With the news of Chris Westry's demotion and Jarrett Freakin' Guarantano throwing for 242 yards against the Cats on Saturday, it is clear that this is a secondary in a bit of turmoil and in need of a great game, starting with pass-happy Ole Miss this weekend. Coming into the season, I think many thought the secondary was the strength of the defense and the unit with the most pro potential. But when looking at the opponent QB performances this year against what those QB's are averaging, you see a noticeable trend:
(Southern Miss and Florida both split QB time, so not included)
Tim Boyle (Eastern Kentucky)
Against UK: 24-35, 202 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Season Avg: 18-30, 205 yards, 1.2 TD, 1.2 INT
Jake Bentley (South Carolina)
Against UK: 24-36, 304 yards, 2 TD, 2 INT
Season Avg: 19-30, 220 yards, 1.6 TD, 0.5 INT
Brogan Roback (Eastern Michigan)
Against UK: 26-43, 256 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT
Season Avg: 23-39, 260 yards, 1.4 TD, 1.0 INT
Drew Lock (Missouri)
Against UK: 22-42, 355 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT
Season Avg: 20-34, 321 yards, 3.5 TD, 1 INT
Nick Fitzgerald (Mississippi State)
Against UK: 18-26, 155 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT (also rushed for 112 yards)
Season Avg: 15-26, 165 yards, 1.4 TD, 1 INT
Jarrett Guarantano (Tennessee)
Against UK: 18-23, 242 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
Season Avg: 10-17, 79 yards, 0 TD, 0.5 INT (only 2 previous games as starter)
There are great QB's on that list, decent QB's, and likely a couple bad QB's. But no matter which, each and every one of these QB's had AT LEAST an average performance against the Cats secondary and most had an above average performance.
What I also found very interesting is that in each and every case, these QB's attempted more passes against UK than their season average, meaning teams feel they can throw the ball more than normal against the Cats. Teams are game-planning to beat the Cats through the air and while only 2 have beaten UK this year, all of them have been somewhat successful.
Ole Miss and Louisville are certainly going to throw the ball a ton. Georgia and Vanderbilt less so but still with QB's who can throw a little. If this team is going to get to 8 or 9 wins, and potentially win a tough bowl game, you have to think the secondary's performance will have to improve. I don't know if moving Westry out of the starting lineup is just a motivating factor to him or if he is no longer one of the best CB's on the team, but it will be a great test this weekend against a team that will throw it 30-40 times.
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