Neyland Stadium will be nuts under the lights on Saturday night. Tennessee football is on fire, after all. Undefeated. No. 3 in the nation. The Vols will be wearing their “dark mode,” i.e. black uniforms, in front of ESPN’s prime-time gang with Fowler and Herbstreit. Rocky Top will be rocking.
So visiting Kentucky has no shot, right? Zero. None. Zilch. Mark Stoops’ Wildcats are a 12.5-point underdog in this year’s border war. Surely the visitors will end up another Vols’ victim, tire tracks on their backs before the long, long night in Knoxville is through.
Ah, as Lee Corso might say, not so fast, my friend. I’m not here to guarantee Kentucky will knock Josh Heupel’s locomotive off the tracks. I am here to say it would not surprise me if Kentucky spoils the Big Orange party, not if the Cats play their cards right.
No. 1: Don’t fall into a deep hole. Everyone knows about Heupel’s lightning-fast offense, but UT has been burying opponents from the opening kickoff. It led LSU 20-0 on the way to a 40-13 rout in Baton Rouge. It led Alabama 21-7 early on the way to that epic 52-49 victory over the Crimson Tide. Last week against FCS foe UT Martin, Tennessee led 52-7 at the half. It won 65-24.
“(A fast start) is huge,” said UK quarterback Will Levis on Tuesday. “We’ve been talking about that. We’re trying at the same kind of thing in practice, where we’re going out and not taking a couple of plays to reload and get the energy and get the juice up. We shouldn’t get smacked in the mouth to get hot early.”
No. 2: Don’t be Brian Kelly. Don’t get me wrong. Kelly is a terrific coach. He’ll do great things at LSU. But when the Tigers faced the Vols back on Oct. 8, Kelly let Heupel mess with his head. Thinking he needed to hold serve in a shootout, the LSU coach went for it twice on fourth down in the first half. Fourth-and-4 from the UT 16. Fourth-and-4 from his own 46. LSU failed on both. By the time the home fans had departed their tailgates and settled in their seats, the Tigers were down 20.
“We have to play our game and let the chips fall where they may,” said UK offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello on Tuesday.
No. 3: Don’t do what Alabama did. Some say Kentucky benefits from having played Lane Kiffin’s up-tempo offense at Ole Miss this month. I say forget the Lane Train. Study the Tennessee-Alabama game. Alabama’s Nick Saban is the best college coach of all time. But whatever Saban tried against the Volunteers did not work. At all. Stoops and UK defensive coordinator Brad White have no doubt studied that test case on tape. They’ve seen what not to do.
Bottom line: Tennessee isn’t invincible. It needed overtime to beat Pittsburgh 34-27. It gave up 594 yards to Florida in a 38-33 victory over the Gators in Neyland. It gave up 569 yards to Alabama, who might have won the game had offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien not thrown incompletions on the Tide’s final drive, leaving 15 seconds for Heupel to advance the ball 45 yards on two plays and kick the game-winning 40-yard field goal.
The Cats could also catch the Vols peeking ahead. Georgia is next up in the Tennessee date book. A Saturday win over Kentucky and the Vols and Dawgs will most likely be playing for the SEC East title come Nov. 5 in Athens. The stakes couldn’t be higher.
Tennessee has to beat Kentucky first, however. The Cats remember last year’s 45-42 loss in Lexington. They’ve had two weeks to prepare. They are relatively healthy. They boast an NFL first-round draft pick at quarterback and a defense that is ranked ninth in points allowed and 14th in yards allowed. And Kentucky has the experience of having won on its last trip to Knoxville, its first victory there since 1984.
Can Kentucky do it again Saturday? It won’t be easy. It won’t be expected. But yes, the Cats can spoil the Big Orange party.
