Entering week 13 of college football, No. 3 Texas will take on Kentucky for the final home game of the season.
Kentucky currently sits at the bottom of the SEC standings holding a 1–6 conference record, with its only win coming from an on-the-road upset to then-No. 6 Ole Miss back in September.
However, Kentucky has had numerous close games with SEC powerhouses — it lost to Georgia 13-12 and stayed within 10 points of the Tennessee Volunteers. With a team clearly ready to give its all, there are many factors in the Wildcats’ gameplay that the Longhorns will need to consider to pull out a win.
Factor in who’s quarterback for Kentucky
Junior Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff played the first half of the Wildcat’s matchup against Murray State last week. However, it was clear he was not at 100%. Vandagriff suffered a head injury against Tennessee from a sack the week prior and while cleared to play against Murray State, didn’t seem like his usual self in the pocket, throwing an interception and almost
throwing another on consecutive drives. After the first half, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops pulled Vandagriff for freshman quarterback Cutter Boley who threw for two touchdowns and 130 yards. While Vandagriff, a Georgia transfer, has started all 10 games for Kentucky this season, Texas should be prepared to see either quarterback on the field on Saturday.
Keeping an eye on Kentucky’s run game
One of the Wildcats’ main offensive characteristics is its dominance of the run game. This season so far a majority of Kentucky’s offensive play calls have been hand-offs and averaging 3.9 yards a carry. And with Kentucky’s recent quarterback issues, it would be likely to see an increased run game as well this Saturday. If the Longhorns want to find success, they will have to shut down the run game and more specifically, shut down redshirt freshman running back Jamarion Wilcox. Wilcox has been a major contributor for Kentucky this season with his last two games showcasing his potential with over 100 rushing yards in each. In his first year on the field, the running back has accumulated 474 rushing yards on 69 carries and two touchdowns.
Taking advantage of gaps in defense
One thing that has been prevalent throughout SEC play is the amount of injuries every week and at week 13, multiple substantial players could end up on the injury report. For Kentucky, a load of its injured players come from the defense. Senior linebacker D’Eryk Jackson and junior defensive back Maxwell Hairston are out for the season — Hairston has not played in over two months. Other members of the defense such as senior linebackers Jamon Dumas-Johnson and J.J. Weaver and junior defensive tackle Deone Walker also did not play in last week’s matchup against Murray State due to injury. Texas must use this to its advantage to find holes in a potentially less dangerous and inexperienced defense to get points on the board early, something it is not always able to do.
