Kentucky football hosts the Florida Gators under the lights of Kroger Field on Saturday, and the Wildcats need to bounce back following their second loss of the season. Kentucky has an opportunity to gain some momentum heading into the final two games of the regular season. We previewed Jon Sumrall's Florida team that has lost four of their last five games, offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner has a creative scheme and defensive coordinator Brad White is struggling to get his side of the ball playing well. We will now go over offensive X factors in this game, highlighting players that can make a difference in this game.
Kenny Minchey
Kenny Minchey has been extremely efficient this season, but the passing game has struggled to find explosives in recent weeks.
Luckily for the Wildcats, the Gators secondary has struggled all season and have allowed quarterbacks to have their best games of the season against them; John Mateer is a perfect example as Oklahoma got a big win in the Swamp last week. Minchey has an opportunity to have his best conference performance of the season, and they desperately need to find explosives in the passing game that we haven't seen consistently since they traveled to Texas A&M in week three. Minchey has to get his playmakers the football and get the passing game humming down the stretch, as Kentucky has no margin for error moving forward.
Willie Rodriguez
Tight end Willie Rodriguez has been one of the best at his positions in the country, he is tied with Kenny Darby for 45 receptions on the season. Rodriguez has 405 receiving yards and three touchdowns through the air on the season. We also see Rodriguez in the Wildcat in short yardage situations. Last week, Oklahoma tight end had four catches for 72 yards against the Gators so this is a favorable spot for Rodriguez.
DJ Miller
Outside of Kenny Darby, Kentucky has lacked consistency from their wide receiver room this season. They will be without Nic Anderson on Saturday, which will pave the way for Ja'Kayden Ferguson to get more snaps. However, DJ Miller desperately needs a big game in this one. Miller has 244 yards on 22 catches this season and one touchdown, he had five of those catches for 96 yards against Texas A&M.
Jadan Baugh
Jadan Baugh is one of the best running backs in the country, but teams have been able to shut him down over the last month of the season. Baugh is averaging six yards per carry and 138 yards per game when the Gators win. In their five wins, Baugh has scored 12 of his 14 total touchdowns and he is averaging under three yards per carry in their losses. Baugh has averaged just 36 rushing yards per game in the Gators losses, so the path to victory is simple for the Wildcats.
Duke Clark
Running back Duke Clark is someone the Gators need to get more touches, he showed a ton of flashes in the month of September before dealing with an injury. Clark can create explosives, and he has only received double digit carries in one game this season. That game was against Ole Miss, Clark has 12 carries for 126 yards and a touchdown. Since that game, Clark has just 10 total carries; Florida has quarterback issues right now so I would expect them to lean on this strong duo in the backfield early and often.
This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: Kentucky vs Florida: Offensive x-factors
