Will Levis has played very well through three games but wants to prove more people wrong. (UK Athletics Photo)
By Jordan Abrams, Contributing Writer
The Kentucky Wildcats are 3-0 and ranked as the No. 8 team in the country. This weekend, UK has a matchup against a tough opponent – the Northern Illinois University (NIU) Huskies. The Wildcats opened as a 25-point favorite but that spread has since went up to 26.5 with speculation that Huskies starting quarterback Rocky Lombardi may be out. Kentucky has struggled with their consistency on offense this season but their defense has been spectacular. Let’s jump into the 3 keys to victory for UK vs. NIU.
1. Control the line of scrimmage
Big Blue Nation isn’t used to seeing Kentucky struggle on the offensive line. However it doesn’t help that they’ve had a high turnover of offensive line coaches over the last few seasons. That being said, this can lead to a lot of mistakes. Kentucky is only averaging 2.3 yards/carry. The return of Chris Rodriguez next weekend should help improve that number. But for this game, Kentucky needs to see the offensive line open holes in the run game and keep star quarterback Will Levis off his back. In regards to the defensive line, they’ve played stellar to start the year and the key is to always put pressure on the opposing QB.
2. Will Levis needs to continue to play like a top-5 NFL draft pick
Levis has completed over 67% of his passes this season and thrown for 882 yards, which puts him third in the Southeastern Conference behind only Stetson Bennet and Will Rogers. This week Levis found his way into Mel Kiper’s Top-5 NFL draft board and the No. 2 overall QB in the draft rankings. The only problem he’s had this season is the amount of interceptions he’s thrown when trying to force plays, though head coach Mark Stoops has mentioned that a couple of those were on the UK wide receivers. If Levis has time, he is deadly. But when he doesn’t, things change a bit. Levis completes less than 40% of his passes when he is pressured, compared to over 75% when he has time to make throws. If Levis can throw for 350 yards and not have an interception this weekend, that will be a big step forward.
3. Don’t look past the Huskies
NIU was picked pre-season as one of the best teams in the MAC and they come into this game following a tough loss to an improved Vanderbilt team (despite having the lead going into halftime). The Huskies have had a strong start to the year offensively, averaging over 350 yards per game. Starting QB Rocky Lombardi has been good for NIU this season but some believe he may not be able to play this week due to an undisclosed injury. With that being said, the Huskies are still a team that can pull off upsets if a team looks past them. There’s potential for this to be a trap game with Kentucky traveling to Ole-Miss next week for a top-20 showdown. If the Wildcats want to avoid being upset by the Huskies, they’ll need to take this game seriously and put it away early.
Kentucky has had an amazing start to the season, but they need to win this one pretty handily to keep climbing in the rankings. If Kentucky can run the ball well this weekend and just play fundamental football, the Wildcats should be able to win easily.
Prediction: Kentucky 42, Northern Illinois 3
