt freshman Kaiya Sheron did not have a lot go in his favor throughout his first collegiate begin on Saturday night time.
The Somerset, Ky native completed with 178 yards, two touchdowns and an interception by the air in Kentucky’s 24-14 loss at house to South Carolina. The field rating is not terrible to have a look at, however it was extra the mess around Sheron that doomed the Cats offense from the primary play of the sport onward.
“We did not do an ideal job of placing a primary time starter able to achieve success,” UK head coach Mark Stoops mentioned after the loss. “I do not assume our crew performed with the traditional, aggressive character that we usually play with.”
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On the primary play of the sport, a trick play went awry, as operating again Chris Rodriguez Jr could not toss the ball cleanly to extensive receiver Barion Brown, who was headed the wrong way on a reverse, leading to a fumble recovered by the Gamecocks close to the UK endzone. One play later, SC operating again MarShawn Lloyd punched in a two-yard rating, instantly placing the Wildcats in a gap.
From then on, Sheron confirmed poise beneath middle, principally making sensible choices with the ball in his arms, apart from taking a number of pointless sacks. He battled and made sensible throws. however with zero momentum in favor of UK, the offense by no means obtained rolling.
“He did some good issues when he had time, once we put him able to achieve success,” Stoops mentioned. “I do not assume we responded and performed very nicely round him. I believed we performed as poorly as we have now all yr at sure positions round a first-time starter, and I do not assume that is proper for that younger man.”
Sheron linked with tight finish Jordan Dingle for a 16-yard rating after faking a handoff in what was the perfect play name of the night time for the offense, and the RS freshman’s first profession TD move.
Kentucky entered the half tied 7-7, however would rating simply as soon as extra within the last half-hour throughout rubbish time after being put to mattress by the Gamecocks’ speeding assault.
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Even nonetheless, Sheron by no means wavered and continued to combat and try to get his crew again within the recreation.
Offensive coordinator Wealthy Scangarello took duty for by no means getting his first-time starter at QB in rhythm:
“It is your first begin, you are attempting to get somebody to settle in, you by no means understand how you are gonna react, I did not really feel prefer it was too huge for him,” Scangarello mentioned. “I really feel like he was seeing it, composed and all that…I do not know that we had a adequate plan to offer him an opportunity to achieve success with the best way it performed out, fairly actually, in order that’s on me.”
This is how Sheron evaluated his debut as an SEC beginning quarterback:
“I believed I did fairly good for my first time on the market, did my factor once I obtained the ball, took a number of pointless sacks however that simply comes with the primary begin, I feel,” he mentioned. “The flexibility to learn the pocket was fairly good, one thing that I can enhance on nonetheless.”
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Will Levis’ footwear are impossibly huge to fill. Not having the crew captain at QB was detrimental to UK’s success, however that is no knock on Sheron. Kentucky clearly wants somebody of Levis’ caliber at QB to have the ability to succeed and rating factors, albeit minimal factors.
Even Sheron acknowledged after the loss that the gameplan needed to have modified because of the change at QB:
“Will can do issues that I can not, he is a really gifted man, first-round draft choose in my view, in lots of people’s opinions,” he mentioned.
Regardless of being certainly one of 5 freshman starters on the Wildcat offense on Saturday night time, Sheron was nonetheless capable of lean on the few veterans that have been surrounding him within the huddle.
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“It was fairly straightforward with guys like C-Rod (Chris Rodriguez), Eli (Cox), the older guys on the road, T-Rob (Tayvion Robinson) all serving to me out and having confidence in me and simply constructing me up alongside the best way, each drive,” Sheron mentioned. “Irrespective of how we completed, they have been simply very assured in me and it felt good.”
That confidence trumped nerves after the primary play of the sport, based on Sheron. Describing himself as a “cool” man, not getting “too excessive or too low,” the second was clearly not too huge for somebody who was thrusted into the highlight on lower than a number of days discover.
Whereas he knew he could play in opposition to South Carolina, nothing was made official till Saturday, that means Levis was a real game-time determination along with his turf toe harm.
Scangarello talked about the gameplan not being adequate for achievement across the RS freshman, however Sheron did not really feel the identical manner…he actually felt as if the offense led by him had what it took to defeat SC.
“I’ve full confidence within the offense, the blokes that i am round, the plan that we had coming into the sport, I’ve full confidence within the coaches, the gamers, so I wasn’t fearful in any respect,” Sheron mentioned.
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Watch Mark Stoops’ response to the loss right here.
Offensive Coordinator Wealthy Scangarello Additionally Spoke on the defeat
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Rivalry week has finally arrived. The Louisville and Kentucky football program are set to do battle once again, facing off in Lexington for the annual Battle for the Governor’s Cup.
Here are the depth charts for both the Cardinals and Wildcats:
Changes from Louisville’s Depth Chart vs. Pitt:
Quarterback
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9 Tyler Shough (6-5, 230, Gr.) 10 Pierce Clarkson (6-1, 190, R-Fr.) OR 15 Harrison Bailey (6-5, 230, R-Sr.) OR 12 Brady Allen (6-6, 220, R-So)
Running Back
25 Isaac Brown (5-9, 190, Fr.) 21 Donald Chaney Jr. (5-10, 210, R-Jr.) 26 Duke Watson (6-0, 180, Fr.) 22 Keyjuan Brown (5-10, 210, R-Fr.)
Wide Receiver
0 Chris Bell (6-2, 220, Jr.) 81 Cataurus Hicks (5-10, 180, R-Fr.)
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (3-2) at Kentucky Wildcats (5-0)
Lexington, Kentucky; Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. EST
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BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Wildcats -22.5; over/under is 164
BOTTOM LINE: No. 8 Kentucky takes on Western Kentucky after Koby Brea scored 22 points in Kentucky’s 108-59 win over the Jackson State Tigers.
The Wildcats have gone 4-0 at home. Kentucky is 10th in college basketball averaging 12.6 made 3-pointers per game while shooting 42.3% from downtown. Brea leads the team averaging 4.0 makes while shooting 74.1% from 3-point range.
The Hilltoppers are 0-1 in road games. Western Kentucky ranks third in the CUSA shooting 37.4% from 3-point range.
Kentucky scores 97.0 points, 24.2 more per game than the 72.8 Western Kentucky allows. Western Kentucky averages 9.8 made 3-pointers per game this season, 3.8 more made shots on average than the 6.0 per game Kentucky gives up.
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TOP PERFORMERS: Brea is shooting 74.1% from beyond the arc with 4.0 made 3-pointers per game for the Wildcats, while averaging 16 points.
Julius Thedford averages 2.4 made 3-pointers per game for the Hilltoppers, scoring 11.4 points while shooting 54.5% from beyond the arc.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Mark Stoops owns a five-game winning streak in the Governor’s Cup series. The Wildcats have won three games in a row at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium and have not lost to Louisville at Kroger Field since 2017 when Bobby Petrino was holding the call sheet and and Lamar Jackson was playing quarterback. The Wildcats have also covered a lot of spreads in this series.
Stoops is 7-2-1 against-the-spread (ATS) in this series with with covers as a double-digit dog in 2014 and 2016. Kentucky has beaten Louisville outright as a dog three times since 2016 and has covered five straight in this series. Those are not the only trends going in Kentucky’s direction heading into this Week 14 contest.
Louisville is 0-4-1 ATS as a road favorite under Jeff Brohm with outright losses to Pittsburgh and Stanford. Kentucky is 5-0-1 ATS as a dog in its last six outing including four games this season. Kentucky covered numbers as a double-digit dog against Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Texas this season.
The visitor is 11-3-1 ATS (5-10 outright) in the last 14 meetings of this series with 10 outright wins but Kentucky has won the last two meetings at Kroger Field covering each times as a three-point favorite. In 2019, Kentucky ran away for a 45-13 victory and cruised to a 26-13 victory in 2022.
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Kentucky has consistently overachieved pregame expectations in this series. The Wildcats are currently a 3.5-point dog with a total of 48.5. That’s a projected final score of 26-22.5. Will UK exceed expectations again against Louisville? A win would equal four outright upsets for the Big Blue in the last eight meetings of the series.
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