The Wildcats are looking for their fourth SEC win in a season since 2006 and the first three game League winning streak since 1999. More importantly those stats mean nothing when stacked up against a possibility of going to a bold game. The Missouri Tigers stand in the way of that like a wall much like one of our presidential candidates.
Is it an unlikely probability Kentucky will come out of Columbia, Missouri win? There are many of the nay-sayers and nattering-nabobs that putting this one down in the loss column for the Cats.
The Tiger’s defense (wall) already last in total defense in the SEC, sprung a huge leak that their leading tackler linebacker Michael Scherer and defensive tackle Terry Becker – a former five-star player out of East Saint Louis – both went down in Tuesday’s practice with knee injuries. The Tigers were already weak in the sack numbers.
The major thing the Wildcats will have to contend with is the Missouri offense that’s number one in the SEC. The Tigers have done a good job keeping their quarterback Drew Lock clean. They have given up only five sacks making them #1 in the SEC. UK defenders face a big challenge getting to the quarterback. Lock has a big arm but is completing only 53.3 % of his passes. This begs the question of how are they scoring so many more points? The answer is they run a high tempo offense which allowed them to run 112-play last week. By comparison they have ran 100 more plays than Kentucky. Their passing offense is #1 in the SEC. Missouri has been a quick strike offense – their time of passion stacks up 13th as opposed to number eighth for the Cats.
When their offense is not on the field which is not much Missouri’s punter is #2 in the league compared to UK that’s #12.
The Wildcats leads Missouri in every statistical category but punting (UK 37 yards per punt). The Wildcat thus far have played a clean brand of football in that it rates number two in the SEC and very high in the nation in accruing penalties.
Given all the warts Missouri has UK has a couple of huge warts themselves. The Wildcats turnover ratio at -9 is last in the league and their defense against third conversions is thirteenth in the league. The last stat is somewhat misleading because Kentucky’s defensive stats have got exponentially better over the last three games.
The Tigers figure to have their hands full stopping UK’s running game with UK’s three-headed monster Stanley “Boom” Williams, Benny Snell Jr, and Jojo Kemp. The UK quarterback Stephen Johnson compliments that group well with his running ability.
The UK offensive line has been playing a huge roll in the ability to effectively run the football. Johnson is acquiring a reputation of ‘Cool Hand Luke.’ “As far as his calmness of not getting to high and not getting to low it’s incredible,” said Coach Darin Hinshaw. “You can talk to him after he throws a touchdown and after a huge mistake and it’s the same which is what you want in your quarterback.” The coach said that now he’s got to eliminate his mistakes. The turnovers are something that have plagued us this season. He’s overcome them, we’ve overcome them. He’s got to eliminate those mistakes. “I try to stay as relaxed as I can,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if it’s a California thing?”
If the Cats can come away with the win this Saturday that could be the knocking down that wall separating them from a bowl.
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