For Kentucky football fans, the hopes and fears about UK’s game vs. No. 7 Tennessee

What Kentucky football backers should hope for and what they need to fear as the Wildcats (3-5, 1-5 SEC) prepare to play at No. 7 Tennessee (6-1, 3-1 SEC):

Kickoff is at 7:45 p.m. EDT Saturday, Nov. 2, at Neyland Stadium (capacity 101,915) on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

The game will be telecast by the SEC Network.

Hopes

▪ After Brock Vandagriff sat the entire second half of last week’s 24-10 loss to Auburn in favor of Gavin Wimsatt, the Kentucky starting quarterback uses that as motivation and substantially raises his play this week.

▪ The expected return of UK leading rusher Demie Sumo-Karngbaye after he missed last week’s game vs. Auburn with an injury gives the struggling Wildcats offense a boost.

▪ With six Kentucky starters declared “out” for the Tennessee game on Wednesday due to injuries, a number of younger Wildcats players are going to get a chance to test themselves against the No. 7 team in the country.

Even if that is not a recipe for success Saturday night, Kentucky could derive long-term benefits from some of its younger players getting starters’ reps vs. a top-10 foe.

Fears

▪ For a Kentucky attack that has scored only seven offensive touchdowns in six SEC games, the Tennessee defense is about the worst possible matchup.

UT is third in the nation in total defense (allowing 259 yards a game), third in scoring defense (surrendering 11.57 points a game), second in rushing defense (allowing 79 yards a contest), and 22nd in pass defense (allowing 180 yards a game).

▪ For a Kentucky defense that is beaten up physically and has allowed a whopping 525 rushing yards combined in back-to-back losses to Florida and Auburn, the Tennessee offense is about the worst possible matchup.

UT is seventh in the country in rushing, averaging 241.6 yards a game on the ground. Vols star junior running back Dylan Sampson is 14th in the FBS in rushing (838 yards) and is third in rushing touchdowns (17).

▪ Given the opposing directions that the seasons of Kentucky and Tennessee are taking, this could get ugly.

This story was originally published November 1, 2024 at 9:11 AM.

Mark Story

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-444-4731

Mark Story has worked in the Lexington Herald-Leader sports department since Aug. 27, 1990, and has been a Herald-Leader sports columnist since 2001. I have covered every Kentucky-Louisville football game since 1994, every UK-U of L basketball game but three since 1996-97 and every Kentucky Derby since 1994. Support my work with a digital subscription