Kentucky Wildcats Football Games of the Week: Bounce Back Against Kent State Edition

Who is ready for some positive blogging? It’s time to move on from the showdown in the oven and look ahead to game one in Commonwealth Stadium. Kentucky will face their first opponent at home and there will be some improving to do. I’m not even going to predict what the home crowd will be like. On with the previews and picks…

Kent State Golden Flashes (1-0, 0-0) at Kentucky Wildcats (0-1, 0-0): Saturday September 8th, 7:30 PM

Kent State’s first win of the season was a 41-21 blowout over Towson, an FCS team. The Golden Flashes may have stuck big points on the board, but most of those points came from the six Towson turnovers. Kent State put up a paltry 166 yards in the air and two running backs combined for 101 yards on the ground. This is the type of offense that the Wildcats need to see in order to measure how bad or how not so bad their defense really is.

Speaking of our beloved boys in blue, they have some serious ground to make up. That loss to Louisville isn’t cutting it with the fans, but more importantly it isn’t cutting it with the players or the coaches. To a man they all stated that what we saw on the field on Sunday was not the best Kentucky has to offer. Well, we hope so. While the offense looked impressive, especially the 280 yards and two touchdowns Max Smith put up, the defense was putrid. That’s a strong word, but if the defense was a smell, it would be a strong bad smell. Hence the use of the word putrid.

Not only do the ‘Cats need to prove it on defense, but the running game needs a closer look as well. CoShik Williams and Raymond Sanders combined for only 93 yards, no touchdowns and a fumble each. No word on Josh Clemons’ return yet, but Williams and Sanders need not worry about that. They need to focus on the task at hand. Now, to be fair, UK was behind most of the game and needed to pass a lot in order to get back into position to win. Hopefully this week’s opposition will provide more of a proving ground for the running game.

The Wildcats are only seven point favorites heading in, but I think they win by much more.

Wildcats 28-Golden Flashes 14

And don’t forget the highlight Kent State has already provided to SportsCenter: