Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Wildcats leading Gators early
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Nick Washington was late.
The Florida safety could only watch as Kentucky receiver Blake Bone caught the 14-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Stephen Johnson in the left corner of the endzone, giving the Wildcats an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
Historically, Florida has dominated in the first quarter against Kentucky. Over the past 10 seasons, the Gators have outscored the Wildcats 139-20.
That trend was put on hold Saturday night.
On Kentucky’s second drive of the game, UK receiver Kayaune Ross caught a short pass on the left side of the field, slipped away from two Florida defenders and ran for a 21-yard gain deep into Florida territory.
Four plays later, Kentucky had its first touchdown.
Meanwhile, Florida’s offense was inconsistent during the first quarter.
Its first play was an 11-yard rush by sophomore Lamical Perine, followed by a 9-yard rush by Perine two plays later. But, soon after, Florida was forced to punt after Perine was stopped short on third-and-2, and punted again on its second drive after being stopped on a third-and-4 from its own 47-yard line.
DAWSON GIVEN ALL-CLEAR: After injuring his head against Tennessee on Sept. 16, Florida starting cornerback Duke Dawson was cleared to play against Kentucky on Saturday.
Dawson entered the team’s concussion protocol after sustaining a hit last week, and his status for Saturday’s game was unknown leading up to UF’s game against UK. Florida announced he was cleared to play about seven hours before kickoff.
Dawson, a senior, entered Saturday’s game with the second-most tackles among UF’s cornerbacks (nine), trailing freshman Marco Wilson (10), and looked healthy to begin the game. On the game’s third play, Dawson blanketed Kentucky receiver Tavin Richardson on a go-route down the sideline, forcing an incomplete pass.
SELLOUT: Kentucky had its first sellout on Saturday since drawing a record crowd of 63,407 against Auburn on Oct. 15, 2015.
But even with Saturday’s sellout, UK’s record crowd against Auburn still stands — Kentucky reduced its seating to 61,000 after the 2015 season.
NOTEWORTHY: UF redshirt sophomore linebacker Kylan Johnson was held out for Saturday’s game with a leg injury. Johnson hasn’t played since collecting four tackles in Florida’s season opener against Tennessee .… Freshman receiver James Robinson was again held out with an undisclosed heart issue. Robinson hasn’t played this season. On Monday, UF coach Jim McElwain said the team would be sending Robinson to see a heart specialist to determine the severity of the issue.