Kentucky football cannot allow one loss to turn into two this weekend as they host the Florida Gators under the lights of Kroger Field on Saturday night. Jon Sumrall started the month of September looking like he already brought the Gators back to the top of college football, but Florida is reeling after losing four of their last five games. We previewed the Gators run heavy attack on offense, now we look at the defense that has struggled all season. Former Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White is now leading the Gators defense and it has not been pretty.
Florida's defense is allowing 27 points per game and have struggled all season. The Gators rank 15th in the SEC in success rate allowed, they rank 12th in rushing success rate allowed and they are
dead last in the conference in passing success rate allowed. This is an ideal bounce back spot for a Kentucky offense that failed to score a touchdown last week at Tennessee. If they come ready to play, this could be one of the best performances of the season for quarterback Kenny Minchey.
We saw Brad White's defense for years at Kentucky, and the bend-don't-break philosophy with soft zone coverage on the back end of the defense is a nightmare mismatch against Will Stein's offense. Stein and his offensive coordinator Joe Sloan have built this offense on quick game, high percentage passes that have led to putting long scoring drives together. This is a massive schematic advantage in this game against the defensive philosophy of Brad White.
Kentucky has lived off efficiency this season and that is why they have one of the highest offensive success rates in the SEC. They desperately need to find the explosive play button down the stretch, and this is a great opportunity for them to find it. Florida is one of the worst defenses Kentucky has faced all season and they need to regain momentum after last week's performance against Tennessee. I believe Kentucky can move the football with relative ease, but finding explosive plays will be the determining factor to the Wildcats having a breakout game offensively.
Kentucky was ranked 11th in the College Football Playoff rankings after their second loss of the season. This basically tells me that if Kentucky wins out, they are in the field. However, there are plenty of teams hovering around them that could make it difficult if they have strong finishes to the season like BYU, Texas Tech, USC, etc. Style points could come in handy over these last three games, and the Wildcats need to look more dominant on offense while winning comfortably to ensure they can make it in if they win out.
Florida allows the second highest early down success rate defensively, trailing only Vanderbilt among SEC teams. This is important to note because no team in the conference has a higher early down conversion rate than Kentucky. The Wildcats have done a phenomenal job on early downs this season and have avoided third down situations. Kentucky's offense could be able to get going early and often in this game on Saturday night.
We will see how Kentucky's defense fairs against a creative offensive scheme with offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, who uses a lot of pre snap movement to create advantageous looks. I am extremely confident Kentucky's offense will bounce back in a big way against the Gators defense after failing to score a touchdown last week. The Wildcats need to have a strong showing offensively after that performance and regain some momentum heading into a huge game at Missouri next week. Kentucky is officially in playoff mode, they have to win out to make it in and we will see how this team responds off of a loss with a lot at stake.
This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: Florida defense preview: Brad White returns to Kentucky
