Kentucky Takes on Tennessee in an SEC East Showdown

The Kentucky Wildcats (4-3)(2-3) host the Tennessee Volunteers (3-4)(1-3) on Saturday tonight in a college football match up of third and fourth place teams in the SEC East.

Kentucky is coming off of rough loss at Mississippi State 42-16 in a game where Dak Prescott threw six touchdowns, and the Bulldogs finished the game on a 35-6 run after Kentucky jumped out to an early lead. The Vols had Alabama on their heels for the majority of last week’s game at Bryant-Denny, but Derrick Henry ran in a touchdown from 14 yards out with 2:24 left in the fourth to win it 19-14 for the Crimson Tide.

Kentucky’s junior quarterback Patrick Towles was off to a hot start to the season, but now has thrown five interceptions in his last three games, with no touchdowns in back to back games; his 247 passing yards per game isn’t bad, but he has more interceptions (9) then touchdowns (8).

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops has more than just his quarterback to worry about this weekend. Volunteers quarterback Joshua Dobbs has nine passing touchdowns with two interceptions, and three games with over 85 yards rushing and he has run for five scores as well.

“He [Dobbs] is a very good football player, you see him getting better and better with every game, with every rep.” Stoops said, “I think you see him in great command of the offense.”

Dobbs’ skill as a runner and a passer is not the only thing that Tennessee has going for them offensively; sophomore running back Jalen Hurd has rushed for 80 or more yards in all but one game this season. With nine total touchdowns, Hurd keeps defenses guessing whether Dobbs or Hurd will run the ball.

Volunteers head coach Butch Jones needs to win three of their last five in order to be bowl eligible, and says that Kentucky’s defense will be a challenge.

“Very, very talented defensively, they challenge you by their scheme, very athletic in the big end. The back end of their defense they are very big and stout up front, they play with great effort.”

Vegas has Tennessee has 8.5 point favorites, while statistically the defenses allow 24 (UT) and 25 (UK) points per game, while Tennessee scores 23 points per game against SEC teams, and Kentucky only averages 19.8 points a game against SEC foes.

Kickoff from Lexington, Kentucky is set for 7:30 ET, the game is on SEC Network.

Category: College Football