There are no moral victories for Mark Stoops and Kentucky. That’s why Saturday’s 24-23 loss to Northwestern where UK came back from a 10-point halftime deficit and overcame the controversial ejection of running back Benny Snell still hurt the Cats. Kentucky scored with 37 seconds left on a 9-yard run by never say die quarterback Stephen Johnson after Northwestern stunningly gambled on fourth down and 1 at its own 39-yard line and failed.
Stoops never hesitated on going for the two-point conversion to win the game and Johnson’s pass to Tavin Richardson, who had five catches for 89 yards, was just inches off to deny Kentucky an eighth win.
“We had all the momentum. We had been practicing that two-point play. Just things happen. I loved it that Stoops believes in us,” senior receiver Charles Walker said after the game.
“I am heartbroken for our players but I am so proud of them,” Stoops said. “I thought we laid it on the line and so proud of their effort. I felt like we had such strong momentum (to go for the two-point conversion). Stephen has options on that play and his second option is to go to Tavin. Their defender did a good job and we didn’t create space we wanted but we were still inches away from winning the game.”
A much more controversial decision was the one referee Chris Coyte made to eject sophomore Benny Snell, UK’s leading rusher, in the first half. Snell appeared to be tackled late and when he tried to get up, Coyte reached out to help him. Snell brushed him away and got a penalty and ejection.
“The player got up and grabbed my arms and pushed them away and contacted me. That’s a foul,” Coyte said after the game.
Snell, who had six rushes for 15 yards and one score, certainly disagreed.
“My passion for this game is out the roof , I don’t need help getting up. I can do that on my own,” Snell posted on Twitter.
Stoops tactfully avoided criticizing the call by saying he didn’t see it. Coyte told him Snell shoved him — which cleared did not happen. Walker did see what happened and said it was “shocking” that Snell got ejected when UK players thought it was a 15-yard penalty on Northwestern.
ESPN analysts certainly disagreed with the call. Tim Tebow said Snell should not have touched the ref but it was a “ridiculous” call.
“If you are offended he touched you, get over it. Let it go,” Tebow said. “You kick out the best player (for Kentucky) after an emotional play where he got hit by 17 players. Let it go.”
Booger McFarland was even harsher in his criticism.
“If the referee reaches his hand out, does Benny have to accept it. To me, it’s one thing to say not to touch a ref. But should the referee touch hm,” McFarland said. “There has to be some recourse. If you are the referee and see he does not want help, go on. To me, that is all ego. You don’t want to take my hand, I am kicking out out of the game.”
Andre Ware was working the game for ESPN while Tebow and McFarland were halftime analysts.
“To say that a player contacted with an official when you initiated the contact yourself as an official is unreal. I have never seen anything like that. It was just ridiculous,” Ware said.
Still, Stoops said not to forget the seniors helped UK win 14 games the last two years and went to bowl games each year.
“These guys put a lot of work in to get to the point where you are disappointed that you won seven. There are plenty of areas I know I have to improve on and we are going to push to do that,” Stoops said.
Kentucky’s defense gave up 333 yards rushing and 109 passing. Kentucky without Snell ran for just 65 yards — but Stoops said UK knew running against Northwestern’s defense would be difficult even with Snell — but Johnson did throw for 272 yards. However, he had a second-half pass picked off and returned for a Northwestern’s only second-half points. Kayaune Ross had three catches for 67 yards.
Darius West led UK with 11 tackles, including eight solo stops, and Courtney Love had 10. Jordan Jones had nine stops, including eight solo tackles.
“Our defense gave up some yards in the second half but came up big with some stops,” Stoops said.