Kentucky football hosts Vanderbilt under the lights at Kroger Field tomorrow night and kickoff will be at 7:30 P.M. ET. The Wildcats have a ton of momentum and buzz surrounding the program right now, as this will be just the third time in program history there is a sold out crowd for the Vanderbilt game. We have previewed the Commodores offense and defense as they are going through a transition year. Now, let's lay out the path to victory for Kentucky to improve to 7-1 heading into the bye week.
Win the Line of Scrimmage
The game truly comes down to this in my opinion, and Kentucky has the advantage in the trenches on both sides of the football. Vanderbilt's offensive line allows the highest pressure rate in the SEC, and Kentucky's defense has gotten consistent pressure this season.
Mi'Quise Humphrey-Grace is top ten in the country in total pressures and he is one of our X factors for this game, but we have seen the depth of this defensive line show up with guys like Tavion Gadson, Jamarrion Harkless, CJ Works and Lorenzo Cowan. Kentucky will be able to generate pressure on Vanderbilt, but they have to finish the play by getting true freshman quarterback Jared Curtis on the ground as his big frame makes him tough to sack.
On the other side, Kentucky has one of the best offensive lines in the country and they are a contender for the Joe Moore Award. Cutter Leftwich has done a masterful job with this unit and they have to dominate on Saturday. They should be able to displace the Vanderbilt defensive line in the running game and they have done a great job at keeping quarterback Kenny Minchey clean pockets. The two players to watch on the defensive line for Vanderbilt is edge defender Miles Capers and defensive tackle Issa Ouattara, they have to limit their impact on the game.
Tackle Jared Curtis, Cover Junior Sherrill
Quarterback Jared Curtis and wide receiver Junior Sherrill are essentially the entire offense for the Commodores. Curtis is tough to bring down, as we mentioned, and the defense cannot allow him to erase sacks and extend plays with his legs. When Curtis does extend plays, he will be looking for Sherrill downfield. Sherrill is third in the conference in receiving yards with 628 on the season, he has 41 receptions and four touchdowns on the season.
The rest of the wide receiver room is lacking experience and they have struggled. Vanderbilt wideouts have scored just five touchdowns all season, and Sherrill has four of those five. This game comes down to how well the Wildcats can slow down Sherrill in the passing game because they don't have many other ways to generate offense. Curtis is young and inexperienced so he will make mistakes, but you can't deny his talent that made him a five-star prospect and there will be moments you see him make incredible plays.
Generate Explosive Plays
Kentucky has done a decent job at generating explosive plays this season, they rank sixth in the conference in explosive play rate. They have generated 56 total explosive plays this season, 31 of those are run explosives and 25 of those are pass explosives. Kentucky needs to generate more explosive pass plays heading into the bye week and they have a great opportunity to do so this weekend. Kenny Darby has been the go-to guy for those explosive plays, and the Wildcats will be without wide receiver Nic Anderson in this game.
I expect a ton of targets for Darby to try to generate those explosives down the field. Another guy to watch is DJ Miller, who has been quiet since his breakout game at Texas A&M. The staff needs to get Miller going this weekend because Anderson was really starting to heat up before getting banged up in the last two games. Anderson went out early against LSU and we saw the emergence of WR4 Ja'Kayden Ferguson; expect to see Ferguson get involved in this game as he made two clutch catches in the two minute drive against the Tigers and a unbelievable tough catch down the sideline before that.
This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: How Kentucky improves to 7-1 against Vanderbilt
