Who has the edge? Kentucky @ Tennessee
By Paul Jordan
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It’s Turkey day! Most of you are preparing for the only day of the year where we get to stay home from work and be thankful for everything we have, right before indulging in a type of gluttony that we have to unbutton our pants for an hour later. I love America.
After you’ve finished eating, set your alarm for an early morning on Saturday, because the Wildcats are traveling down to take on Tennessee in Knoxville to close out the regular season. There’s a lot riding on this game for both teams. Tennessee needs to win to salvage a tough season and finish .500 and become bowl eligible. Kentucky needs to win to improve their standing in the SEC east and hopefully to improve their chances of getting to a Florida bowl. Then there’s also this whole losing streak thing too.
QUARTERBACK
It really doesn’t matter if the Volunteers start JUCO transfer (and former Louisville Cardinal) Matt Simms or if they go with the highly rated freshman in Tyler Bray. Mike Hartline has outplayed both of them throughout the season and his stats tell the story. Hartline has thrown for 2,906 yards with 22 touchdowns and only eight picks. The two Tennessee quarterbacks combined have thrown for 2,643 yards with 20 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
The Edge: KENTUCKY
RUNNING BACK
When Kentucky played Vanderbilt, it was pretty apparent that Derrick Locke was not 100% when he broke the long run down the left side of the field and was nearly caught by two different Commodore defenders. A healthy Locke would have to be playing Florida or Miami to even have a chance of getting caught from behind. The Tennessee running game is usually on the shoulders of Tauren Poole, and this week should be no different. He’s piled up 935 yards on the ground this year and 10 touchdowns. Locke has run for 719 yards and 9 touchdowns. The big difference is that Locke has played in 4 fewer games. With two extra weeks to heal up, Locke gets this one.
The Edge: KENTUCKY
WIDE RECEIVERS
The Volunteers feature a trio of seniors as their starting receivers. Gerald Jones and Denarius Moore have been reliable targets through the air this year with Jones being the reliable possession receiver and Moore breaking out with a big play at any time. Luke Stocker has been a big target for the QB and has added 304 yards through the air himself. Kentucky will bring in Randall Cobb, Chris Matthews and LaRod King as their top three pass-catchers. The trio has amassed 2,78 total receiving yards on the year and features the conference leader in all-purpose yards in Randall Cobb.
The Edge: KENTUCKY
OFFENSIVE LINE
Some unexpected off-season attrition and graduation lead to Tennessee being forced to put together an inexperienced offensive line. The tackles are athletic but undersized and the interior players are extremely inexperienced, with 5 first year players listed on their depth chart. Despite their shortcomings, they have been able to pave the way for the offense to rush for 1,317 yards this year and have given the quarterback enough time to pass for 2,643 yards through the air. The most concerning stat this year though, is that Tennessee has allowed opponents to sack their QB an astounding 35 times this year. On the flip side, the Kentucky offensive line is also inexperienced, but is healthy and significantly larger than Tennessee’s. They’ve made the room for their running backs to rush for 1,839 yards and allowed the passing game to rack up 3,018 yards. The unit has given up only 13 sacks on the year.
The Edge: KENTUCKY
DEFENSIVE LINE
The defensive line for Tennessee is made up of experienced players that were very highly regarded coming out of high school. The unit has been very good at getting to the quarterback (tallying 21 sacks on the year) and has also been a tough group to run against (308 yards lost on rushing plays this season. The Kentucky defensive line has really failed to make any impact in meaningful games this year and the majority of the sacks they’ve gotten have been in garbage time near the end of games. They’ve also allowed mediocre offensive lines to manhandle them and have been run all over by sub par teams. This is clearly the weakest position group on the team at this point.
The Edge: TENNESSEE
LINEBACKERS
The Volunteers have a trio of undersized but athletic linebackers. Led by senior Nick Reveiz, they have done a little bit of everything this season. The group has 200 total tackles, 14 tackles-for-loss, and three interceptions. Kentucky has one of the most underrated players in the country in Danny Trevathan, but being overlooked hasn’t slowed him down. He now has 120 total tackles, 15 tackles for loss, and 3 sacks by himself! Junior middle linebacker Ronnie Sneed has started to come around and has been a reliable contributor (50 tackles) and new starter Ridge Wilson has just found a way to make a play whenever he can. The Wildcats get the nod here just because of Trevathan.
The Edge: KENTUCKY
DEFENSIVE BACKS
The Wildcats have used safeties Mychal Bailey and Winston Guy more like little linebackers this season. Corners Randall Burden and Martavius Neloms have slowed down some of the conferences top receivers this season as well. The unit has only allowed opponents to pass for 1,852 yards and 11 touchdowns over the course of the entire season. The Tennessee safeties have proven to be serious playmakers this year. They have been heavily involved in run support, but have also tallied 11 turnovers between the two of them. The Volunteer corners have been pretty solid this year, but have given up the big play a little too frequently. They have held their ground in the redzone though with opponents only scoring through the air 12 times this season. With Neloms out for UK for the first half, the Wildcats will rely on converted receiver Anthony Mosley to fill in for him. As good as Kentucky’s numbers may look, the safety tandem of Janzen Jackson and Prentiss Waggner is just too talented.
The Edge: TENNESSEE
SPECIAL TEAMS
Tennessee has a spectacular kicker in Lincoln that has gone 100% for field goals this year. Kentucky has the better punter in Ryan Tydlacka, and Kentucky has the better returners. The Volunteers blow the Wildcats out of the water in coverage though, and the Wildcats inability to take down their opponent’s kickoff and punt returners costs them again.
The Edge: TENNESSEE
COACHING
I think Derek Dooley is a good guy and it seems like he’s going to do things the right way down in Knoxville. He has a semi-proven track record of winning and he seems much less obnoxious and arrogant than Lane Kiffin is. That being said, Joker gets this one because he’s been with the same team longer and actually recruited most of his guys to play in the systems he uses. When you look at the ratings of past recruiting classes, even a depleted Tennessee should be nearly unstoppable and they certainly have not been this year.
The Edge: KENTUCKY
Everyone have a happy Thanksgiving!
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