Kentucky football failed the first test of this important November stretch, losing 34-6 to Tennessee
. The Wildcats have to get off the mat quickly as they host the Florida Gators on Saturday night at Kroger Field. This is a Florida team that is reeling as they have lost four of their last five games. We will preview both sides of the football for the Gators, but we will start with their offense which is led by their star running back.Running back Jadan Baugh is essentially the entire Gators offense, he is the engine that makes it go. Similar to what we said about Tennessee's DeSean Bishop, but the Gators have struggled recently to get this run game going. That is the main reason they have lost four of their last five games. When you look at the win/loss
splits of Baugh's stat line, it tells the whole story of Florida's offense.
In the Gators' five wins this season, Baugh has rushed for 691 yards on 108 attempts for 12 rushing touchdowns and is averaging over six yards per carry in those wins. He has averaged 138 rushing yards per game in those five wins. Conversely, in Florida's four losses this season, Baugh has rushed for 145 yards on 52 attempts for 2 rushing touchdowns and is averaging under three yards per carry. He is averaging just 36 rushing yards per game in those losses.
Teams have started to key in on the run game and slow Baugh down recently, as most of his success came in the first month of the season. In September when the Gators were rolling, Baugh had 600 rushing yards on 83 attempts and 11 of his 14 rushing touchdowns came in the first month of the season. He was averaging 150 rushing yards per game and over seven yards per carry in the month of September. Since then, Baugh has just 236 rushing yards on 77 attempts, averaging just 47 rushing yards per game and three yards per carry.
It is simple for Kentucky's defense, stop this rushing attack led by Baugh and you will be in a great position to win this football game. Florida has a quarterback issue, as they have flipped back and forth between Aaron Philo and Tramell Jones. Philo was efficient in the first month of the season, but he dealt with an injury that allowed Jones to start in a big win on the road against Texas. Philo returned against Georgia, but a couple of boneheaded mistakes sent him to the bench.
Jones completed 22-of-35 pass attempts for 155 passing yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions in the win over the Longhorns. Against Georgia and Oklahoma, the Gators only scored a total of 15 points. In those two losses, Jones completed 28-of-47 passes for 305 passing yards and no touchdown passes to three interceptions. Jones has thrown just four touchdown passes on the season and five interceptions.
Philo on the other hand, has completed 70% of his passes this season for 1,367 yards for nine passing touchdowns. Philo also has five interceptions on the season. The biggest issue has been the injury of wide receiver Vernell Brown, who has not played in a game since the win over Ole Miss in September. Florida is struggling to generate any offense outside of the run game.
This matchup is simple for Kentucky, they just have to key in and stop the run game for the Gators. Force Florida into a dropback heavy game, which will lead to turnover opportunities. Regardless if they start Philo or Jones, both have been turnover prone this season and the Gators are -3 in the turnover margin which ranks 98th among FBS teams. Kentucky's defense has to get stops early and play with a lead quickly.
This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: Florida offense preview: Kentucky has to stop Jadan Baugh
