Late within the first half of Saturday’s recreation, Kentucky wanted a spark. The Cats had been trailing intrastate rival Eastern Kentucky 7-0 and gave the impression to be headed to halftime behind on the scoreboard.
Enter Barion Brown and Tayvion Robinson.
With lower than a minute earlier than halftime, EKU punted from deep in its personal territory. Brown fielded the punt and scampered 36 yards down the fitting sideline, giving UK the ball on the EKU 24 with 48 seconds to play.
On the following play, quarterback Devin Leary hit Robinson within the again, left nook of the top zone for the landing. Instead of trailing on the half, the Cats discovered themselves tied due to its two electrical playmakers.
Then within the second half, after EKU took a 10-7 lead, it was as soon as once more Brown and Robinson who got here to the rescue. On third and 10 from the UK 40, Leary discovered Robinson over the center for a 25-yard completion. On the very subsequent play, Brown went left on a reverse and picked up 26 yards, getting the ball to the EKU 9.
Three performs later, it was Leary to Robinson once more, this time on a six-yard scoring cross, one which gave Kentucky a lead it will by no means relinquish.
After EKU punted, Robinson was in a position to present his versatility, taking a cross on a sweep for a 56-yard pickup. Two performs later, it was Leary connecting with Brown from 13 yards out, padding the UK result in 21-10.
Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops raved about Robinson after the sport.
“You know, he is explosive,” Stoops stated. “He is good in the return game, he had the sweep, he had the explosive play, I believe set up a touchdown. And he is showing better than leadership and just playing really hard.”
EKU would minimize the UK result in 21-17 early within the fourth interval. But Kentucky answered with a scoring drive of its personal, with Brown accounting for a pair of receptions totaling 22 yards as Kentucky scored on a Ray Davis landing reception, one which gave Kentucky a 28-17 lead. That could be the ultimate rating.
The pair put up stable numbers in Saturday’s win. Brown had two rushes for 34 yards, caught six passes for 51 yards, had 47 yards in punt returns and 20 yards in kickoff returns for a complete of 152 all function yards. Robinson caught six passes for 136 yards and had one kickoff return for 14 yards. That gave Robinson 150 all function yards within the recreation.
Stoops is attempting to handle Brown’s workload because of an harm he’s nonetheless nursing a bit.
“I’m trying to get his legs up underneath him and get him feeling good,” Stoops stated. “He had a tender tissue harm somewhat bit throughout camp that hindered somewhat little bit of his conditioning. You can see his velocity elevating and getting his legs up beneath him, as different gamers are.
When Kentucky wanted huge performs on Saturday, the Cats turned to 2 of their finest playmakers. And Brown and Robinson delivered in an enormous method as Kentucky moved to 2-0.
