Breaking down the Cats and Tide

UKErik

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
27,441
3,092
0
Kentucky hits the road this week, traveling to bustling Tuscaloosa, Alabama! The Wildcats will enter Bryant Denny Stadium as one of the hottest teams in college football. The Cats have won two straight contests while outscoring their opponents 44-17 over the last six quarters! Last week, UK played tremendous football in the 2nd half, outscoring South Carolina 14-3. Meanwhile, the mighty Tide limped home against woeful Kent State, scoring just seven points after the half. Clearly, Kentucky enters the weekend as the hotter football team! Not only is UK obviously playing at a higher level, but Alabama OWES UK. No, they don’t owe us another *** whipping! They owe us because we were stupid enough to let Bear Bryant leave UK (left for A&M actually). It’s only fair that they either give us Nick Saban OR this weekend’s game! Most people won’t give UK a chance on Saturday, but I think that’s a mistake. If you take away the pass right before halftime against Southern Miss, the entire 2nd half against Southern Miss, and the first 57 minutes of the Florida game, Kentucky would be undefeated. Yeah, they’re THAT close to being 4-0 right now! Meanwhile, Alabama allowed 43 points at Ole Miss and nearly lost the 2nd half to Kent. Honestly, this might be a mismatch in UK’s favor.

Series: Kentucky leads 2-0-1 in games not won by Alabama

Line: Kentucky +34

Television/Game Time: ESPN, because the entire world loves UK football (7pm eastern)

Kentucky offense vs. Alabama defense: Advantage Kentucky
It might seem strange to give UK the edge in this matchup, but not when you put almost no thought into it. Alabama’s defensive line is massive, but they get tired fast. That isn’t my opinion. That’s what Saint Nick has said about them. And once the tank runs empty, it takes about 96 hours to refill it. Against UK’s offensive line, I’m guessing Alabama’s DL spends the first two hours of the game pretty much running free. That has to wear them down, right? Once that happens, look out! Bennie Snell looks like the next coming of Bo Jackson….5 touchdowns in two games against teams that allegedly had a defense! Boom Williams looks a lot like Eric Dickerson at this point. Boom averaged over 8 yards per carry against SC. He’ll probably double that this weekend. Of course, UK will need something from the passing game. Stephen Johnson has looked tremendous!!!!! Johnson owned Florida, outscoring the Gators 7-0 in the games final few seconds! Over the last two weeks, his offense has put up 79 points! Assuming he survives those first two hours I talked about earlier, he’s in for a BIG evening! Talent might be an issue for Alabama as well. Looking at the preseason All-SEC coaches 1st, 2nd, and 3rd teams, only six Alabama defensive players were voted on. That means five must suck! It’s imperative that Eddie Gran develops a gameplan that attacks those five scrubs!

Kentucky defense vs. Alabama offense: Advantage Kentucky
Lee Corso can kiss my ***! Worst defense in college football history huh? The Cats went out last week and kicked South Carolina square in the nuts! UK linebackers other than Jordan Jones actually tackled people! Denzil Ware looked like the Ware from Denver (minus the broken arm of course)! Overall,the Cats went from zero sacks on the season to FOUR! That means we could be looking at EIGHT sacks against Alabama. UK’s defense is clearly improving at warp speed! While the Cats “D” is starting to flourish, the ‘Bama offense appears to be in chaos. In their last two quarters of action (and that’s all I intend to focus on for the rest of this “analysis”), the Tide looked more like Dick Trickle! How do you only score seven points in two quarters against Kent? Seriously??? Alabama’s sudden demise on offense combined with Kentucky’s resurgence on defense gives UK an obvious edge! Another factor could be the injury to stud RB Damien Harris! With Harris likely out, Alabama is probably down to just 4-5 five star running backs. When is the last time Saban had to get through a league opponent with such little talent at his disposal? To me, this looks like crisis time in Tuscaloosa!

Special Teams: Advantage Kentucky
If the last four years have taught me anything, it’s this. UK’s special teams are truly special! There isn’t a unit quite like ours anywhere else in the country! Did anyone else see the confused look on coaches from Vanderbilt when UK called timeout before a 4th down punt? Or how about the confused looks on Mississippi State’s coaches as we called timeout right before drilling a long field goal? Or how about the time UK sent about five guys out to return a punt against Auburn? That type of unpredictability is going to pay off. Eventually. Maybe. Hopefully.

Alabama will win if…hell freezes over. I just don’t see it. With Damien Harris likely out and Alabama’s program in crisis mode following the 2nd half performance vs. Kent, asking them to beat one of the hottest teams in the country is probably asking a little too much. After all, it isn’t like ‘Bama has 85 4-5 star players. They only have about 75 or so, and like I said, Harris is hurt!

Kentucky will win if…the bus finds its way to the stadium. Like I said earlier, if you put no thought into this matchup, anything can happen. Seriously! I just don’t see how Alabama’s DL survives two hours of sprinting! Big guys don’t like to run that much, and they’ll probably go through UK’s OL like a knife through melted butter. I say they’re exhausted by mid-2nd Q. On defense, can ‘Bama contain an offense that’s averaged 40 PPG since Heisman contender Stephen Johnson started playing? Doubtful!

Prediction: Alabama 55 Kentucky 7…It’s gonna be ugly folks!

Previous Picks (3-1 S/U, 2-2 ATS)
UK 31 Southern Miss 27
Florida 23 UK 10
UK 48 New Mexico State 13
UK 31 South Carolina 26

GBB!!!
 

maysvilleky

All-American
Aug 13, 2003
15,769
5,109
0
Heck...I think if UK moves Johnson back 5 yards behind the center and have him drop back 5 more yards before doing something with the FB that's got to add to how quickly that D Line will get worn out!
 

dyersburgcatfan

All-Conference
Jan 14, 2013
1,460
1,482
0
Yeah, we should be able to win this one with our reserves. We'll be so far ahead by the fourth quarter, we can just take the victory formation for the last 5 possessions and give all our future NFL stars a well-deserved rest.
 

Deeeefense

Heisman
Staff member
Aug 22, 2001
44,073
51,033
113
Might call this the Onion version.
Good job of making chicken salad out of .....

Two teams that scored a lot on this great defense were Ole Miss and Clemson, last season, who rolled up 500 yards on the Tide. This team has no real identifiable weaknesses but there are ways to get points if we are smart about it.

Everyone sees this as a blowout, but I'm hopeful Kentucky can at least get some things done down there that impress recruits watching enough to see us moving in the right direction.

GBB!
 

dyersburgcatfan

All-Conference
Jan 14, 2013
1,460
1,482
0
I would feel we are making progress if we can hold the Tide to fewer than 35 and if our offense can score at least 2 TDs. Would also like to see us continue to be respectable with special teams and for the defense to get 1 or 2 take aways (doubtful that can happen, since Bama will not likely be in emergency mode at any point in this game, but would still like to see our D play aggressive and with passion and force something).
 

Bank Cat

All-American
Dec 8, 2011
3,533
5,210
113
I love this!

If UK covers, there will be folk songs written about this gritty group of Felines! And a statue for Stoops!
 

docholiday51

Heisman
Oct 19, 2001
22,011
26,718
0
Erik you have outdone yourself(and that is no small task)had to look twice to make sure it was really you(until I looked at the predicted score)
 

BigBlueFanGA

Heisman
Jun 14, 2005
26,435
23,455
0
Kentucky hits the road this week, traveling to bustling Tuscaloosa, Alabama! The Wildcats will enter Bryant Denny Stadium as one of the hottest teams in college football. The Cats have won two straight contests while outscoring their opponents 44-17 over the last six quarters! Last week, UK played tremendous football in the 2nd half, outscoring South Carolina 14-3. Meanwhile, the mighty Tide limped home against woeful Kent State, scoring just seven points after the half. Clearly, Kentucky enters the weekend as the hotter football team! Not only is UK obviously playing at a higher level, but Alabama OWES UK. No, they don’t owe us another *** whipping! They owe us because we were stupid enough to let Bear Bryant leave UK (left for A&M actually). It’s only fair that they either give us Nick Saban OR this weekend’s game! Most people won’t give UK a chance on Saturday, but I think that’s a mistake. If you take away the pass right before halftime against Southern Miss, the entire 2nd half against Southern Miss, and the first 57 minutes of the Florida game, Kentucky would be undefeated. Yeah, they’re THAT close to being 4-0 right now! Meanwhile, Alabama allowed 43 points at Ole Miss and nearly lost the 2nd half to Kent. Honestly, this might be a mismatch in UK’s favor.

Series: Kentucky leads 2-0-1 in games not won by Alabama

Line: Kentucky +34

Television/Game Time: ESPN, because the entire world loves UK football (7pm eastern)

Kentucky offense vs. Alabama defense: Advantage Kentucky
It might seem strange to give UK the edge in this matchup, but not when you put almost no thought into it. Alabama’s defensive line is massive, but they get tired fast. That isn’t my opinion. That’s what Saint Nick has said about them. And once the tank runs empty, it takes about 96 hours to refill it. Against UK’s offensive line, I’m guessing Alabama’s DL spends the first two hours of the game pretty much running free. That has to wear them down, right? Once that happens, look out! Bennie Snell looks like the next coming of Bo Jackson….5 touchdowns in two games against teams that allegedly had a defense! Boom Williams looks a lot like Eric Dickerson at this point. Boom averaged over 8 yards per carry against SC. He’ll probably double that this weekend. Of course, UK will need something from the passing game. Stephen Johnson has looked tremendous!!!!! Johnson owned Florida, outscoring the Gators 7-0 in the games final few seconds! Over the last two weeks, his offense has put up 79 points! Assuming he survives those first two hours I talked about earlier, he’s in for a BIG evening! Talent might be an issue for Alabama as well. Looking at the preseason All-SEC coaches 1st, 2nd, and 3rd teams, only six Alabama defensive players were voted on. That means five must suck! It’s imperative that Eddie Gran develops a gameplan that attacks those five scrubs!

Kentucky defense vs. Alabama offense: Advantage Kentucky
Lee Corso can kiss my ***! Worst defense in college football history huh? The Cats went out last week and kicked South Carolina square in the nuts! UK linebackers other than Jordan Jones actually tackled people! Denzil Ware looked like the Ware from Denver (minus the broken arm of course)! Overall,the Cats went from zero sacks on the season to FOUR! That means we could be looking at EIGHT sacks against Alabama. UK’s defense is clearly improving at warp speed! While the Cats “D” is starting to flourish, the ‘Bama offense appears to be in chaos. In their last two quarters of action (and that’s all I intend to focus on for the rest of this “analysis”), the Tide looked more like Dick Trickle! How do you only score seven points in two quarters against Kent? Seriously??? Alabama’s sudden demise on offense combined with Kentucky’s resurgence on defense gives UK an obvious edge! Another factor could be the injury to stud RB Damien Harris! With Harris likely out, Alabama is probably down to just 4-5 five star running backs. When is the last time Saban had to get through a league opponent with such little talent at his disposal? To me, this looks like crisis time in Tuscaloosa!

Special Teams: Advantage Kentucky
If the last four years have taught me anything, it’s this. UK’s special teams are truly special! There isn’t a unit quite like ours anywhere else in the country! Did anyone else see the confused look on coaches from Vanderbilt when UK called timeout before a 4th down punt? Or how about the confused looks on Mississippi State’s coaches as we called timeout right before drilling a long field goal? Or how about the time UK sent about five guys out to return a punt against Auburn? That type of unpredictability is going to pay off. Eventually. Maybe. Hopefully.

Alabama will win if…hell freezes over. I just don’t see it. With Damien Harris likely out and Alabama’s program in crisis mode following the 2nd half performance vs. Kent, asking them to beat one of the hottest teams in the country is probably asking a little too much. After all, it isn’t like ‘Bama has 85 4-5 star players. They only have about 75 or so, and like I said, Harris is hurt!

Kentucky will win if…the bus finds its way to the stadium. Like I said earlier, if you put no thought into this matchup, anything can happen. Seriously! I just don’t see how Alabama’s DL survives two hours of sprinting! Big guys don’t like to run that much, and they’ll probably go through UK’s OL like a knife through melted butter. I say they’re exhausted by mid-2nd Q. On defense, can ‘Bama contain an offense that’s averaged 40 PPG since Heisman contender Stephen Johnson started playing? Doubtful!

Prediction: Alabama 55 Kentucky 7…It’s gonna be ugly folks!

Previous Picks (3-1 S/U, 2-2 ATS)
UK 31 Southern Miss 27
Florida 23 UK 10
UK 48 New Mexico State 13
UK 31 South Carolina 26

GBB!!!
Auditioning to be an onion writer I see, well done, very well done.
 

UK Widget

Senior
Mar 10, 2012
9,319
816
0
Heck Alabama may have to play their scout team at the middle of the 1st with all of those touchdowns we may be scoring



For them :eek:
 

Jazzycat

All-Conference
May 23, 2002
16,044
4,602
113
Good take....UK may have a chance if the whole Bama team has a bout of food poisoning the night before.....Good time to learn some things....LOL:sunglasses:
 

UKWinsAgainYep

All-Conference
Nov 11, 2014
2,971
2,484
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Sad thing is, by year 4, Stoops was supposed to have us in a condition where we don't get laughed off the field against teams like Bama.
 

billoliver40

All-American
Dec 16, 2015
6,736
9,444
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Great stuff Erik.

If UK sticks around three touchdowns and doesn't have serious injuries it will be one of those dreaded moral victories.
I would take it right now.
 
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docholiday51

Heisman
Oct 19, 2001
22,011
26,718
0
What constitutes a decent showing by the Cats on Saturday? Form a score standpoint is it holding Alabama under 50 and putting up 10 or more? If it is 55 to 17 does that qualify s a decent showing? What are some thoughts?
 

EliteBlue

Heisman
Mar 27, 2009
16,751
20,269
0
21 or less margin of loss with us putting up a minimum of 14 would be a good showing in my mind. Very unlikely.
 

Anon1660081258

All-American
Jun 20, 2013
7,250
6,139
0
You can put it in the moral victory column if we stay within 1/2 of the spread, and suffer no serious injuries. I will actually be pleased by that result. 31-14 result would be encouraging as regards the remainder of the schedule.
 

Deeeefense

Heisman
Staff member
Aug 22, 2001
44,073
51,033
113
Would it qualify as the biggest upset in college football history if UK prevailed?

Appy State over Michigan in 2007 may be the biggest of all time. Because Apply State was Div 1AA at the time there was no line on the game.
 

ukalumni00

Heisman
Jun 22, 2005
23,382
39,196
113
KY wins if they leave Tuscaloosa with a healthy roster ready to take on a crucial 3 game stretch. KY's only shot is if Bama comes down with food poisoning and spends most of their time taking bathroom breaks than taking reps on the field.

Saban likes Stoops and Bama players get bored in the second half.

Bama 38
KY 10
 

ukbrian

All-Conference
Dec 17, 2008
22,946
1,699
113
I doubt we score. I'll consider it a moral victory if we do.

If we do we'll probably score to quick.
 

KY1WING

Senior
Sep 15, 2005
1,363
623
0
Kentucky hits the road this week, traveling to bustling Tuscaloosa, Alabama! The Wildcats will enter Bryant Denny Stadium as one of the hottest teams in college football. The Cats have won two straight contests while outscoring their opponents 44-17 over the last six quarters! Last week, UK played tremendous football in the 2nd half, outscoring South Carolina 14-3. Meanwhile, the mighty Tide limped home against woeful Kent State, scoring just seven points after the half. Clearly, Kentucky enters the weekend as the hotter football team! Not only is UK obviously playing at a higher level, but Alabama OWES UK. No, they don’t owe us another *** whipping! They owe us because we were stupid enough to let Bear Bryant leave UK (left for A&M actually). It’s only fair that they either give us Nick Saban OR this weekend’s game! Most people won’t give UK a chance on Saturday, but I think that’s a mistake. If you take away the pass right before halftime against Southern Miss, the entire 2nd half against Southern Miss, and the first 57 minutes of the Florida game, Kentucky would be undefeated. Yeah, they’re THAT close to being 4-0 right now! Meanwhile, Alabama allowed 43 points at Ole Miss and nearly lost the 2nd half to Kent. Honestly, this might be a mismatch in UK’s favor.

Series: Kentucky leads 2-0-1 in games not won by Alabama

Line: Kentucky +34

Television/Game Time: ESPN, because the entire world loves UK football (7pm eastern)

Kentucky offense vs. Alabama defense: Advantage Kentucky
It might seem strange to give UK the edge in this matchup, but not when you put almost no thought into it. Alabama’s defensive line is massive, but they get tired fast. That isn’t my opinion. That’s what Saint Nick has said about them. And once the tank runs empty, it takes about 96 hours to refill it. Against UK’s offensive line, I’m guessing Alabama’s DL spends the first two hours of the game pretty much running free. That has to wear them down, right? Once that happens, look out! Bennie Snell looks like the next coming of Bo Jackson….5 touchdowns in two games against teams that allegedly had a defense! Boom Williams looks a lot like Eric Dickerson at this point. Boom averaged over 8 yards per carry against SC. He’ll probably double that this weekend. Of course, UK will need something from the passing game. Stephen Johnson has looked tremendous!!!!! Johnson owned Florida, outscoring the Gators 7-0 in the games final few seconds! Over the last two weeks, his offense has put up 79 points! Assuming he survives those first two hours I talked about earlier, he’s in for a BIG evening! Talent might be an issue for Alabama as well. Looking at the preseason All-SEC coaches 1st, 2nd, and 3rd teams, only six Alabama defensive players were voted on. That means five must suck! It’s imperative that Eddie Gran develops a gameplan that attacks those five scrubs!

Kentucky defense vs. Alabama offense: Advantage Kentucky
Lee Corso can kiss my ***! Worst defense in college football history huh? The Cats went out last week and kicked South Carolina square in the nuts! UK linebackers other than Jordan Jones actually tackled people! Denzil Ware looked like the Ware from Denver (minus the broken arm of course)! Overall,the Cats went from zero sacks on the season to FOUR! That means we could be looking at EIGHT sacks against Alabama. UK’s defense is clearly improving at warp speed! While the Cats “D” is starting to flourish, the ‘Bama offense appears to be in chaos. In their last two quarters of action (and that’s all I intend to focus on for the rest of this “analysis”), the Tide looked more like Dick Trickle! How do you only score seven points in two quarters against Kent? Seriously??? Alabama’s sudden demise on offense combined with Kentucky’s resurgence on defense gives UK an obvious edge! Another factor could be the injury to stud RB Damien Harris! With Harris likely out, Alabama is probably down to just 4-5 five star running backs. When is the last time Saban had to get through a league opponent with such little talent at his disposal? To me, this looks like crisis time in Tuscaloosa!

Special Teams: Advantage Kentucky
If the last four years have taught me anything, it’s this. UK’s special teams are truly special! There isn’t a unit quite like ours anywhere else in the country! Did anyone else see the confused look on coaches from Vanderbilt when UK called timeout before a 4th down punt? Or how about the confused looks on Mississippi State’s coaches as we called timeout right before drilling a long field goal? Or how about the time UK sent about five guys out to return a punt against Auburn? That type of unpredictability is going to pay off. Eventually. Maybe. Hopefully.

Alabama will win if…hell freezes over. I just don’t see it. With Damien Harris likely out and Alabama’s program in crisis mode following the 2nd half performance vs. Kent, asking them to beat one of the hottest teams in the country is probably asking a little too much. After all, it isn’t like ‘Bama has 85 4-5 star players. They only have about 75 or so, and like I said, Harris is hurt!

Kentucky will win if…the bus finds its way to the stadium. Like I said earlier, if you put no thought into this matchup, anything can happen. Seriously! I just don’t see how Alabama’s DL survives two hours of sprinting! Big guys don’t like to run that much, and they’ll probably go through UK’s OL like a knife through melted butter. I say they’re exhausted by mid-2nd Q. On defense, can ‘Bama contain an offense that’s averaged 40 PPG since Heisman contender Stephen Johnson started playing? Doubtful!

Prediction: Alabama 55 Kentucky 7…It’s gonna be ugly folks!

Previous Picks (3-1 S/U, 2-2 ATS)
UK 31 Southern Miss 27
Florida 23 UK 10
UK 48 New Mexico State 13
UK 31 South Carolina 26

GBB!!!

I believe! I believe!
 

tuck66

Freshman
Sep 26, 2016
261
91
0