The “Across the (By)Line” series will give Kentucky football fans an in-depth look at their opponent for this week — from the mind of the opposing school’s sports editor.
This week: The Daily Beacon, Caleb Jarreau, Tennessee
Do you think Kentucky and Tennessee have a football rivalry?
“I don’t know where I would stand in a debate about if Kentucky and Tennessee are rivals or not. I know that they obviously don’t like each other, it’s SEC East competition. I don’t know that I would say it’s as big of a rivalry as maybe Tennessee and Alabama or Tennessee and Florida partially because I feel like the series has been pretty one-sided recently. Even in the 2010 era when Tennessee was probably at its program’s worst, Kentucky still only won those games three times. There’s obviously the Jeremy Pruitt forfeit in there.
But I don’t know how much of a rivalry you can really call it just because of the results – I know neither of these teams like each other and I know historically it was one of their bigger rivals just because you’ve got the beer barrel and the story with the border rivalry and everything like that. I don’t know if I’d go as far as to call it a true rivalry but I know neither team likes each other and that Saturday will pose good competition.”
How do you think last week’s Alabama loss will affect Tennessee this week?
“I think Tennessee will be fired up after the Alabama loss.
They can either come out two ways: they can either come out fired up or they can come out flat and think that the season is over. I would think that they would come out fired up, the leadership on this team has been pretty good to point, so I think they would show up fired up.
There’s some things about going on the road for Josh Heupel teams that he struggles. I don’t know how much it’ll be in effect in Lexington – Lexington can get loud, I’m sure, but it’s not your Death Valleys, your Swamps or stadiums like that but even then Tennessee still has struggled on the road.
At Alabama they didn’t have false start penalties and won the first half but then in the second half they just completely collapsed, so I’m not really sure what about road trips is so tough for Josh Heupel’s squad, but I think that’s the biggest thing about going on the road and maybe just trying to get a road win period, not just vengeance on whoever they’re playing.
I think the loss to Alabama maybe opened some eyes too that they have to win for 60 minutes and have to stay locked in for 60 minutes so they’ve got that going for them. I think that’s a benefit of the loss: they’ll be awake, alert and not just sleepwalking into Lexington.”
What about Kentucky worries you the most headed into the matchup?
“I think overall the run game that Kentucky has.
We’ve seen Tennessee have success against run games, they stuffed (Texas) A&M’s run game, stuffed Florida for the most part on the ground besides a couple big runs here and there, even Alabama beside some isolated big runs they stuffed them on the ground.
Kamal Hadden, Tennessee’s top cornerback had season-ending surgery on Thursday. I know Devin Leary has not played good to date but he has played good this season so that ability is there.
If Devin Leary all of a sudden starts hitting wide open wide receivers this matchup could get very very interesting. There’s not a lot in that secondary that has been tested behind Hadden, we’ll see those first tests on Saturday.
That would be my main worry is what happens in Kamal Hadden’s absence, the first game without him this season. He’s been a big step up in that secondary that was frankly just terrible last year.
Defensive wise Kentucky is good but Tennessee has played good defenses and the offense hasn’t played up to Josh Heupel’s standards against good and bad defenses so I don’t know how much the Wildcats will affect it.”
What do you think the final result will be when these teams face off?
“I think Tennessee comes away with a win 27-21.
I don’t know what Joe Milton will look like but if I had to bet I don’t think he’ll be able to throw the ball with a lot of efficiency, he hasn’t really up to this point. Hopefully Tennessee will play for four quarters after dropping the second half to Alabama and losing that game because of it.
I think realistically Tennessee will lean on that run game and I wouldn’t be surprised if Tennessee leans into more of Kentucky’s playstyle with that slow run game, methodically marching down the field versus the lightning quick offense we’ve seen.
Tennessee’s run defense has been super stout outside of a couple isolated incidents. The defense has played good and Kentucky’s offensive line is very poor, I think Tennessee will be able to get to Devin Leary and cause some havoc in the backfield.
Containing Ray Davis is also an issue but if they can contain the pass attack with Leary then you can focus in on Davis and load the box and I think that’ll help this team as well.
Tennessee 27-21, but I’m interested to see what happens Saturday night.”
