After a dissapointing loss at home to the Georgia Bulldogs,the Cats go on the road to face Mississippi States version. The Bulldogs come into Saturdays game after struggling against UAB but ultimately coming out on top to prevent a let down following thier win at the swamp.Vick Ballard enters into Saturdays matchup leading the offense with 78 carries for 516 yds and 11 TD's.Ballard,(averaging 6.6 yds a carry), like most runningbacks Kentucky has faced, must be salivating at the thought of Kentuckys next to last ranking in the SEC for rushing defense.Kentucky has had a habit of making runningbacks famous,allowing 5 players to exceed the 100 yd rushing mark,and letting several players set school records. If last year is any indication of what Miss States running attack can do to us,then the Cats are in trouble.Last year Anthony Dixon ran for a school record 252 yd game in Commonwealth Stadium. Miss. State will not suprise Kentucky in their game plan.They will run the ball and run it often.In fact Miss. State runs the ball 67% of the time when they have the ball. Against the Gators Miss. State ran the ball 49 times and threw only 9 passes. Miss. State will often choose to run even in obvious passing situations.Coach Mullen does not see anything wrong with punting the football. Why would he? With a defense that is 3rd in the SEC in scoring defense and 6th in rushing defense, the Bulldogs have every reason to believe that they can count on this unit to produce for them. With speedy players like Chris White at LB who is 4th in the league in sacks and 3rd in tackles for loss,and K.J Wright standing strong at 12th in tackles they have every reason to be confident in this group. Manny Diazs "offensive" defense is not something to laugh at. It is absolutely difficult to scheme against.It features rushers coming from every angle.He'll bring pressure off the edge,the middle,and never gets vanilla.He'll throw a three man front at you and then bring 5 right at you.Miss. State will mix it up alot and is not afraid to bring the heat. Lbs,Corners,Safeties it could come from anywhere.Sometimes when I watch this defensive scheme masterfully confuse QB's I get jealous.Watching the game versus Florida it looks as if Chris White is Miss. States version of U.Ks Danny Trevathan. This kid is everywhere,from sideline to sideline. Hes great in thier blitzing scheme and can overwhelm offensive linemen with his speed. This defense is fearless and will test our offensive linemens abilities for 60 minutes.
Offensively the Bulldogs have a mobile QB in Chris Relf who is efficient at executing thier spread option attack alongside Ballard.Although Relf is apparently not the best of passers in the league his numbers arent too terrible,63/114 815 yds 6 TD's 3 INT's,so Kentucky will stil have to be concerned with the threat of a pass and cover those recievers. In the redzone Miss. State has converted 24 of 32 chances with 20 TD's. Not suprisngly 15 of those were rushes and 5 were pass attempts.To say Kentuckys red zone defense has been less than stellar would be an understatement.The Cats have allowed opponents to score 30 out of 31 times in the redzone and is last in the SEC in red zone defense.The Wildcats will have to play 60 minutes of gap sound football if they have any chance of halting the run crazy Bulldogs.Miss. State is 2nd in the league in 3rd down conversions,while Kentucky is 11th in the league in 3rd down conversions for opponents.Penalty wise the two teams are quite similar with UK having 45 for 368 yds while Miss. State has 48 for 383 yds. Miss. State comes is 1st in the SEC in time of posession with a 31:17 average while the Ctas come in at 4th at 30:55. Miss. State will try to manage the time of possession and control the clock.In turnover margins the Cats are +1 to Miss. States +4. Kentucky can not afford to beat itself again.They must take care of the ball like its thier only mission in life.
Keys to the Game
1) Protect Mike.- With Miss. States fearless blitzing packages the Cats offensive line will have thier hands full in trying to protect thier QB. This defense is designed to confuse the opposing teams offense and it does its job well. Our Line will have to be effective in picking up those blitzes and Hartline will need to play smart and make the proper adjustments
2) Avoid turnovers- Another game in which the Cats shoot themselves in the foot by fumbling inside of their side of the 50.This has to be avoided. You simply cannot win football games when you give up costly turnovers
3) Kentucky will have to play 60 minutes of football- Joker Phillips has said that hes curious as to what kind of football team we have,since they have never played 60 minutes in all three phases.The Miss. State game would be a good time to find out.We cannot afford to get in another hole and play catch up.
4) Play gap sound defense and tackle well- Blame Steve Brown all you want(and I often do) you have to admit these guys are losing thier gaps,blowing assignments and executing poorly defensively.The tackling while it has gotten better, has only went from horrendous to poor.UK will have to wrap up the ball carrier and take him to the ground.Fundamentals,fundamentals,fundamentals.
5)Locke needs to be healthy- Say what you want about Locke but Kentucky is just simply a different football team without him in the game. Yes we managed a win against Spurrier(aka Beavis) and his Gamecocks without him,but imagine the improvement once hes back as an offensive weapon.
6) Take advantage of Miss. States secondary.Against UAB the Bulldogs secondary gave up 236 yds through the air and they rank 8th in the league in pass defense. If King cant play,Brian Adams will have to be ready to step up with the loss of Roark.Matthews needs to use his height and length to come down with those balls.Hartline could have another start performance,that is if his protection doesnt fail him.
7)Do not forsake States passing game- While Miss. Sate makes it their buissness to pound the football,they do have a capable QB and recievers. Chad Bumphis leads the WR corps with 33 rec for 461 yds and 4 TD's.As a DB key the run but dont get caught falling asleep.
8) Play with intensity- Theres no doubt these Cats are fighters,having clawed their way back in the Carolina game to beat them and almost succeeding in beating Auburn.But the key is can they take that second half intensity theyve showed us and apply it to the entire game.A unified 60 minute all out effort will undoubtably put a W on the schedule for the Cats
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