By: LARRY VAUGHT
How often Kentucky throws the ball against Louisville Saturday will depend not only on Louisville’s defense, but also on the weather conditions — and rain is forecast.
“If conditions are like that you gotta be able to grind it out. And it really depends on what they do defensively. People will typically come out and have a mentality they're going to do defensively. We have to adjust to that. If they're playing us in an aggressive way, we'll probably throw it more. But we're running the ball really well, so we can't ever abandon that,” said UK offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Drew Barker graded out well in his first start last week in the easy win over Charlotte.
"He did a really good job of two things, in my opinion. Third and medium was an emphasis for us. Just sitting in the pocket, triggering it, and he did it. I thought he did a good job there, and then when things broke down, he did a good job of keeping the play alive and improvising. A couple times, it was good to see,” Dawson said.
He’s not worried about the “heated rivalry” with Louisville impacting Barker, who was involved in a pregam scuffle at Louisville last year.
“We're just gonna play ball. He's pretty loose out there. We're just gonna go with what we see,” Dawson said. "I hoping he handles it really well. He’s got a great look in his eye, and he’s a competitive kid. So, he’s ready.
“It means a whole lot, obviously, to the state and to the people on each team. But what I do know about rivalries from the past is that all that's over after play one. You got to play ball. I don't really take too much into that, to be honest with you. After the first couple plays that's over. You just got to execute."
vBulletin Message