Arkansas

As I've mentioned before, this weekend brings homecoming and a must win game for the Cats. What looked like the easiest game left on the schedule a mere five days ago is starting to look like a dogfight between two SEC middleweights. Five days ago, Kentucky still had Dicky Lyons. It still had an offense I felt could score against mediocre SEC opponents, and still had some mojo working from a close road loss to one of the best teams in the country.

Five days ago, Arkansas had lost its previous three games by a combined score of 139-31 and had nothing to show for the season but two last second wins over weak opposition.

Where UK has gone since then is well chronicled. Arkansas went down to Jordan Hare stadium and laid a home loss on previously ranked Auburn. Did Arkansas catch lightening in a bottle here, or is this a performance that will replicate itself? A close look at the situation is warranted.

Like UK, Auburn is mired in a pretty poor offensive season, but boasts a good defense. Last week may have been a fluke in that the Tigers chose to blow out their offensive coordinator mid-week. That had to be a distraction. Yet, UK has had to deal with distraction this week, between an emotional, potential season killing defeat, and losing one of its senior leaders in Dicky Lyons for the season. How we bounce back from that could tell the tale.



Auburn lost the game because they could not score much on offense and could not contain Arkansas junior running back Michael Smith.


I am not sure either of these maladies necessarily will snag the Cats. The 22 points is the least Arkansas has given up all year. Louisiana Monroe and Western Illinois scored more. Arkansas has played against some hefty offenses (Texas, Florida, Alabama), but they have given up a ton of points. To the extent Kentucky is going to be able to score the rest of the year, they can do it on Saturday against the Razorbacks. Auburn was killed by three interceptions, a 76 yard drive that resulted in no points, and a short missed field goal. It also gained a paltry 193 yards. We gained more than that against South Carolina, which has a great defense. Minimizing mistakes will be key for the Cats. Hopefully we do this and we'll be alright there.

Whether we contain Smith is another matter. This is hard to predict. He is coming off a career game, but has been pretty productive all year. Glen Coffee of Alabama ran wild on us, but other than that, UK has allowed no other 100 yard rusher this year, and only one runner has eclipsed 50 against us.

Contain this running game, and I don't think Hog's quarterback Casey will do Dick. . I mean, I don't think Casey Dick will accomplish much.

All that said, I don't see enough scoring for this to be anything but a close game. Hopefully we can have a couple of decent offensive drives early and seize control.

Incidentally, I kicked myself early in the week by calling UK a three point favorite before the lines came out. After reportedly opening at 11 and going down to 9 1/2 by the time I noted it in my blog yesterday, the line is now down to 7 1/2. I bet it is a 5 by gametime.

Go Cats.