UK is a dangerous game.

[CNCVol88]

Well.. Pitt took us to overtime and UK is better than Pitt. Florida was in the game until the last drive … UK beat Florida.. Gotta give us more than half a season before we don’t worry about other teams.
It’s not necessarily a knock on how good we think we are- more of being realistic that even great teams fall all the time.

The team that played Pitt and the team that played bama are miles apart. Pitt gets boat raced it we played them today.

 

[B-17 Pilot]

They are a ranked team with pretty good defense and a good offense with Levis. They also have a bye week before TN week. They just beat a ranked Miss State team too. It would be easy for this team to look ahead to UGA and lay an egg against UK.

Just my thoughts.

Agree 100%!! We can’t overlook anyone remaining on our schedule!! We can really celebrate after our bowl game(s)!

 

[SobeVol]

This is why we can’t have nice things

 

[BowlBrother85]

The team that played Pitt and the team that played bama are miles apart. Pitt gets boat raced it we played them today.

Agreed. This team has gotten better every week. The negavols don't have much to talk about these days and they are getting desperate.

 

[DeltaSCVol]

They are a ranked team with pretty good defense and a good offense with Levis. They also have a bye week before TN week. They just beat a ranked Miss State team too. It would be easy for this team to look ahead to UGA and lay an egg against UK.

Just my thoughts.

I don't see this team looking ahead, I think CJH has them focused in week at a time.

 

[WilcoVolsFan]

They next.

 

['Boro-vol]

It’s not reckless or failing to take them seriously to state that Kentucky is just a mid-pack football team with a couple of good players this year. Respecting that fact, and not being worried or afraid is two different things. We will embarrass Kentucky this year on our way to 11-1 or 12-0. Kentucky fans are the most low-information bunch in college football, and pumping them up as dangerous only feeds their delusions of grandeur.

Will Levis has average arm talent, and is turnover prone…he’s also overly emotional for an SEC QB.

Rodriguez is a good back, but not the best we’ve seen this year, and their O-line is suspect.

We’ll score early and often. Tempo will disrupt their defense. And will Levis will spend the afternoon getting up off the ground and pouting like a centerfold model.

As I said before, I’m just happy they squeaked by State to remain ranked. They get to be #5.

 

[dobre_shunka]

Rodriguez is a good back, but not the best we’ve seen this year, and their O-line is suspect.

I think their O Line is not suspect but full on convicted.

Giving up 26 for 182 yards in 7 games is at least a class B felony especially with Youngstown, Miami and NIU included in that

 

[djohnnyg]

My prayer is no matter how pumped up KY is...or how much they plan for us...we are simply that much better that it doesn't matter...that we just can't be stopped. Amen.

 

[RockiesTop22]

The team that played Pitt and the team that played bama are miles apart. Pitt gets boat raced it we played them today.

That may be true.. but what does that have to do with us respecting Kentucky as a team that could give us trouble if we don’t come ready?

 

[17Vols]

wonder if we break out the black unis for that game? I thought someone said that uniform would show up somewhere this season

 

[sjt18]

Well.. Pitt took us to overtime and UK is better than Pitt.

Based on?

UK has wins over:
37-13 Miami OH- 3-4
26-16 UF- 4-3
31-0 Youngstown State- FCS
31-23 NIU- 2-5
27-17 MSU- 5-2

The combined record of the FBS teams they've beaten is 14-14. Which of those wins do you consider "impressive" considering how badly UF was playing at that point and that one of their TD's was a 6 yd drive and another was a pick 6 that AR threw to a UK defender with no WR within 20 yds? If you think that was a "good" win... what would be next? Before answering, check how MSU has performed against good opponents. LSU held them to 289 total yds.

Pitt hasn't beaten anyone either although WVU just got a win against Baylor. We will see who they are starting after this week when they play UNC. When all is said and done, they're probably going to be a 3 loss team and ranked. A lot like UK. They'll beat the weak opponents and get a win or two against a decent team.

Neither of these teams has played a schedule that allows you to say one is a lot better than the other.

Florida was in the game until the last drive … UK beat Florida..

That's fairly revisionist. UF needed a miracle to get back into the UT game after trailing by 17 points. AR played out of his mind and made throws that he hadn't made before and isn't making consistently now. You can blame that on UT's D but there were times when they gave him small windows and he hit them where previously he'd misfired. UT got UF's best A game. UK got gifted two TD's which were the difference in the game.

Gotta give us more than half a season before we don’t worry about other teams.

I wouldn't advise the team to overlook anyone starting with UT-Martin. But if you objectively look at UT vs UK... It should look a whole lot like the LSU game if not worse. The questions you have to ask yourself are these: How does UK's O compare to Bama's O? How does UK's OL compare to Bama's OL? How does UK's DL compare to Bama's DL? How does UK's D overall compare to Bama's D?

Lastly and maybe most significantly... if Bama's DBs were that hopelessly overmatched by Hyatt, McCoy, Keyton, Warren, and Fant... how will UK hold up once Tillman is back in?

It’s not necessarily a knock on how good we think we are- more of being realistic that even great teams fall all the time.

That's true. But part of being realistic is avoiding being too negative to compensate for your fan emotions.

UK isn't a great team. They are fatally flawed in multiple ways. Maybe even worse for them vs UT... their weaknesses align ideally to UT's strengths. Their DB's are not as good as they were last year. Their D is statistically good but they've played some really, really bad offenses. They are also near the bottom of the SEC in sacks with only 10... about half what Bama has produced against much better competition.

They've allowed the most sacks in the SEC with 26 and 3.71 per game. Their run blocking is just as bad with Rodriguez pretty much being his own blocker at this point. Levis is physically talented. He reminds me of a slightly better version of JG though. His decision making is often suspect. Their WR's have flourished non-SEC but not so much vs the SEC. They have 210 ypg vs the SEC and 328 vs the rest. Against ONLY the SEC (and they've played weaker opponents than UT) their passing O averages 210 ypg. UT avgs 324.

I think the Bama game and the hype leading up to it concerning their ability to stop or limit UT is instructive. Most "experts" predicting the game had Bama holding UT under 30. I didn't see any predicting UT to score over 40. Most thought Bama's D was just too good to allow that kind of scoring. As unlikely as it seemed, they actually underestimated UT's O. Vegas completely whiffed on the scoring prediction. We still don't know what the upper limit of UT's O is. But we can be relatively certain it is way, way above that of UK... and maybe anyone else not named Bama, UGA, or tOSU.

Scoring O wouldn't usually be a part of this kind of argument for me but I think it is pretty relevant. UK scores 26.4 ppg against all opponents for 11th in the SEC. Versus the SEC only, they average 21.5 ppg. They allow 16.4 and 19.8 respectively.

UT averages 32 ppg on D vs the SEC skewed significantly by Bama. Overall they allow 23 ppg. UT scores 47.7 overall and 43.3 vs the SEC. UT's point differential vs the SEC is more 11. UK's is less than 2.


One level deeper which is a much bigger conversation overall... this one thing. UK isn't deep on D this year and especially the DL. If UT runs tempo and gets into their depth chart... it will get really, really ugly for the Cats.

 

[Rickyvol77]

Agreed. This team has gotten better every week. The negavols don't have much to talk about these days and they are getting desperate.

”we don’t know how they good they are because Pitt isn’t that good. Wait till Florida. Florida isn’t that good. Wait till LSU. LSU isn’t that good. Bama will bring us down to earth. Well Bama is overrated worry about Kentucky.”
never ends with this negas

 

[VolFreakJosh]

”we don’t know how they good they are because Pitt isn’t that good. Wait till Florida. Florida isn’t that good. Wait till LSU. LSU isn’t that good. Bama will bring us down to earth. Well Bama is overrated worry about Kentucky.”
never ends with this negas

“Now let’s slow our roll”

-Negas

 

[EaglesVols91]

Bring them on. I watched Coach H on SEC Network this morning and he said he and the team are already over the Bama win and are looking ahead. We won’t be unprepared

 

[Sea Ray]

1. You never want to bring a lackluster effort (See KY vs SCAR a week ago)
2. KY defense was exposed badly by SCAR rushing.
3. KY OL has been a weakness all season, slightly better yesterday but I think Levis still got sacked 5 times.
4. Crowd noise, especially if a late game will be unkind to the kitties.
5. KY does have a bye week to prep for us though.

We can't take them lightly but I really don't think they can score enough to keep up with us

 

[BigOrangePaddy]

We always take UK's best shot.
I watched several BAD UK teams play us close when we were really good.

Seriously...with our pathetic Willie Martinez secondary, we can't afford to overlook ANYONE. Especially teams with good passing QBs.

I think we beat Kentucky by two plus scores, but they can put up a lot of yards and points against us no doubt. Our dline should own their offensive line though tor sure.

 

[volbound1700]

They next.

View attachment 502627

Thank you. I know we have beaten this team but I am starting to get hyped about Kentucky now that dust settles. I was thinking Georgia and getting hyped about that but Kentucky is a top 20 team and a rival. Can Heupel's offense beat that defense? I think we will but still looking forward to the matchup.

 

[PEPPERJAX]

If the Vols remain solid on offense and the defense can force a few three & outs throughout the game, then there is no reason UT doesn’t win by multiple scores. The Vols can only stop themselves at this point.

 

[VolFreakJosh]

Seriously...with our pathetic Willie Martinez secondary, we can't afford to overlook ANYONE. Especially teams with good passing QBs.

I think we beat Kentucky by two plus scores, but they can put up a lot of yards and points against us no doubt. Our dline should own their offensive line though tor sure.

So Bryce Young wasn’t a good passing QB?

 

[Rickyvol77]

Seriously...with our pathetic Willie Martinez secondary, we can't afford to overlook ANYONE. Especially teams with good passing QBs.

I think we beat Kentucky by two plus scores, but they can put up a lot of yards and points against us no doubt. Our dline should own their offensive line though tor sure.

Lol Levis sucks. Hooker is ten times the QB

 

[pimo1]

Usually, I would be a tad worried as both KY and Vandy play with a chip on their shoulder against us every year no matter how good or bad they are. But this game is in Neyland. UGA and USCe rate the only worrisome games left on our schedule. With that crowd, I do not see us losing a single game in Neyland this season. I haven't seen Neyland like that in like 15 years where it is an actual full-on factor. It's always gonna be packed and loud but this season it's been on another level. Unless Levis has a career game (which ain't impossible we tend to bring out career games in opposing QB's this season) AND the wheels totally fall off our offense. We beat UK by 2 scores.

 

[BigOrangePaddy]

Stop.

I never said Levis is better than Hooker. He is in fact a highly rated NFL draft prospect though and easily the most physical gifted QB we will see besides Bryce Young and Pitt's Slovis.

Our secondary made AR and Florida's passing game look elite ffs. LSU 's as well.

You are kidding yourself if you don't think Levis can put up over 400 yards on us by himself. Our secondary is god awful but anchored by an elite dline and good linebackers.

 

[RockiesTop22]

Based on?

UK has wins over:
37-13 Miami OH- 3-4
26-16 UF- 4-3
31-0 Youngstown State- FCS
31-23 NIU- 2-5
27-17 MSU- 5-2

The combined record of the FBS teams they've beaten is 14-14. Which of those wins do you consider "impressive" considering how badly UF was playing at that point and that one of their TD's was a 6 yd drive and another was a pick 6 that AR threw to a UK defender with no WR within 20 yds? If you think that was a "good" win... what would be next? Before answering, check how MSU has performed against good opponents. LSU held them to 289 total yds.

Pitt hasn't beaten anyone either although WVU just got a win against Baylor. We will see who they are starting after this week when they play UNC. When all is said and done, they're probably going to be a 3 loss team and ranked. A lot like UK. They'll beat the weak opponents and get a win or two against a decent team.

Neither of these teams has played a schedule that allows you to say one is a lot better than the other.

That's fairly revisionist. UF needed a miracle to get back into the UT game after trailing by 17 points. AR played out of his mind and made throws that he hadn't made before and isn't making consistently now. You can blame that on UT's D but there were times when they gave him small windows and he hit them where previously he'd misfired. UT got UF's best A game. UK got gifted two TD's which were the difference in the game.

I wouldn't advise the team to overlook anyone starting with UT-Martin. But if you objectively look at UT vs UK... It should look a whole lot like the LSU game if not worse. The questions you have to ask yourself are these: How does UK's O compare to Bama's O? How does UK's OL compare to Bama's OL? How does UK's DL compare to Bama's DL? How does UK's D overall compare to Bama's D?

Lastly and maybe most significantly... if Bama's DBs were that hopelessly overmatched by Hyatt, McCoy, Keyton, Warren, and Fant... how will UK hold up once Tillman is back in?


That's true. But part of being realistic is avoiding being too negative to compensate for your fan emotions.

UK isn't a great team. They are fatally flawed in multiple ways. Maybe even worse for them vs UT... their weaknesses align ideally to UT's strengths. Their DB's are not as good as they were last year. Their D is statistically good but they've played some really, really bad offenses. They are also near the bottom of the SEC in sacks with only 10... about half what Bama has produced against much better competition.

They've allowed the most sacks in the SEC with 26 and 3.71 per game. Their run blocking is just as bad with Rodriguez pretty much being his own blocker at this point. Levis is physically talented. He reminds me of a slightly better version of JG though. His decision making is often suspect. Their WR's have flourished non-SEC but not so much vs the SEC. They have 210 ypg vs the SEC and 328 vs the rest. Against ONLY the SEC (and they've played weaker opponents than UT) their passing O averages 210 ypg. UT avgs 324.

I think the Bama game and the hype leading up to it concerning their ability to stop or limit UT is instructive. Most "experts" predicting the game had Bama holding UT under 30. I didn't see any predicting UT to score over 40. Most thought Bama's D was just too good to allow that kind of scoring. As unlikely as it seemed, they actually underestimated UT's O. Vegas completely whiffed on the scoring prediction. We still don't know what the upper limit of UT's O is. But we can be relatively certain it is way, way above that of UK... and maybe anyone else not named Bama, UGA, or tOSU.

Scoring O wouldn't usually be a part of this kind of argument for me but I think it is pretty relevant. UK scores 26.4 ppg against all opponents for 11th in the SEC. Versus the SEC only, they average 21.5 ppg. They allow 16.4 and 19.8 respectively.

UT averages 32 ppg on D vs the SEC skewed significantly by Bama. Overall they allow 23 ppg. UT scores 47.7 overall and 43.3 vs the SEC. UT's point differential vs the SEC is more 11. UK's is less than 2.


One level deeper which is a much bigger conversation overall... this one thing. UK isn't deep on D this year and especially the DL. If UT runs tempo and gets into their depth chart... it will get really, really ugly for the Cats.

I agree with everything your saying.. but I think where we defer is I don’t think it’s being negative or a “negavol” by acknowledging UK is not an opponent to overlook.

 

[NighthawkVol]

Night game in Neyland. 7 PM. Should be loud.

Barrion Brown is the only speed guy they have on offense I would worry about.