Louisville and Kentucky are two names that don’t fit well together when talking about their respective schools. A rivalry that is considered to run just as deep as Alabama and Auburn. It is the battle for the state, and the battle for the fans to harass each other until basketball season. Both schools aren’t thought of by the way they play football, but this Saturday that is what it is going to come down to.
On paper, both schools look pretty even. However, one school (Louisville) is one and one, and the other (UK) is undefeated. But records only matter at the end of the year right? Coming off a comeback win against Central Michigan, the Wildcats found some explosiveness in freshman running back Josh Clemons. The co-SEC Freshman of the week had a breakout run late in the third quarter that went for 87-yards and a touchdown. Despite the slow start, Kentucky, to me, seems to have the advantage overall this coming Saturday. But what does Louisville bring?
[B]Offense: [/B]The Charlie Strong-led Cardinals bring a lot of different weapons starting at running back. Over their last two games, two rushers have split series and have ran for 80+ yards. While the numbers may not seem astonishing, having the ability to have two dependable guys run the ball speaks for itself. Hearing the latest on UK sophomore Raymond Sanders, Josh Clemons will now have to be relied on early in his college career. On the other hand, each teams’ field general has not been able to be real impressive over the first two weeks of the season.
For Kentucky, Morgan Newton has had more struggles by his receivers not catching the ball, than by him not finding the open man. Over the course of two games, Newton has only thrown for 211 yards, two touchdowns, which both were to La’Rod King who has 142 of the 211 and both of the touchdowns as well.
For Louisville, quarterback Will Stein has thrown for 575 yards with a completion percentage of 62.7. Stein also has 4 touchdowns over the course of two games. The Cardinals have three receivers who all have over hundreds yards, starting with Josh Chichester, who has eight catches for 150 yards and zero touchdowns. The other two are Michaelee Harris, who has seven catches for 116 yards and a score, and DeVante Parker who also have seven catches and 107 yards for two touchdowns. Both seem about even, but I think the offensive edge goes to the Cardinals.
[B]Defense: [/B]The two clearly are set apart by skill and experience. For the Wildcats, they bring with them the two leading tacklers in the SEC in Danny Trevethan and Winston Guy, who has have three INT combined between the two. The Wildcats also bring the experience starting with the defensive line.
The Cardinals have gave up a combined 33 points over two game, which one was a 24-17 loss last Friday to Florida International. While Louisville only gave up 293 totals yards, 201 of those was by one single person. This makes me believe that the Cats will miss Sanders this weekend, but still can create big plays with La’Rod King. My edge on defense goes to the Wildcats.
[B]Prediction[/B]
A big rivalry game like this will bring out a lot of emotion. The Battle for the Bluegrass State will do wonders for Kentucky, who is not thought of as a bowl team, to start the season 3-0. My prediction for this game will surely make a lot of UK fans happy.
Kentucky 27- Louisville 10.
