Previewing the Kentucky-Tennessee Football Battle
Kentucky football fans are having a sense of deja vu with the 2015 football campaign. A season ago UK started 5-1 needing only one more win to make its first bowl game since 2010. However they lost the last six and finished 5-7.
This season Mark Stoops’ club started 4-1 but back to back losses to Auburn and Mississippi State have the Cats 4-3 with games against Tennessee and at Georgia coming up.
Looking further ahead the game against Vanderbilt doesn’t look near the automatic win it seemed in September as Derek Mason’s club is playing much better football.
Charlotte is one of the worst teams in college football so I think you can count that one as a “W.”
The last game of the season is of course against Louisville and how intense could that game be if both teams were sitting at five wins needing one more to become bowl eligible?
I think the less said about the game in Starkville last week the better. The Cats played well early before the wheels totally came off. Bad time management for a second game in a row and some costly penalties topped off Stoops’ icing his own kicker leading to a missed field goal. Dak Prescott showed why he was a preseason Heisman candidate and the Cats left with a 42-16 loss.
Butch Jones’ club comes into this game at 3-4 but in each of their losses they have led in the second half only to come up short. Last Saturday they stood toe to toe with Alabama for most of the game only to lose 19-14.
Stopping quarterback Joshua Dobbs will be the key to victory for Kentucky. Dobbs has thrown for almost 1,200 yards and run for almost 400 more. Dual threat quarterbacks have been a thorn in the side of the Wildcats all season. Just look at what Prescott did last week.
A win here by the Vols and they will likely run the table and finish 8-4 while Kentucky needs this one to help right the ship. Tennessee has won 29 of the last 30 games against the Cats, with Kentucky’s only win coming in 2011.
Many of the national pundits give UK no chance in this game, and the SEC Network’s SEC Nation crew who was supposed to be at this game is now going to split time between here and the Florida-Georgia game. All this should be a motivating factor on Saturday.
Lexington is going to be crazy with about 100,000 people in town with the football game and the Breeders’ Cup running at Keeneland. American Pharoah will be making his last start ever before heading off to retirement. That is how I will be spending most of my weekend for my “real job.”
If Kentucky is ever going to move up in the pecking order of the SEC they have to start beating Tennessee. I think they get the job done this time.
Kentucky 31-27
Time to take a look at the rest of the games in the SEC this weekend. Last week I went 6-1 making my season record 52-15. LSU and Alabama have the week off before their epic west division battle along with Mississippi State and Missouri.
Ole Miss at Auburn- (NOON ESPN)– The Rebels bounced back from the drubbing at the hands of Memphis and whipped Texas A&M. The Tigers lost in four overtimes to Arkansas and this is almost a must win for them if they want to make a bowl game. Hugh Freeze’s team controls its own destiny in the SEC West and I think they get a hard fought win on the road.
Ole Miss 27-21
South Carolina at Texas A&M- (NOON SEC Network)- The Aggies have been blown out in consecutive weeks and now coach Kevin Sumlin has used those words no fan wants to hear, “open quarterback competition.” Interim coach Shawn Elliott got his first win two weeks ago over Vanderbilt and now has to travel to College Station for his first road game. This one might be close for a while but I think A&M will get back on track.
Texas A&M 35-17
Georgia vs. Florida- (3:30 CBS- Game Played In Jacksonville)- With a win on Saturday the Gators can all but lock up the SEC East and a date in the title game in Atlanta. The Bulldogs won their first game without Nick Chubb two weeks ago without scoring a touchdown and I don’t see them having a lot of success against the great Florida defense. However this is one of the most bitter rivalries in college football and anything can happen.
Florida 21-14
Tennessee-Martin at Arkansas-(4:00 SEC Network)– The Razorbacks picked up a huge win last week against Auburn and a win here will get them close to bowl eligibility. The Skyhawks have won four in a row but in their only other game against an SEC team they lost 76-3 to Ole Miss. I don’t think the score will be that bad.
Arkansas 49-13
Vanderbilt at Houston- (7:00 ESPN2)– Derek Mason got his first SEC win last Saturday against Missouri and now head to Texas to play one of the surprise teams in football. The Cougars are 7-0 and are one of three teams in the American Athletic Conference still undefeated. A show of hands for anyone who predicted that. Yeah, didn’t think so. This will come down to whether the Commodores can slow down the Top 10 ranked Houston offense. Playing on the road, I don’t think they can.
Houston 45-20
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