Kentucky Now Looking Ahead to South Carolina After Whipping Eastern Michigan

By Hayden Kennedy 

Kentucky improved to 2-1 on the season by beating the Eastern Michigan Eagles 48-23 Saturday night with a strong performance from sophomore quarterback Cutter Boley in his second career start. 

Boley completed 12 of 21 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns. After the game, UK coach Mark Stoops commented on Boley’s performance. 

Kentucky QB Cutter Boley (Photo by Wayne Mason)

“Yeah, I thought he was really good with his operation and his presence," he said. "As I mentioned with some of the defensive players, the same with Cutter, game reps, there's no replacing that; he will get better with each opportunity and each snap. I thought his awareness was very good. There were some plays where there were some other things out there, like we mentioned in the first two games, that he will look at and know that he can play better as well and get more comfortable. But overall, very pleased.”

UK running back Seth McGowan had a great night on the ground, rushing 18 times for 104 yards and three touchdowns. The Wildcats have rushed for 644 yards through the first three games, the most through the first three games since 2018.

Following Boley’s solid performance against Eastern Michigan, Stoops was not ready to officially name Boley the starter over Zach Calzada moving forward.

“I was pleased with the way he operated; I really was. I don't think it would be right for me to make that decision right here and now," said the coach. "I was pleased with the way he played. We will get some time and look at it and get back on the practice field.”

After the bye week, the Wildcats will hit the road for the first time this season to face the South Carolina Gamecocks on Sept. 27. Kentucky will be looking to bounce back in this series, having dropped the last three matchups. Since 2020, Kentucky has a 1-4 record coming off the bye week, most recently losing to Vanderbilt and Tennessee.

The Gamecocks had been ranked 11th in the nation before dropping to No. 28 in this week's AP Top 25 poll after a disappointing 31-7 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores. South Carolina is now facing uncertainty at quarterback due to an injury to starter LaNorris Sellers. Sellers left Saturday's game late in the second quarter after taking a hit that was ruled targeting, resulting in a head injury. His status for this week's road game against Missouri (ESPN, 7 p.m. ET) is unknown. 

The UK-USC game will be shown on the SEC Network, beginning at 7:45 p.m. ET.

Assuming QB Sellers is back in action for South Carolina, I predict a 24-13 win for South Carolina.

Hayden Kennedy, a recent UK graduate, is a contributing writer from Lexington.