Besides a win, what can Kentucky gain from a game against FCS opponent Chattanooga?

Chattanooga has the honor (or, dishonor?) of being the annual lamb sent to slaughter in Lexington; there’s no indication that the Mocs, 1-1 on the year, have a legitimate chance at preventing Kentucky from improving to 3-0. History, which so seldom favors the Wildcats, has their back, too.

Kentucky has never lost to a team from the Football Championship Subdivision, formerly referred to as I-AA, since two classifications went into effect for major college football in 1978. It’s had some close calls, of course, and has not quite won every game; Cincinnati in 1983 was temporarily classified as a I-AA team by the NCAA, and the Bearcats tied UK, 13-13, in Lexington that season (they also defeated No. 20 Penn State, 14-3, to open that year with what is, technically, the first win by a I-AA/FCS team over a ranked opponent).

Vanderbilt in its 2021 season-opening loss to East Tennessee State, 23-3, became the fifth Southeastern Conference team to suffer a loss to an FCS-level school in its history. South Carolina was the most recent before that, falling 23-22 to The Citadel in 2015, and is the only league school to have lost multiple times to a lower-division squad (The Citadel first got ‘em in 1990, 38-35, and Furman won 28-23 in 1982. Those other two losses occurred before South Carolina joined the SEC).

Arkansas (The Citadel, 1992), Florida (Georgia Southern, 2013) and Mississippi State (Maine, 2004) have all suffered defeats at the hands of schools from the “other” level, and eight schools already this season — including a top-25 Washington club and Florida State — have felt the might of smaller schools. Perhaps Mark Stoops is right to respect UK’s overmatched visitors; after all, his teams have had some close calls in the past.

None was closer than a meeting against Eastern Kentucky in 2015, Stoops’ third season at the helm and the last (to date) that didn’t end in a bowl trip. UK trailed the Colonels, 27-13, with 7:39 remaining in regulation but rallied to force overtime on a touchdown pass from Patrick Towles to Dorian Baker with under a minute to play. Towles found Baker again on the Wildcats’ series to open the extra period and their defense soon after kept EKU from responding.

A scare was briefly in play the next year against Austin Peay, which jumped out to a 13-0 lead against a Wildcats team trying to rest its starting quarterback, Stephen Johnson, due to a knee injury. Luke Wright, a walk-on sophomore at the time, started in Johnson’s place but was benched after the Governors’ hot start. UK ended up winning that game, 49-13, to become bowl eligible for the first time since 2010.

The only other time UK didn’t beat an FCS opponent by more than two scores under Stoops came in 2017, again versus EKU. The Colonels again built a double-digit lead — 13-3 — over their big brother and held a 16-10 edge into the third quarter before UK scored 16 unanswered to take the win, the second of three straight to open a season under Stoops for the first time.

Kentucky’s other results against FCS foes have been of the blowout variety. Alabama State (48-14) was win No. 2 of Stoops’ inaugural 2-10 season. UT Martin’s 59-14 loss in 2015 is the Cats’ second-largest win under Stoops, and the Skyhawks’ 50-7 defeat in 2019 ranks in the top five. They topped Murray State, 48-10, the week after a historic win at Florida in 2018.

Chattanooga has beaten three higher-level opponents, most recently toppling Georgia State, 42-14, in 2013. It also was on the receiving end of an upset by a I-AA team when it was in the higher class; Tennessee State beat the Mocs, 27-23, in 1978.

FCS takeaways

Other than (what should be) an easy victory that would put UK halfway to bowl eligibility, what else could its tussle with Chattanooga offer to this team?

If the game goes as Kentucky hopes, it will probably give several second-string Wildcats some extended run against an actual opponent instead of the scout team. UK would benefit, in particular, from seeing what some of its less-proven receivers — Rahsaan Lewis, Chauncey Magwood, basically anyone not named Wan’Dale Robinson or Josh Ali — can do against a defense that has a knack for taking away the ball (four interceptions) but allowed 11 yards per catch to its opponents.

Offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who coached at Maine before going to the NFL, hopes to get more guys on the field but says it’s unwise to plan for that to happen.

“The defensive coordinator does a really good job,” Coen said. “They play sound, they play hard. A little bit different from ULM, where there was a new staff and a lot of new things. These guys have played a lot of football together in the same system. It’s a challenge for us because they do things so sound. They don’t give up a lot of big plays.”

Chattanooga in its two games has scored 20 points, first in a 30-20 home loss to Austin Peay and last week in a shutout win at North Alabama. Two Mocs quarterbacks — Drayton Arnold in the opener and Cole Copeland last week — have combined to throw 21 completions on 47 pass attempts with four interceptions, but Chattanooga has yet to fumble once in 79 carries.

Linebacker Jacquez Jones, who picked off Connor Bazelak in the middle of the field last week to open the second half, has UK’s only turnover of the season. The Mocs present an opportunity not just to possibly get guys like Trevin Wallace and Jalen Geiger some more reps, but for the defense as a whole to regain some of its swagger in the play-making department.

Stoops this week alluded to the possibility of putting Wallace in the Jack linebacker spot on Saturday if Jordan Wright is unavailable to play. If there was a week to pilot such a project, this would be the one.

This will be UK’s last opportunity to work out some kinks before the SEC slate really ramps up. Seven straight league foes are next on the schedule before New Mexico State rolls into town in November. It will be especially worth watching how the defensive line looks after a mixed bag of a showing against Missouri.

“There’s still some things that are aggravating for us that we gotta clean up,” Stoops said. “It’s a guy here, a guy there. Certain things that we can tidy up and execute better. You can’t have one guy make a mistake or one person running a stunt, one d-lineman running it and one not. Just little things that we’ll continue to work on.”

Saturday

Chattanooga at Kentucky

When: Noon

Live video broadcast: SEC Network Plus and ESPN Plus (online only)

Records: Kentucky 2-0, Chattanooga 1-1

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