Tennessee Vols can take advantage of a major weakness in SEC matchup later this month
The Tennessee Vols have a couple of "toss-up" games remaining on their schedule. One of those games is against the Kentucky Wildcats on October 29. Entering Saturday, the matchup against Kentucky, which is ranked No. 7 in the AP Top 25 Poll this week, looked like one that could truly go either way — even though […]
The Tennessee Vols have a couple of "toss-up" games remaining on their schedule.
One of those games is against the Kentucky Wildcats on October 29.
Entering Saturday, the matchup against Kentucky, which is ranked No. 7 in the AP Top 25 Poll this week, looked like one that could truly go either way — even though it's in Knoxville.
The Wildcats, however, showed a major weakness on Saturday in their first loss of the season.
Kentucky fell 22-19 to the Ole Miss Rebels in Oxford on Saturday afternoon.
And one of the big reasons they lost was because they gave up nearly 200 rushing yards to Ole Miss.
For a team that wins games because of its defense (Kentucky quarterback Will Levis looked average at best), giving up nearly 200 yards on the ground obviously isn't ideal.
One reason why Kentucky had issues with the Ole Miss rushing attack is because of the Rebels' wide splits.
The Wildcats just weren't able to figure out how to defend the run with their defenders split out so wide.
That's a good sign for Tennessee when they take on UK since the Vols use wide splits as much as any program in the country.
If Kentucky is going to place all of its attention on defending the Vols' passing game, then Tennessee is going to utilize its ground attack to punish the Wildcats' defense. And based on what saw in the Kentucky/Ole Miss game, we know this approach will work.
It might sound simple — and to some extent it is — but Kentucky essentially has to decide if they want to load the box and leave Tennessee's receivers in one-on-one coverage or if they want to give the passing game extra attention and leave the box thin on defenders.
Basically what I'm saying is the Wildcats aren't going to be able to stop the Vols' offense. Which means this game will likely turn into a shootout (like last season's matchup).
And despite the preseason hype, Kentucky quarterback Will Levis hasn't been all that impressive this season. In fact, it almost feels like he took a step back.
Tennessee's defense has struggled at times this season, but defending Levis will be less of a challenge than defending Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson was last month.
The Kentucky game suddenly went from feeling like a toss-up game to one that should absolutely be a win for the Vols.
Featured image via © Calvin Mattheis/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK
