&..."/> &..."/>

Kentucky Football Preview – Know Your Enemy: Tennessee Volunteers

facebooktwitterreddit

GAME 12

NOVEMBER 27, 2010  12:21 PM

TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS  (5-6)

Neyland Stadium – Knoxville, TN

TV – SEC NETWORK

SERIES HISTORY

TENNESSEE LEADS  73-23-9

RECENT GAMES

2009:  TENNESSEE  30  UK  24 OT

2008: TENNESSEE 28 UK 10

2007: TENNESSEE 52 UK 50

2006: TENNESSEE 17 UK 12

2005: TENNESSEE 27 UK 8

Seriously, here is all that needs to be said about this game.

OFFENSE

6’6 Freshman Tyler Bray appears to have won the starting QB job at Tennessee and his insertion at starter seems to have coincided with the Vol’s winning streak.  Bray’s numbers have been impressive as he passed for over 300 yards in two of the last three games but it should be noted that those games were against Memphis and Mississippi.  Bray also had 8 TD’s versus 0 TD’s in that span.  Bray did look more ordinary against Vanderbilt last week, passing for 232 yards with 2 TD’s and 2 picks.  Bray completes 55% of his passes and is not a real threat to run the ball.  Bray has the arm for the deep ball and has 12 TD’s vs 5 picks on the season.  Matt Simms has only seen 6 pass attempts the last two games, so it is doubtful he will play much.  Simms is a bit more accurate than Bray but does not throw for as many yards.  Simms has 8 TD’s vs 5 picks on the season and has been sacked a whopping 25 times on the season as opposed to 10 for Bray. 

Tauren Poole is closing in on a 1000 yard rushing season for the Vols with 935 yards and 10 TD’s on the season.  He is an inconsistent runner as he put up 162 yards against Oregon and 117 versus Alabama, but only 23 yards in back to back games versus Florida and UAB.  he is geat at short yardage, averaging 5.3 a carry, but at 5’11 and 213 does not have the speed to be a true breakaway threat.  He has also caught 17 passes for 155 yards and a TD as a receiver.  David Oku will see a few carries but has been in a bit of a slump lately, averaging less than two yards a carry the last three games.  At this point, he is not doing much more than to give Poole an occasional rest.  He is not a huge receiving threat.  That said, the goal for Kentucky’s defense is for Oku not to be a star on Saturday as far lesser runners have looked good against the Cats.  Rajion Neal was a guy that Kentucky was also recruiting last season, and he has not been that overly impressive for the Vols, with 37 rushes for 169 yards.  Neal is averaging 15.5 yards a reception which is something Kentucky will need to keep an eye on. 

Tennessee brings a trio of experienced senior receiving threats to the game on Saturday.  6’1 Denarious Moore is the biggest threat with 36 catches for 707 yards and 8 TD’s on the season.  If you are doing the math, that is a very healthy 19.6 yards per reception average.  A lot of those numbers are due to the South Carolina game where Moore had 6 catches for 228 yards (a 34.0 average), but the fact that this was done against the SEC East champs shows how dangerous he is.  In his sophomore season, Moore had a 24 yard per reception average, so he has a history of being a big play guy.  Gerald Jones is the possession WR with 40 catches for 430 yards and 2 TD’s.  Those numbers would be higher but he missed three games this season.  Jones is not a home run type of threat as he has not caught a pass of more than 26 yards since week one, he does have a history of running the ball and has 3 career rushing TD’s including a 55 yarder his sophomore season.  The third senior threat, Luke Stocker, is technically a TE and he is a Kentucky boy from Berea.  Stocker has great size at 6’6  and 253 and has 304 yards receiving with a TD this year.  If you recall, Stocker had a big game against the Cats last year with 5 catches for 78 yards and a TD.  Perhaps the Vol’s biggest threat is freshman Justin Hunter who is averaging 27.1 yards a reception.  He is a true game breaking WR as he has 6 TD catches in just 15 catches.  In other words, he scores on 40% of his touches.  He is a true boom or bust guy however as he has 8 games with 0 or 1 catch. 

DEFENSE

As a whole, the Volunteers defensive unit has been pretty maligned this season, giving up 25.6 points a game and they have given up at least 38 points on four occasions.  The Vols numbers are a lot better as they have played very well against four very bad teams and given up just less than 10 points a game to those teams.  So the overall numbers are a bit misleading.  Kentucky brings the 22nd best scoring offense into the game so you would think they would have no problem putting points on the board.  The Vols give up 155.8 yards per game on the ground and have surrendered 20 TD’s, which suggest that a healthy Derrick Locke could have a big game.  The pass defense is a little stingier, allowing 225 per game and 12 TD’s.  It’s hard to get a gauge on how good this unit is overall as like I said, four games were against tepid foes.

The Vols have 21 sacks on the season and DE Malik Jackson is responsible for 5 of them.  Jackson is huge (6’5, 265) and he can be a disruptive force on the line all day.  Jackson also has 10 tackles for a loss on the season.  Nick Reveiz leads the Volunteers LB corps with 86 tackles with 6 tackles for a loss and two interceptions.  Overall the Vols LB corp is a bit small, but very athletic and fast.  The Vols have a pair of stellar defensive backs, Janzen Jackson and Prentis Waggner.  Both have 4 picks on the sea
son and Jackson has 114 return yards on his picks.  Waggner has also scooped up three fumbles on the season.

OUTLOOK

Tennessee is a very tough opponent to handicap as they have won pretty much they have beaten all the weak sisters on their schedule and lost to all the mostly ranked teams.  So the trick is deciding where Kentucky falls in the talent level of the teams the Volunteers have played.  he Vols were impressive in racking up wins over  Tennessee Martin (50-0), Memphis (50-14), Mississippi (52-14), and Vanderbilt (24-10).  The Vols had to struggle to win in OT against lowly UAB (4-7).  So the Vols do not have a win against a team with more than 4 wins on the season.

The losses for the Vols have been ugly for the most part, but a good but if the teams were ranked when the defeated Tennessee.  The Vols have lost to then ranked #7 Oregon 48-13, #10 Florida 31-17, #12 LSU  16-14, #8 Alabama 41-10 and #20 South Carolina 38-24.  In addition, they have lost to Georgia 41-14.  If we look at the common opponents stats both teams are 2-3.  But looking at the caliber of teams played, Tennessee is 5-0 against teams that have four wins and less and 0-6 against teams with more than five wins.  Kentucky has six wins on the season.

Another thing we have to address is the streak.  Most Tennessee players are new to the program and “the streak” does not really mean a lot to them.  The Vols have been 12-12 over their last 24 games and any semblance of their former glory has been washed away.  All they are now is a team that wears puke orange uniforms.  For Kentucky, the streak is a major thing.  If Randall Cobb is to depart Kentucky for the NFL and not beat Tennessee during his career, that will leave a lingering bad taste in his mouth for the rest of his life.  The thing about streaks is that the team that has the upper hand really just wants to get the game over and does not really look forward to playing a hungry and desperate team every year.  The team that is on the losing end?  They have the hunger, desire, and determination.

This is the year it ends and without too much drama:  Kentucky 31  Tennessee 20 

Keep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fans