Yahoo Sports Know Your Foe: UK seeks to get its offense untracked against struggling Murray State
Scouting Kentucky football’s next opponent, the Murray State Racers:
Game details
Kentucky (3-6, 1-6 SEC) will play FCS foe Murray State (1-9, 0-7 Missouri Valley Football Conference) on Saturday, Nov. 16, at Kroger Field (seating capacity of some 61,000) on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
The game will kick off at 1:30 p.m. (EDT) and will be live streamed on SEC Network+ and ESPN+.
Coach Jody Wright’s Racers lost 59-31 to No. 15 Missouri State last Saturday.
History and trends
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Murray State 2-0.
UK coach Mark Stoops is 1-0 vs. Murray State.
MSU head man Jody Wright will be facing the Wildcats for the first time.
Both teams enter the game on losing streaks. Kentucky has lost four games in a row. Murray State has dropped seven straight.
As UK coach, Stoops is 10-0 vs. FCS foes, but two of the games — a 34-27 overtime victory over Eastern Kentucky in 2015 and a 28-23 win over Chattanooga in 2021 — have been decided by one score.
Going back to 2016, Murray State has been outscored 333-50 in its past seven games against FBS power conference teams.
Most recent meeting
On Sept. 15, 2018, Benny Snell ran for a touchdown and “threw” for a TD to lead Kentucky to a 48-10 romp over Murray State at Kroger Field.
Snell, UK’s star running back, was credited with a 43-yard touchdown pass on a trick play. Snell lined up in the wildcat formation with starting quarterback Terry Wilson split wide to the left.
Taking the direct snap, Snell pitched the ball forward to an in-motion Wilson — who then handed off to wide receiver Zyaire Hughes on what was essentially a reverse.
On what would be the only touchdown “pass” of his college career, Snell threw the down-field block that sprang Hughes to score.
Snell had scored in a more conventional manner earlier in the game when he powered into the end zone from 7 yards out with 1:43 left in the second quarter to put Kentucky ahead 17-0.
Three UK quarterbacks accounted for points in the win over Murray State. Starting QB Wilson got the scoring started with a 42-yard touchdown run with 11:09 left in the first quarter.
Backups Gunnar Hoak and Danny Clark each got the Cats into the end zone in the fourth quarter. Hoak threw a 23-yard TD pass to Allen Dailey, while Clark scored on a 2-yard run.
Pride of the program
Before he became a Virginia Tech coaching legend and a 2018 inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, Frank Beamer cut his teeth as a head man at Murray State.
In the six years (1981-1986) Beamer was head coach at Murray State, the Racers went 42-23-2 and shared the 1986 Ohio Valley Conference championship with Eastern Kentucky.
With Beamer as head coach, Murray State produced 17 All-OVC players and 11 All-Americans.
Beamer came to Murray State in 1979 as defensive coordinator under Mike Gottfried. With Beamer calling the defense, Murray State went 6-0 in OVC play in 1979 and won the league championship for the first time since 1951.
Virginia Tech hired Beamer away from Murray State in 1987, and he would coach the Hokies until 2015. Beamer went 238-121-2 at Tech and led the Hokies to 23 bowl games and 12 double-digit win seasons.
Three things to know
1. Murray State leading rusher Jawaun Northington has a family link to Kentucky Wildcats football history.
The ex-Manual High School star is related to Nate Northington, the ex-UK defensive back who became the first Black player to play in an SEC football game when he played for the Wildcats against Mississippi on Sept. 30, 1967.
“My father’s brother’s grandson,” is how Nate Northington explained his kinship to Jawaun Northington in 2021.
A 5-foot-9, 217-pound junior, Jawaun Northington has carried the ball 94 times for 457 yards and six touchdowns this season. He also has eight receptions for 48 yards.
2. Murray State first-year head coach Jody Wright is not a stranger to the SEC.
Prior to replacing Dean Hood — now the director of player development for Mark Stoops and UK — as MSU head man, Wright spent the prior two seasons coaching tight ends for Shane Beamer at South Carolina.
Wright also worked from 2015 through 2017 as the director of player personnel for Nick Saban at Alabama.
In addition to his SEC experience, Wright also had runs with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns (2019) and New York Giants (2020 and 2021) as an assistant.
3. To say Murray State has struggled defensively in 2024 is to engage in massive understatement. Through 10 games, the Racers have given up 40 points or more in seven contests and have surrendered more than 50 points six times.
Out of 123 Football Championship Subdivision programs, Murray State is 113th in run defense (allowing 217 yards a game), 120th in pass defense (283.1), 122nd in total defense (550.2) and last in the country in scoring defense (allowing 45 points a game).
The Racers are 114th in third down conversions allowed (opponents have succeeded 49.6 percent of the time, 66 of 133), 119th in red zone defense (on 53 trips into the MSU red zone, foes have scored 50 times, including 37 touchdowns) and 122nd in first downs allowed (249).
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