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The 2010 season is behind us and the Wildcats are currently preparing to take on the University of Pittsburgh on Saturday. There has been plenty of turmoil on both sides with each team making coaching changes since the end of the regular season. So who has the edge in this game? I’m glad you asked.
QUARTERBACK
This position got a whole lot more interesting when Joker announced that Mike Hartline was suspended for the bowl game. In all honesty, Pitt’s Tino Sunseri didn’t stack up too well against Hartline, but taking one of Kentucky’s best offensive players out of the mix will hurt the Wildcats here. Sophomore Morgan Newton has been named the starter for this game and reports from pre-bowl practices have been very good. He has the ability to hurt the defense on the ground and through the air and will add another wrinkle to UK’s offense. That being said, it’s hard to pick a player that’s only completed four passes this season over a guy that started all twelve games.
The edge: PITT
RUNNING BACK
Pittsburgh has leaned on the sophomore running back tandem of Dion Lewis and Ray Graham pretty heavily this year. The duo has combined for 1,788 yards on the ground and has a combined 20 rushing touchdowns. Kentucky will bring in Derrick Locke as their feature back and he has put up some decent numbers this season despite missing four games to injury and playing against some of the top rushing defenses in the country. Backup Ray Sanders will be asked to spell Locke a little more frequently now that Donald Russell has transferred and he should be able to help the Cats in the passing game as well. The bottom line though, is that without Russell, Kentucky lost 293 yards of offense and a guy that rarely was tackled for a loss.
The edge: PITT
WIDE RECEIVER
The tight end comparison between Kentucky’s Jordan Aumiller and Pitt’s Mike Cruz is basically a wash. Neither player has been a deciding factor in their team’s passing game and neither player has broken twenty receptions for the season. Kentucky’s receiving trio of Randall Cobb, Chris Matthews, and LaRod King has combined for 2,288 yards this season and 21 receiving touchdowns. Pitt’s top three receivers have combined for 1,703 yards and 7 touchdowns. This one’s not really even that close.
The edge: KENTUCKY
OFFENSIVE LINE
The Wildcats’ offensive line was supposed to be a weak link this season after losing four starters from the 2009 campaign. The unit surprised many by coming together to be one of the team’s strengths by the end of the year. Anchored by guards Stuart Hines and Larry Warford, the UK offense was able to pile up 5,247 yards of total offense and gave up only 15 sacks on the year. The Pitt offensive line is lead by tackle Jason Pinkston and they haven’t been bad themselves. The group was able to accumulate 4,413 total offensive yards this year, but did surrender 23 sacks. While they might have been underappreciated to start the year, it’s clear that the Kentucky offensive line is a talented group that deserves their props.
The edge: KENTUCKY
DEFENSIVE LINE
There probably isn’t a single position group on the Kentucky football team that underachieved as frequently as the defensive line. Mark Crawford couldn’t keep out of trouble and is suspended for the bowl game, Ricky Lumpkin found that it’s a whole lot harder to play without Corey Peters next to you, and DeQuin Evans battled through injuries for most of the season and was nowhere to be found for long stretches of the season. The Pitt defensive line was lead by Chas Alecxih and Jabaal Sheard on their way to an impressive season. The Panthers held opponents to an average of 304 yards per game and compiled 28 of the team’s 30 sacks. The Wildcats allowed opponents to put up an average of 354 yards per game of total offense and only accounted for 12.5 of the team’s 21 sacks.
The edge: PITT
LINEBACKERS
From the very get-go of the season, Kentucky linebacker Danny Trevathan made it clear he would be a force to be reconed with for the rest of the year. He was pretty much the only consitent defensive threat for the Wildcats until Ronnie Sneed come on late in the season. The duo of linebackers finished the year with 186 total tackles and 20 tackles for loss. Pitt’s top two linebackers Max Gruder and Eric Williams combined for a less impressive 140 tackles and 6 tackles for loss. In other words, the top two linebackers for Pitt could only combine for 10 more tackles than Danny Trevathan had alone.
The edge: KENTUCKY
DEFENSIVE BACKS
The Kentucky defensive backs had an up and down year throughout 2010. The safeties played like future NFL players at times, and like high school junior varsity players at others. The corners were able to contain some of the best receivers in the country a
t times, and were burnt by no-name backups at others. The unit only combined for 6 interceptions on the season and was notorious for missing tackles. Those would lead you to believe it was a really bad year for the defensive backs, but on the flip side, the unit also held opponents to 184 passing yards per game and only allowed 13 passing touchdowns for the year. The Pitt defensive backs accounted for 12 of the team’s 13 interceptions and also held opposing offenses to 183 yards per game. Doubling Kentucky’s interception numbers pushes Pitt on top.
The edge: PITT
COACHING
Since the end of the 2010 season, Pitt has fired two head coaches. Kentucky’s Joker Phillips might be finishing up his inaugural year at the helm of the Wildcats, but unless Pitt hires John Harbaugh before Saturday, Kentucky gets this one going away.
The edge: KENTUCKY
So there you have the final comparison for the 2010 football season. Good luck to the Wildcats in Birmingham and I’ll be back next week to start looking at the 2011 version of the team.
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