Looking To Bounce Back
The Kentucky football team traveled down Interstate 75 last weekend looking to make a statement. After Tennessee knocked them out of a New Year’s Six bowl in both 2018 and 2021 potentially knocking the Vols out of the playoff would be sweet. Unfortunately for the Big Blue Nation just the opposite happened. The Cats were throughly beaten 44-6 in a game that probably wasn’t that close. Now Mark Stoops’ club looks to regroup. Kentucky travels to Missouri on Saturday looking for a much-needed win.
Still Searching For Answers
Heading into the big match-up on Saturday things seemed to set up well for Kentucky. Tennessee had the 130th-ranked pass defense giving up 330 yards per game. With a potential top draft pick in Will Levis the Wildcats only mustered 98 yards through the air. Much has been written about the offensive line’s struggles in 2022. Let’s face it no matter how good your signal caller if he has no time the stats aren’t going to be good.
So far in 2022 Rich Scangarello’s offense is only averaging 18 points a game in SEC play and 24 overall. A season ago they averaged 32 points a game and 22 in league play. Furthermore, they are 95th in the nation in red zone touchdowns at 56 percent. This is despite the fact UK has a potential first-round pick at quarterback, one of the best running backs in school history, and a wide receiver group that’s as talented as the school’s ever had. Throw in the fact they are 12th in the league with 15 turnovers and it’s safe to say there’s a lot of frustration. They have the last four games to show some improvement because Scangarello wants to be known as more Liam Coen than Shannon Dawson.
Now that we’ve documented some of Kentucky’s struggles let’s now look at their opponent on Saturday.
Scouting The Tigers
Eli Drinkwitz’s club heads into Saturday’s game sporting a 4-4 record and 2-3 in the SEC. Currently, the Tigers are riding a two-game winning streak with wins over Vanderbilt and then at South Carolina last week. That of course is the same Gamecock team that beat the Cats 24-14. Their record could be even better but they lost three in a row to Auburn, Georgia, and Florida by a combined 14 points.
Missouri’s offense is led by quarterback Brady Cook. The junior has completed 65 percent of his throws for 1,647 yards. However, he does have seven interceptions to only six touchdowns. Behind him, they have a couple of pretty good running backs in Cody Schrader and Nathaniel Peat. Between the two they’ve run for 832 yards and seven touchdowns.
When Cook throws the ball his favorite target is wide receiver Dominic Lovett. On the year he leads the SEC in receptions with 45 and third in yards with 659. He coming off 10 catches for 148 yards in the win versus South Carolina.
On the other side of the ball, Ty’ron Hopper leads the defense with 47 tackles including 10.5 for a loss. That number puts him second in the SEC. Right behind him is defensive back Jaylon Carlies with 43. In addition, he is tops on the team with two interceptions.
Now that we’ve previewed both teams let’s look at the series history as Kentucky travels to Missouri.
Series History
Overall Kentucky leads the series eight wins to four over Missouri. The Tigers won the first three once they joined the SEC, however the Wildcats have won six of the last seven. Last year in Lexington UK beat Missouri 35-28. Kentucky jumped out to a big lead and then held off a furious rally to preserve the win. The last time they played in Columbia the Tigers dominated the game in every facet on their way to a 20-10 win.
You’ve stayed with us this long and we greatly appreciate it. Kentucky travels to Missouri on Saturday it’s prediction time.
Who Wins On Saturday?
Under Drinkwitz Missouri likes to play an ugly brand of football. In essence, they are hard-nosed team who like to keep games close hoping the opposing team makes a mistake. For anyone who’s followed Kentucky, this year turnovers continue to be an issue. Neither team scores a ton of points so the first one to 20 may win. It seems an eternity ago the Wildcats were 4-0 and ranked seventh in the country. Another loss here and a once-promising season is all but lost. Every game between the Wildcats and Tigers is close and this will be no exception.
Kentucky 21 Missouri 17
Thanks for checking out our preview here at Last Word On College Football. We’ll be back after the game with a complete wrap-up.
