This Saturday the number one team in all of college football makes a trip into Commonwealth Stadium. Sounds familiar? (cough LSU cough) Now that LSU team in 2007 may not have been as good on the defensive side of the ball as this years rendition of the Crimson Tide, but their offensive play may have been a notch above. Alabama comes in unbeaten and with Tennessee, Arkansas, and LSU coming on their schedule they may just be looking past the Cats this Saturday. This Alabama team is good, they are VERY good but they lost a ton of defensive players to the draft last year including both starting cornerbacks. Maybe its a pipe dream, or just maybe there is a scenario in which your Cats can pull off the colossal upset.
First and foremost, any chance of an upset here lands squarely on the defense. That may make some fans nervous to hear that but it is reality. The biggest key for the defense is to get A.J. Mccarron and company off the field as quickly as possible. Alabama has great depth on defense as they have every year, but keeping them on the field and not letting the Tide defense catch their breath will be a huge help for Kentucky. With Bud Dupree doubtful for this game, freshman Jason Hatcher could be a name to watch for this game. Hatcher played through a broken hand last week and will be playing with a cast this week, but I'm guessing if a broken hand won't stop him then a cast wont either. Always a name to watch is Za'Darius Smith who will be playing opposite of Hatcher and will be charged with the task of pressuring one of the nations best quarterbacks. T.J. Yeldon is the guy to stop along with Mccarron and Mister Cobble will be the first line of defense against Yeldon as he goes between the tackles.
While the Kentucky defense will need to get the Tide offense off the field in a hurry, the offense will have to keep them off. Kentucky's ground raid / air raid offense will have to put together sustained drive to eat as much clock as they can (something they haven't been able to do consistently all year) to keep Alabama's offense on the sidelines and try to take advantage of a tired defensive front seven. Jalen and his receivers catch a fairly big break in not having to worry about the star of Alabama's secondary Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. Clinton-Dix was suspended indefinitely on October 3rd for "violating team rules" also known as taking money from a strength coach. While that may be a hole Kentucky can exploit in the defense, it wont matter if they don't win the battle at the line of scrimmage. With Alabama's front four looking to pressure Jalen, he may be on the move quite a lot on Saturday, which may not be a bad thing. Broken plays and scrambles can rattle a defense even for one play which is the kind of sloppy game that Kentucky needs to win. With middle linebacker C.J. Mosley lurking, it may not be a bad idea to roll out Whitlow and give him more room to work the ball down the field.
As I mentioned before, this needs to be a sloppy game for Kentucky to wind up pulling off the upset. Busted plays turning into big gains, kick returns, blocked punts, and most importantly TURNOVERS. The turnover battle can make or break a teams chances at victory and can even the playing field with an opponent even for the top tier teams in the nation. Extra possessions mean extra drives and chances to score and that will be the biggest double edged sword you can imagine for the Cats on Saturday. Win the turnover battle especially by multiple takeaways and you have more than a punchers chance. Getting the crowd in the game early with a score and keeping them in it with a few interceptions could spell doom for the Crimson Tide. On the other hand, if Kentucky coughs up the ball and loses the turnover battle it will end any fleeting chance the Cats may have at snatching a victory from the jaws of Nick Saban.
Go Cats.
@DaveyRudolphKSR
First and foremost, any chance of an upset here lands squarely on the defense. That may make some fans nervous to hear that but it is reality. The biggest key for the defense is to get A.J. Mccarron and company off the field as quickly as possible. Alabama has great depth on defense as they have every year, but keeping them on the field and not letting the Tide defense catch their breath will be a huge help for Kentucky. With Bud Dupree doubtful for this game, freshman Jason Hatcher could be a name to watch for this game. Hatcher played through a broken hand last week and will be playing with a cast this week, but I'm guessing if a broken hand won't stop him then a cast wont either. Always a name to watch is Za'Darius Smith who will be playing opposite of Hatcher and will be charged with the task of pressuring one of the nations best quarterbacks. T.J. Yeldon is the guy to stop along with Mccarron and Mister Cobble will be the first line of defense against Yeldon as he goes between the tackles.
While the Kentucky defense will need to get the Tide offense off the field in a hurry, the offense will have to keep them off. Kentucky's ground raid / air raid offense will have to put together sustained drive to eat as much clock as they can (something they haven't been able to do consistently all year) to keep Alabama's offense on the sidelines and try to take advantage of a tired defensive front seven. Jalen and his receivers catch a fairly big break in not having to worry about the star of Alabama's secondary Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. Clinton-Dix was suspended indefinitely on October 3rd for "violating team rules" also known as taking money from a strength coach. While that may be a hole Kentucky can exploit in the defense, it wont matter if they don't win the battle at the line of scrimmage. With Alabama's front four looking to pressure Jalen, he may be on the move quite a lot on Saturday, which may not be a bad thing. Broken plays and scrambles can rattle a defense even for one play which is the kind of sloppy game that Kentucky needs to win. With middle linebacker C.J. Mosley lurking, it may not be a bad idea to roll out Whitlow and give him more room to work the ball down the field.
As I mentioned before, this needs to be a sloppy game for Kentucky to wind up pulling off the upset. Busted plays turning into big gains, kick returns, blocked punts, and most importantly TURNOVERS. The turnover battle can make or break a teams chances at victory and can even the playing field with an opponent even for the top tier teams in the nation. Extra possessions mean extra drives and chances to score and that will be the biggest double edged sword you can imagine for the Cats on Saturday. Win the turnover battle especially by multiple takeaways and you have more than a punchers chance. Getting the crowd in the game early with a score and keeping them in it with a few interceptions could spell doom for the Crimson Tide. On the other hand, if Kentucky coughs up the ball and loses the turnover battle it will end any fleeting chance the Cats may have at snatching a victory from the jaws of Nick Saban.
Go Cats.
@DaveyRudolphKSR
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