His defense has saved Kentucky’s season thus far.
Us Kentucky fans are always looking for a scapegoat of some sort. Offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, head coach, recruiting, etc.
One has received his fair share of criticism since the end of the season last year and that is defensive coordinator Brad White. White took criticism following his handling of the bowl game against Clemson last year, more specifically, the final possession that saw his defense play a prevent-heavy approach, allowing Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik to slice and dice Kentucky for a game-winning touchdown, capping a pretty underwhelming season in Lexington.
I, myself, have also been critical of White’s defense and schemes since he took over in 2019. I always thought when his defenses faced high-powered offenses, such as we have seen against the likes of Ole Miss prior to Saturday, Tennessee or Missouri, the ‘bend-don’t-break’ defense bended, and then, eventually broke against better-than-average passing attack.
Outside of an anomaly of a game that was week two against South Carolina, Brad White and his defense have been the best unit in the entire country. I believe that there is a serious argument that Kentucky may boast the best pound-for-pound defense in the nation.
Through five games, Kentucky is allowing just 8.2 PPG. If you go by SEC games, Kentucky is allowing 19.3 PPG against three conference foes, two of which are top-10 teams and one of which boasted the best offense in the country and a Heisman favorite prior to facing the Kentucky Wildcats.
Kentucky is allowing just 244 total yards per game through five games and held Ole Miss’ daunted offensive attack to 353 yards and only one touchdown pass. Coming into the game, the Rebels were averaging over 600 yards per game.
Within the span of three weeks, Kentucky has taken the Georgia Bulldogs, former No. 1 team who has only lost to Alabama in the last four years, closer than any team in that time frame that was not the Crimson Tide; and they also went in to Oxford and finally pulled off one of those monumental upsets that they have been so close to achieving since 2018. In those two games, Kentucky has only given up 30 points.
Defense is this team’s bread and butter, so we better enjoy guys such as Deone Walker, Max Hairston, JJ Weaver, and yes, Brad White, while we still have them.
Southern Miss’ points scored against @UKFootball: 0.
Southern Miss’ average points scored per game in their other 3 games: 22.South Carolina’s points scored against @UKFootball: 31.
South Carolina’s average points scored per game in their other 3 games: 35.3.Georgia’s points…
— Corey Price (@coreyp08) September 29, 2024
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