Kentucky, Florida matchups to watch
Ready for a knockdown, drag-out football game in the SEC East? Kentucky and Florida will deliver that at Kroger Field on Saturday evening.
The Gators and Wildcats appear to be Georgia’s top competition in the division, and the winner of this game will emerge as the clear second favorite in the east. Luckily, Kentucky gets the matchup at home.
The experts in Las Vegas currently have the betting spread sitting at 7.5 as this could be a close game at Kroger Field. KSR’s deep dive scouting report has explained Dan Mullen’s fourth Florida team in detail, but football games often come down to matchups.
These three isolated battles will go a long way in determining who is victorious at Kroger Field.
Darian Kinnard/Dare Rosenthal vs. Zachary Carter/Brenton Cox Jr.
Want to see a battle of pros? Look no further than the edge when Kentucky has the football.
The biggest strength of Florida’s unit is their defensive front, and Todd Grantham has built his defense to create as many one-on-matchups for his stars up front. The Gators will constantly show five-man fronts pre-snap in hopes of getting one-on-ones for Zachary Carter and Brenton Cox Jr. More often than not, the veterans deliver the goods.
In the last 16 games, the two former highly-ranked recruits have combined to collect 29.5 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks. Both players make havoc plays against the run and pass. Kentucky must get them blocked.
Through one month, Darian Kinnard has been one of the best offensive tackles in college football, but he will be challenged. Meanwhile, Dare Rosenthal has had some up and down moments but did play well against Florida in LSU’s win in The Swamp last season.
Florida will look to isolate their best players against two of Kentucky’s best players. The winner of these matchups will have a heavy say in how successful the Wildcats will be on offense.
Florida tailbacks vs. Kentucky run defense
The QB run element is getting a lot of attention ahead of this game, and rightfully so. Emory Jones has a 53.7 percent success rate on 54 non-sack rushes as the redshirt junior quarterback paces this Florida attack that leads the nation in yards per rush. However, it is the trio of tailbacks that allow Florida to do what they do.
Malik Davis, Dameon Pierce, and Nay’Quan Wright have combined to record 91 rushes through four games with 560 rushing yards and 6.16 yards per rush. However, this group is winning on a play-by-play basis owning a success rate of 50.55 percent.
Kentucky might have a defense that can slow them down.
Through two SEC games, Kentucky has seen 34 combined rushes from SEC tailbacks allowing a success rate of 47.06 percent. However, only three of those rushes have gone over 10 yards as foes are averaging just 3.53 yards per rush thanks to a 20.59 percent stuff rate.
Jones and Anthony Richardson are going to get some chunks on the ground. However, if the tailbacks are stopped that forces Florida to play left-handed for most of the game as this group has gotten carries/targets on 38.41 percent of Florida’s snaps.
Slow down the backs, and Kentucky will have a great shot at slowing down this Florida offense.
Scheming Wan’Dale Robinson open
Kentucky must establish some type of running game to have some success against Florida. However, that is a given. If Kentucky is going to consistently score points against the Gators, the Wildcats must create big plays in the passing game.
Nebraska transfer and former top-100 recruit Wan’Dale Robinson is the player that is going to do that.
Through four games, Florida’s passing defense ranks last in the SEC in yards per attempt allowed (7.5) despite being top five in completion percentage allowed (56.6%). That should tell us that completing passes can be difficult, but big plays are there for the taking.
After seeing a ton of deep zone coverage against both Chattanooga and South Carolina where each defense was set on stopping the big play, Kentucky will see some man coverage this week thanks to Todd Grantham’s defensive scheme. Offensive coordinator Liam Coen must find ways to get Robinson the ball.
Expect Florida to use some bracket coverage on Robinson at times using more than one player to cover him. However, Coen could have some wrinkles whether it is using stacks or unbalanced formations to create advantageous matchups.
Wan’Dale Robinson is Kentucky’s best player, and the Wildcats must feed him the rock. Florida knows this and will attempt to stop it. Watching the two play-callers attack this schematically will be a fun watch. But at the end of the day, we know what Grantham is going to do.
Kentucky will get one-on-ones on the perimeter and must win these matchups.
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