Tennessee offense biggest challenge UK defense has faced

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Quarterback Hendon Hooker leads an efficient Tennessee offense that has been scoring a lot of points. (SEC Photo)

You knew Kentucky missed a lot of tackles against Mississippi State but UK defensive coordinator Brad White confirmed Wednesday that the Cats missed 21 tackles in the 31-17 loss. If that doesn’t worry UK fans enough going into Saturday night’s game against Tennessee — the point spread has even trended down after UK opened as a favorite to make it almost a pick ’em game — pay attention to what White said about the Tennessee offense.

“Tennessee is playing at a very high level and is the biggest challenge to date for us,” White said.

Biggest challenge to date? Remember UK has played No. 1 Georgia. It just faced Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach, an offensive guru. Same with Florida and coach Dan Mullen.

But White, not a coach to embellish normally, says Tennessee’s fast-paced offense is the biggest challenge UK has faced this season.

“You can talk tempo but it is about the players in the tempo. Their offensive line is big and nasty. The receivers are explosive. They are skilled, long, and fast. The running backs do a nice job getting downhill and if they crease you can go for 90 (yards),” White said.

Not that he is downplaying the pace the Vols use.

“It is as fast an offense as there is in the country in terms of how fast they snap the ball,” White said Wednesday.

White says that puts stress on the defense to make proper communication quickly and also can tire out defensive linemen because they may have to play from three to six plays in a row without being able to get a break.

Quarterback Hendon Hooker took over for Joe Milton in week two and has been one of the nation’s more efficient quarterbacks.  White says Hooker has a “higher level of poise, maturity in the pocket” than he did when he was at Virginia Tech and played UK in the 2019 Belk Bowl.

“He is making the right decisions. He is making plays in the air and he can do things with his legs on designed runs or also on broken plays,” White said. “He can put stress on you because he can break the pocket. He just puts a lot of stress on you in a lot of different ways.”

3 Responses

  1. Doesn’t diminish my “born in” dislike of UT, but Coach H is a super person and an offensive genius.
    Lots of stuff that resembles “the Pirate” but done at a much more frenetic pace.
    Missing those two interchangeable bigs hurts us more than people think.
    Depth/attrition coming into play now.

  2. The key to a win for UK is getting pressure and containing Hooker. He has been sacked quite a bit for holding on to the ball too long. If UK does not do that, it will be a very long night for the Big Blue IMO. I still have the Starkville "jitters" on which UK team shows up come Saturday night against the team from Knoxville. I have been concerned about this game for awhile now having seen UT’s offense in action of late, and watching the UK offense struggle so much. This game will be a real challenge for UK, no doubt. If UK can run the football, win the time of possession stat, with long scoring drives, that will help. I still think it all rides on who wants this game the most. UT is looking to make a statement, revenge is a big factor for them, UK must make their own statement. Coen and White must call a near perfect game, and UK players must execute, I believe they will.

  3. KY has always struggled against a strong mobile QB that can also throw the ball. To beat TN, KY will have to outscore them.

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