By Joshua Huff

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Breaching The Gates

The fortified wall that is Missouri’s defense sits entrenched in front of UK’s high-flying offensive attack when the two SEC teams break into their November schedule on Saturday for a clash of East and West opponents.

UK will need a better balance on offense if the Cats stand any chance of knocking down the Tigers’ defensive wall. Led by a stud-filled defensive line manned by the likes of Shane Ray, Markus Golden, Harold Brantley, DaVonte Lambert and Matt Hoch. The foursome has a combined 21 sacks on the season.

Hoch is coming off one of his best games of the season against the Commodores where he had 2.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

The Tigers are fresh off a dominant defensive victory against Vanderbilt 24-14 last Saturday that saw the Tigers hold Vanderbilt to just 240 total yards. The total was the lowest output for any team against Missouri this season.

Running into that defense will be a rotating group of UK running backs that have struggled throughout the season. UK’s backs rank near the bottom of the league in rushing totals and will now have to contend with a defense that in its last four games has allowed only seven plays of 20 yards or more.

The task will be daunting for UK’s running game, during Saturday’s game against Mississippi State, the Cats rushed for just 27 yards (excluding Patrick Towles) and have been regulated to being secondary options for Towles.

Lurking in the Tigers’ backfield will be the most experienced safety in the SEC, Braylon Webb. Webb has a total of four interceptions on the year and has an interception in two-straight games.

Looking to avoid Webb will be UK’s rising star, Towels, who is third in the SEC in passing. His 390 yard, four-touchdown game against the Bulldogs, has propelled him into the national spotlight but he must continue to defy expectations if UK has a change of beating Missouri.

The Edge: Missouri

Defense Wins Championships

Missouri quarterback Maty Mauk has the distinguished honor of being tied for second in the SEC with nine interceptions, while UK is tied for second in the conference with 13 takeaways.

With a run game that is near the bottom of the SEC in total rushing yards, the game through the air may be the deciding factor. Mauk’s 16 touchdown passes places him fourth in the league and many UK fans will recall that he matched a school record last November when he threw five touchdowns in a 48-17 win over the Cats.

However, those touchdowns came against a defense that accumulated only three interceptions all of last season. This season, UK has a secondary that can play with the best of them. The addition of A.J. Stamps and the return and growth of Ashely Lowery, Blake McClain, J.D. Harmon, Cody Quinn and Fred Tiller has solidified a backfield that was UK’s crutch last year.

UK’s crutch this season has been the inability to stop the run and this weekend’s matchup won’t offer any relief. Missouri has a trio of running backs led by Russell Hansbrough that have all rushed for over three hundred yards. The Tigers utilize a two-pronged attack with Hansbrough and Marcus Murphy receiving the bulk of the workload.

The Cats have spent the week working on fundamentals such as tackling and assignment reads, but it’s up in the air as to whether or not the Cats’ run defense has the capability the rest of the season to stay competitive.

The Edge: Missouri

Prediction

Despite losing a thriller to Mississippi State, the Cats proved that they have the talent to hang with anybody that isn’t LSU. This week will prove no different. UK will try to exploit the Missouri pass defense and Towles will look to continue his meteoric rise through the SEC stratosphere. It all will come down to whether UK can stop Missouri on the ground.

UK 35, Missouri 31