Auburn Tigers (3-2) at Kentucky Wildcats (4-1)Thursday, October 15, 2015 at 7:00 pm (Commonwealth Stadium)
The Line: Kentucky Wildcats +2 -- Over/Under: See the Latest Odds
TV: ESPN
Written by Mike “The Scientist” Singer (Follow me on Twitter @TheScientistSBC)
(Singer's Rockstar Rating: 2 out of 5 stars)
This should be a fun one to
watch... these two teams haven't played since 2010 when Randall Cobb was a jr
wideout, and the National Champ Auburn (ranked #8 when they played) team
narrowly escaped Lexington with a W, 37-34.
UK is a team that keeps
getting better since Mark Stoops took over two years ago, and are looking to
improve, record-wise for the third straight season (2-10 in 2013, 5-7 in
2014). The Wildcats are coming off of a
bye week after squeaking past a strong FCS Eastern Kentucky (ranked #17 in FCS)
in their last game, getting off to a quick 4-1 start to the season. Hopefully, this UK team can keep it going
unlike their 2014 campaign in which they started off 5-1 before dropping their
final 5 SEC games, and then lost their 6th straight to rival Louisville... but
on the plus side, everyone got free Papa John's pizza after the game (played at
Papa John's Cardinal Stadium).
Experience from 13 returning
starters and possibly their best recruiting class EVER, this team is on the up
and up. They are averaging 26 points and 365.5 yards per game but tend to give
the ball back to opposing teams, ie 7TOs in 5gms. UK QB Patrick "Don't throw in the"Towles does have an impressive completion percent at 61.5 along with 8 TDs and
6 INTs, plus 3 rushing TDs.
Towles has gotten better each of his first 3 yrs. and definitely knows his Harry Potter trivia (and my wife says easy on the eyes): http://bit.ly/1RdjQR4
Towles has gotten better each of his first 3 yrs. and definitely knows his Harry Potter trivia (and my wife says easy on the eyes): http://bit.ly/1RdjQR4
"Here comes the" BOOM Williams is
Kentucky's leading rusher with 343 yards, along with backup Jojo "Don'tcall me Perry" Kemp has 246 yards. Dorian Baker is their #1 wideout who
has a unique combo of size and speed, reminding me of a young Sterling Sharpe. He's caught 24 balls from Towles with 3
TDs... They’re slowly becoming a dynamic duo, um QB to WR that is...
Kentucky's D has been formidable, and is
allowing 21.8 points along with 368.4 ypg w/ 4 INTs, 3 fumble recoveries, and
ten sacks. It's been led by Sr. ILB Josh Forrest, with 49 tackles & 2.5
sacks, CJ Johnson , and Sr.
LB Khalid Henderson (9 stops vs Florida).
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| CJ Johnson who broke Kentucky DL tackling record with 19 vs EKU |
Overall, despite an
impressive record thus far, the jury has yet to come back with a verdict on
this Kentucky team. Let's face it,
they've had problems moving the ball at times, as in their matchup with South
Carolina. They only have 93 first downs
on the season – ranked 114th in the nation. Yes, Throw in the Towles has been decent, but
that’s mainly because it's been forced to throw (down 10-7 to Mizz in 3rd and
down 27-13 to EKU in 4th), and 8 TD runs in 5wks is solid, but the offense
doesn’t really move. Auburn is playing very similar ball, with someone its own size offensively with just 100 first downs of its own.
For Gus Malzahn's Auburn squad, that comes squeaking in with a 3-2 record,
it seems like a distant memory from their 2013 12-2 SEC Championship, in which
they lost the BCS Championship to #1 Florida 31-34.
Last year, Auburn suffered a similar collapse to Kentucky in the 2nd half
of their season, losing 5 of their final 8 games, finishing 8-5. It's going to take a miracle for this team
without an identity (or clear starting QB) to finish at or above '14 win total.
The Auburn offense is turning
the ball over at an alarming rate of 2pg (although many of those were Jr QBs 6
INTs thru the 1st 3 gms), with 24.6 ppg & 343.8 ypg.
Malzahn made the switch to
Fr.QB Sean White from Jr. Jeremy Johnson, after week 3's loss at Baton Rouge,
45-21. Everyone knows how solid LSU is
this year with probably the Heisman POY in Leonard "Part 6"
Fournette. So, was this an over-reaction
by Malzahn? Yes, probably. Sean White is
1-1 as a starter in the last two weeks (close loss to MSU 9-17 and a WEAK SJSU
squad who they allowed to hang around the entire game, 34-21). White's impressive 68.4% completion I believe
is a bit skewed, as he's only thrown the ball 38 times, 0TDs and 1 INT (on his
first collegiate drive).
SO, Malzahn refuses to say
who's going to start at QB. Johnson has
reportedly worked harder in practice and the players want him back, but White
hasn't done anything to really lose the job, either. It's MOST likely that both QBs get in this
game at some point no matter what happens, which always works out so nicely
when switching QBs mid-game... I'm looking at you ECU Pirates! Geez, pick a QB for crying out loud, it's not
like picking your mate, for life, under the eyes of the almighty, creator of
heaven and earth. Then again, it is
Auburn football, be all, end all to a lot of fans for an entire year, so
forgive me Tigers fans for denigrating your coaches indecisiveness.
 |
| Here's a good article for Coach Malzahn: http://elitedai.ly/1taaLO7 9 ways to overcome indecisiveness. My personal favorite is #9: Flip a Coin. |
The Tiger's better get their
running game in full gear for this one because I really think Kentucky's D is
on par with MSU (only scored 9pts, 296 combined yards passing in last
2gms). rFr. RB Peyton "don't call
me KiKi, or Manning" Barber leads the Tigers ground attack with 558 yards
and 6 TDs. Their D is allowing 25.4ppg
& 412ypg w/ 4INTs, 2 fumble recoveries, & 7 sacks. FS "Rudy" Ford leads the Tigers D
w/ 49 tcks, and Sr. LB Cassanova “Loverboy” McKinzy.
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| Cassanova “Loverboy” McKinzy has 36 tcks w/ 3 sacks... Wife's assessment: "He's no Denzel" |
Overall, for the Tigers,
they haven't lived up to their hype, and need to turn a corner fast. There’s no fear whatsoever of Auburn throwing
the ball down the field as the passing attack stunk before, but now without
D’haquille "Punchy" Williams around, there really aren’t any deep
threats for the solid UK secondary to worry about. Auburn will try, and it’ll have used the
time off to prepare to do more to get the offense going, but the Wildcats have
had time off, too. This might not be a consistent or a brick wall of a defense,
but it’s been effectively stronger than the stats show and did a nice job of
slowing down a slew of bad offenses.
OVER-OVERALL
Auburn's offense straight up
stinks. There's not going to be a lot of points in this game as both teams will
struggle for the first down marker and move the ball. I think Coach Malzahn needs to take another
look at that list, "9 ways..." and come face to face with #1 after this
game: Learn About Yourself. The Auburn
Tigers will be reeling after tonight and will be desperate to learn more about
themselves after taking it on the chin from Kentucky... 13-6. Yes, maybe that's a little low but Kentucky
wins SU, take the +110 ML and also...i.e. I'm comfortable taking the under 52.
Singer’s Rock(2)star pick:
Kentucky ML
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