Cats Illustrated staff makes UK-EKU predictions
Last week every Cats Illustrated staff member correctly predicted that Kentucky would take care of Southern Miss.
This week, as you might imagine, there are more picks for the Cats. Here the staff tackles several pressing UK questions going into Week 2.
What do you expect to see from Kentucky's offense, big picture, against Eastern Kentucky after a week when they were so maligned?
T.J. Walker, Basketball Recruiting Analyst: Expect Kentucky to look more polished. Obviously Eastern Kentucky, while impressive for an FCS team, is not the same level as Southern Miss. But UK has shaken the rust off regardless of opponent and will look sharper on Saturday. Stephen Johnson will be more accurate and look more confident. Benny Snell will be more patient running and all of Kentucky's running backs will have solid outings. Overall it will be an offensive explosion on Saturday.
Jeff Drummond, Managing Editor: I think you'll see Eddie Gran open up the offense a bit more this week. He needs to find out more about what the passing game is capable of doing before the Cats hit the road for their SEC opener at South Carolina. I'm not sure EKU has anyone who can match up with guys like C.J. Conrad and Kayaune Ross, so keep an eye out for them to have big games.
Warren Taylor, Staff Writer: By Eddie Gran's admission after the Southern Miss game and Tuesday after practice, he was too reliant on the Wildcat formation. With that said, don't expect to see the number of plays from of it to go down. I believe that there will be more motion involved and maybe some different personnel groupings in the backfield. Based on comments by the offensive coaching staff during the week, I also think there will be a heavy rotation of receivers. The passing game will remain the same: a mixture of quick hitters with the occasional shot down the field. If the unit executes as we know, they can then everything will be just peachy; but another somewhat rotten ago against an FCS foe will start the drum beats of fan criticism to ratchet up in intensity.
RELATED: Kentucky football notebook (9/6)
Adam Luckett, Special Contributor: I’m calling for a big day on the ground, especially from Benny Snell. Snell’s career high in rushing is the 192 yards when he posted a career high 38 carries last year at Missouri. I believe he tops that this week as he and the offensive line answer the bell after a week of criticism. Snell has preached patience all week and that could pay off on Saturday as EKU will be taking a lot of risks to cut down UK’s best offensive weapon. I’d look for George Asafo-Adjei and Logan Stenberg to have big bounce back games after each played very poorly last week. Once again, expect a lot of Wildcat but look for Eddie Gran to start using the jet motion this week and I have a good feeling that Lynn Bowden will be involved in this action.
Justin Rowland, Publisher: I think you're going to see Kentucky's offensive line respond to a challenge from Mark Stoops and John Schlarman and own the line of scrimmage. I suspect they'll continue to show a lot of Wildcat in preparation for South Carolina, so they know what they've got there, and I think there will be more of a focus put on getting the ball to wide receivers and throwing aggressively down the field. There should be a lot of offensive production for the Cats and I think they'll have 300 yards passing and 200 rushing.
Are you buying or selling all the talk and hype about Kentucky's defensive line after Week 1?
T.J. Walker, Basketball Recruiting Analyst: I'm putting it in my online shopping cart but not putting in my credit card information just yet. You would be bonkers to completely buy-in on UK's defensive line after just one performance against a team without a quarterback, but it was impressive. It looked deeper, faster, stronger and more organized. Assuming the Cats' defensive line doesn't take a step back against Eastern Kentucky, it's perfectly acceptable to be optimistic about that position heading into the South Carolina group. It won't be one of the best defensive lines in the SEC, but it looks much improved.
Jeff Drummond, Managing Editor: I don't think I'm going to do either just yet. I was extremely impressed with what they did down at Southern Miss, but I need to see them build on it with another dominant effort this week, especially considering how bad EKU struggled to run the ball against WKU.
Warren Taylor, Staff Writer: In theory, Kentucky's superior talent level on the defensive line will easily trump whatever EKU throw's at them schematically, so I'm not worried about this game. Going forward will test if the hype is fact or fiction. I think with this position group effort is going to be the key. If they play hungry and with a chip on their shoulder like they did last Saturday, then they will continue to surprise people, even when they run up against elite O-lines in conference play.
Adam Luckett, Special Contributor: I’m selling right now. I still think this defensive line’s ceiling is probably 10th in the SEC so that just tells you they really have a long way to go. The playmaking ability of Josh Allen and Denzil Ware will bring a lot of positive attention but as the season moves on I don’t expect the three down to be a difference maker for this defense. However, the threat of the outside pass rush will create opportunities for UK’s defensive line and I believe the new scheme under Matt House is setup for them to make more plays especially behind the line of scrimmage. I think it’s important to remember that the two worst offenses UK will play all season are in the first two weeks.
Justin Rowland, Publisher: I hate to ride the fence but I'll split the difference. It is not an elite defensive line, and it's not an upper echelon SEC defensive line. But it's going to be a lot better than I and most people seemed to think it would be. They look like they have more players capable of playing in an SEC-caliber rotation than I anticipated and when you have three guys at the nose who played quality snaps, that bodes well for the season. I'm most impressed with the athletic fronts they showed in third down passing situations. But this line will still run into trouble against some SEC offensive lines.
Who will Kentucky's MVP be this weekend?
T.J. Walker, Basketball Recruiting Analyst: Stephen Johnson. He will make throws deep and short while being more accurate. I don't expect UK to run Johnson much on Saturday, but obviously he can take off if need be. UK's focus will be making sure Johnson is confident for an important road game just seven days later. Whether or not Saturday's success carries over, we'll find out, but he will look great against Eastern Kentucky.
Jeff Drummond, Managing Editor: Benny Snell Jr. We can't mess this one up two weeks in a row, can we? I say Snell more than makes up for last week's modest rushing total with a huge game against the Colonels. I'm also going to predict that more of it comes out of the base offense rather than the "Wildcat."
RELATED: Cats Illustrated staff makes Week 2 college football picks
Warren Taylor, Staff Writer: I won't pick a player this week. I'm going with an entire skill group instead. Against an expected pass-happy attack like the one UK will bring to Kroger Field, the secondary is going to need to come up big. The quality of their play slid against Southern Miss as the game wore on. I don't expect an encore of that performance this week. The DB's are going to fly to the ball and perhaps take one to the house.
Adam Luckett, Special Contributor: Derrick Baity. Last week EKU started UConn transfer Tim Boyle at quarterback and the Colonels attempted 46 passes. EKU ran it only 20 times and it appears this is going to be an offense that leans on the pass. Therefore, the UK secondary should have a lot of opportunities to make plays and I think it’s very possible the Wildcat defense can record three or more interceptions. Mark Stoops admitted that he was disappointed that his defensive backs lost out on some jump balls last week and I believe that changes on Saturday. Baity gets a pick as well as five or more tackles.
Justin Rowland, Publisher: I'll go with Mike Edwards. He didn't stuff the stat sheet this past week although he did play well. This weekend EKU will throw the ball a lot, and a lot of those throws will be pressured and ill-advised because of Kentucky's improved pass rush. Edwards, an alert player who can play well in coverage, should make things happen in the secondary.
What's your score prediction and why?
T.J. Walker, Basketball Recruiting Analyst: Kentucky 48, Eastern Kentucky 10. Kentucky could drop 60 or 70 if Stoops wanted to, but I don't expect UK's staff to run up the score and this one will be over after the first quarter. Eastern gave UK a scare a few years ago, but not on Saturday at Kroger Field.
Jeff Drummond, Managing Editor: Kentucky 40, EKU 17. I think the Colonels keep this one respectable into the third quarter, but the Cats just have too much depth of talent and use it to gradually pull away. I don't see Stoops running up the score, so it will stay somewhat respectable with a lot of UK backups -- most notably quarterback Drew Barker and maybe our first glimpse of A.J. Rose -- getting snaps in the second half.
Warren Taylor, Staff Writer: Kentucky 30, EKU 10. The Cats will play better on offense than they did in week one. I'm just not convinced this is the week they will put the pedal to the metal. Reestablishing their identity as a team with a punishing ground attack will take precedence over style points. There are still some outstanding kinks to work out on offense as well, so I expect a turnover or two as well to keep the score lower than anticipated.
Adam Luckett, Special Contributor: Kentucky 41-10. EKU is an FCS program that is in the middle of a roster makeover as Mark Elder is trying to get as much talent into the program as possible. It’s a very experienced FBS team hosting a very inexperienced FCS squad in their home opener. Kentucky should come out very focused after the somewhat disappointing opener and I’d look for the Cats to jump out to a quick lead very early. EKU will ditch the run early and this will allow the Kentucky pass rush to tee off. Look for Joshua Paschal to record his fist collegiate sack and some more sack fumbles could be on the table. It’s very possible UK’s turnover margin will be around plus-six after this one is over. Stephen Johnson will hit on one or two deep posts in this one.
Justin Rowland, Publisher: Kentucky 45, EKU 14. I'm buying Kentucky low in this game. EKU played WKU closer than they probably should have and can't get away with passing two-thirds of the time against this pass rush. Meanwhile, Kentucky beat USM but they have plenty to work on and the motivation to show improvement.
