Peyton Manning got it right.
Before the Hall of Fame quarterback/media personality/entrepreneur/all-around good guy was smoking celebratory cigars in the Tennessee locker room after his alma mater’s epic victory over Alabama, Eli’s older brother was nailing it as a pigskin prognosticator.
When all of his ESPN “College GameDay” colleagues on Saturday morning were picking a surging Mississippi State to beat a sinking Kentucky at Kroger Field on Saturday night, Manning went against the grain, picking the underdog Cats.
“I like Will Levis,” Manning said. “This guy is an NFL quarterback.”
Surely by the end of Kentucky’s 27-17 win over Mike Leach’s Bulldogs, even the toughest Levis skeptic had to be nodding in agreement. Not just for Levis’ physical traits, his prototypical size, his howitzer arm strength. Most of all, they had to tip their hat to his leadership and toughness.
“It’s hard to give it the recognition it deserves,” UK Coach Mark Stoops said afterward.
Indeed, if there turns out to be a seminal moment of this 2022 Kentucky football season, it will be the Levis Sprint. First there was his sprint to the locker room after suffering a left shoulder injury while being hit on a 33-yard completion to Barion Brown with 13:48 left in the third quarter, the game tied at 3-3. Then, a few minutes later, there was Levis’ sprint out of the same locker room and back to the UK sideline, all to thunderous approval from the 61,451 in attendance.
“I knew with that guy, being that it was a non-throwing shoulder, that if it wasn’t broke, he’d be back out there,” Stoops said. “And sure enough, he was.”
Next series, Levis wasn’t just back in the game, he was back in his groove. Post-injury, he connected on five of seven passes for 90 yards and a TD, with one interception. Even when that pick turned into a pick six that suddenly chopped Kentucky’s lead to 20-17, Levis was undaunted. Next possession, the quarterback hung in the pocket and calmly lofted a perfect 50-yard pass to open receiver Dekel Crowdus that set up Chris Rodriguez’s 7-yard try-and-stop-me touchdown run that sealed the deal.
The pass to Crowdus came on a third-and-4 play. No coincidence there. Levis was a third down master/monster all night, completing 8 of 8 eight passes on the money down for 186 yards. That included throws of 21, 31, 33, 31 and 50 yards.
Let’s face it, this was a must-win game for the Cats. They were still stinging from shooting themselves in the foot at Ole Miss and failing to show vs. South Carolina.
“All of our pride was hurt a week ago, just the way we played,” Stoops said.
A third straight setback would have taken this UK campaign to a dark place. After all, Tennessee and Georgia are among those remaining on the schedule. Yikes. Drop to 4-3 before the bye week and you could almost hear BBN turning their full attention to basketball.
Levis refused to let that happen.
“He’s a superhero,” said receiver Rahsaan Lewis, who caught the QB’s scoring throw. “You can tell how much he loves the game, loves us, and loves UK, and doing something like that is a lot, so we all love him and fight for him.”
Kentucky’s defense played refuse-to-lose, as well. It bounced back from a poor second half against South Carolina to lock up Leach’s Air Raid. State entered the night averaging 40 points and 461 yards per game. It exited with a mere 10 points and 225 total yards. State had been averaging 107.6 rushing yards per game. Saturday, it finished with 22.
“I think they consistently whipped our defensive line with their offensive line,” Leach said.
Stoops concurred, agreeing that it was his embattled O-line’s best showing of the season. And surely it had to be inspired by the sight of its inspirational leader laying it on the line.
“He’s a great leader,” Stoops said. “And, you know, he has that belief about him, you know that — because he’s earned it. He’s worked for it.”
The lesson from all this: Listen to Peyton Manning. He knows his quarterbacks.
