Last year Western Kentucky ran into a healthy Kentucky fried buzzsaw. Mike Hartline was back from a knee injury, Locke was healthy and spry and Randall was F-N Cobb. UK blasted the Hilltoppers 68-23. That was last year though. The 2011 version of this match up looks much more different. There are a lot of new faces, but mostly on the UK squad. Should UK fans just expect another beatdown? Probably not.
The first factor in the Toppers favor is this being the first game of the season. WKU has the element of surprise and the ever so dangerous “nothing to lose” motto. Their fans may expect some improvement, but to beat an SEC team in 2011 may be a tad overzealous (unless of course they’re playing Vandy). Both teams may not know what exactly they have, but WKU may have a slight experience edge with a returning RB and QB.
UK’s top performers in the game last year are all gone. Not only the big 3, but 8 players that rushed the ball last year against WKU no longer play on this team. This may not be that huge of a deal, but it is worth noting that UK has many green, albeit talented backs this year. Speaking of running backs, on the other side of the ball Western has a stud carrying the pigskin. Last year WKU had 284 total yards of offense and Bobby Rainey had 184 of them by himself. UK’s older defense must keep Rainey contained or this could be a long night for the cats.
Hopes are higher than ever for Morgan Newton to quarterback the Cats this year. He was thrown to the wolves as a freshman and performed admirably. Last year he looked more poised, minus the Pittsburg game (still had 200+ yards passing though). Will he take the next step as a leader on offense?
Kuwaun Jakes is a very athletic QB and could scramble his way to multiple first downs. This game will be Jakes’ 14[SUP]th[/SUP] career game as a quarterback, so his team knows him well and the coaches know what to expect from him. Familiarity on offense will be an advantage for WKU.
UK’s defense will have to contain the run and make WKU beat them with the pass. Minter must be game planning as we speak to keep those game breaking runs to a minimum. If the game is close and UK’s defense is tired, a huge rush by Rainey could be the difference.
At midnight when the gong sounds (or whatever the Titans do at the end of games) I think UK wins 30-20. We will learn a lot more about this team when Friday rolls around. That’s not saying much because as of right now we don’t know a damn thing about this team. Lets try not to fire any coaches or remove scholarships no matter what happens. Rather let’s enjoy football season as it is here once again.
P.S. I will be hosting a pregame podcast from the parking lot of LP field with some really smart, funny and entertaining guys. Be sure to click and listen. We will try and start after the UL/Murray halftime ends. Here’s the link [URL]http://mixlr.com/nationofblue[/URL]
