Redshirt freshman La'Vell Wright could get a lot of playing time Saturday with possibly three other running backs out for various reasons. (UK Athletics Photo)
When Kentucky beat Florida 20-13 last year, Chris Rodriguez ran for 99 yards and a touchdown.
When Kentucky beat Florida 27-16 in Gainesville in 2018, Benny Snell ran for 175 yards and quarterback Terry Wilson ran for 105.
When Kentucky opened the season last week and beat Miami of Ohio, the Cats ran for 50 yards on 26 carries with Kavosiey Smoke “leading” the way with 32 yards on seven carries.
Florida opened the season with a 26-22 win over then No. 7 Utah and vaulted from unranked to No. 12 in the country going into Saturday night’s game with visiting Kentucky. The Utes rushed for just 59 yards in the first half before the Gators wilted against the run in the second half. Utah rushed for 97 yards in the third quarter and 84 more in the fourth period. That gave Utah 230 yards rushing on 39 carries, an average of almost six yards per try.
Still, the feeling now is that Florida is the better team. The Gators opened about a 5-point favorite and ESPN news editor Brandon Zimmerman told SEC Network host Paul Finebaum what many national media members are thinking: “Florida is going to win this game, and I think they’re going to win it handily,” Zimmerman told Finebaum.
Even my buddy Anthony White, the former UK all-SEC running back and WLAP Sunday Morning Sports co-host, admitted UK’s lack of a running attack against Miami worried him.
“Florida does cause me concern. I don’t know if I am as confident as I have been,” White said. “The offensive line getting beat off stunts and not knowing how to adjust is a problem. In the SEC guys are so fast that if you hesitate a second, they will go by you. You don’t want to see your quarterback get hit as much (as he did by Miami).”
Kentucky is making a change on the offensive line moving left guard Kenneth Horsey to left tackle and leaving Jager Burton to make his second start at guard. However, the backfield is not near full strength.
Star running back Chris Rodriguez remains suspended, missing in action or whatever you want to call it. Backup Ramon Jefferson, a transfer, was hurt on his first carry and reports have him with a torn ACL that likely will make him miss the rest of the season. JuTahn McClain was listed week to week on Monday by coach Mark Stoops and that likely means he won’t play.
Kentucky has not beaten Florida in back to back seasons since 1976-77 and likely won’t again if it gives up four sacks like it did against Miami and also cannot consistently run the ball.
“It’s all fixable. We have a young group that doesn’t have as much experience as we’re used to seeing in the past. I mean, we had to replace three guys lost to the NFL so you can’t rebuild the wall overnight. It’s going to take some time,” center Eli Cox, last year’s starting right guard, said after the Miami game.
“We had a lot of guys that never even started a game here before that are very talented players who I’m very confident in, but now, having that experience under their belts, I think it’s only going to be smoother sailing from here for them.”
6 Responses
The O-Line will be the key to this game. Opening up holes to run through and protecting Levis are essential. If the O-Line can’t perform, it might get ugly quickly.
with you RJohn
I expected UK to look much better than they did last weekend, the issues are real. Their trip to Florida in multiple ways is a big game for them! Not saying these issues can’t be fixed, but UK is going to have to dig in and perform.
Got to dig deep for sure
One thing I noticed about the O line is they never got to 2nd level blocking. All the good O lines in the past moved their man and then got to a LB or safety which allowed longer runs by the RBs. Didn’t happen against Miami of Ohio. If a hole existed the LB or safety was there to fill it.
They did not and got to do better Saturday night keith
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