No. 12 Cats Head South for Border Battle with Tennessee
Junior running back Benny Snell, Jr. has continued his assault on the record books this season, piling up 1,008 yards with 10 scores. The Maxwell Award semifinalist owns the school record with 42 career touchdowns and has moved into second place UK’s career rushing list (3,432) and career 100-yard games (16). He ranks 12th nationally and leads the SEC at 112 rush yards per game.
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| Kentucky at Tennessee | ||
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| Sat., Nov. 10 – 3:30 p.m. ET Neyland Stadium Knoxville, Tenn. Game Notes: UK  | UT Digital Gameday Program Gameday App |
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| Coverage | ||
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TV: SEC Network |
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| UK | Team Stats | UT |
| 7-2 | Record | 4-5 |
| 5-2 | Conference Record | 1-4 |
| 24.7 | Scoring/game | 24.3 |
| 356.3 | Total offense/game | 333.0 |
| 199.6 | Rushing yards/game | 127.7 |
| 156.8 | Passing yards/game | 205.3 |
| 20.3 | Kickoff returns (avg) | 19.6 |
| 10.5 | Punt returns (avg) | 12.3 |
| 45.1 | Punting (avg) | 41.7 |
| 30:50 | Time of possession/game | 31:09 |
| 42.0% | Third down conversion | 41.1% |
| 50.0% | Fourth down conversion | 45.4% |
| 15.3 | Points allowed/game | 26.7 |
| 310.7 | Total yards allowed/game | 368.4 |
| 132.1 | Rush yards allowed/game | 161.1 |
| 178.6 | Pass yards allowed/game | 207.3 |
The UK defense, led by senior pass rusher extraordinaire Josh Allen, has a league-high 10 sacks and 14.5 TFL this season. His defensive unit is eighth nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 15.3 points per game, including four games of yielding 10 points or less. Allen has been named a semfinalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award and the Butkus Award and was recently awarded the Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week as well as the SEC Defensive Player of the Week for the fourth time this season.
Cat Scratches: UK with No Need to Search for Motivation Heading to Tennessee
Saturdays are about competing. Sundays and Mondays are about learning.
In competing this past Saturday with the SEC East on the line, Kentucky fell short. So, in turn, the Wildcats had to make Sunday and Monday count.
“You have to learn and grow from every opportunity and certainly in that game, we have to take some good from that,” Mark Stoops said. “We have to learn from that, and they will. I think that matters, you keep on getting in that position, and you have to earn the right to get in that position from a lot of hard work, and we gotta continue to do that.”
UK’s quest to play in another game with the same kind of stakes as last weekend’s vs. Georgia begins immediately. Though the No. 11 Cats (7-2, 5-2 SEC) have already played in a championship game, a quarter of the regular season and plenty to play for still remains.
“I think our team, we have to be motivated the same way again this week, and each and every week,” Stoops said. “That gets to be the challenge as you get through the grind of the season. You get late in the year here, sometimes that monotony sets in and we can’t let that happen.”
An important part of that “we” will be UK’s leadership. With a veteran group of players who also happen to be the best on the team, Stoops counts himself lucky on that front. He expects them to take an active role in preventing any sort of monotony from setting in…Read More
Scouting Tennessee
• Tennessee is 4-5 on the season overall and 1-4 in SEC play.
• The Volunteers are coming off a 14-3 win over Charlotte in Knoxville.
• The Vols rush for 127.7 yards per game, with four backs totaling 185 or more yards.
• Quarterback Jarrett Guarantano is completing 65.6 percent of his passes, with nine touchdowns and only two interceptions.
• Tennessee spreads the wealth in the passing game as well with six players having 10 or more catches on the season.
• The defense has 48 tackles for loss and 16 sacks, while picking off seven passes and forcing seven fumbles. Linebacker Daniel Bituli is the leading tackler with 57 stops, including four for loss.
• Kicker Brett Cimaglia is 8-of-11 on field goals this season, including four of 40 yards or longer.
Series vs. Tennessee
• Tennessee leads the all-time series 79-25-9, including 42-10-6 in Knoxville.
• With 113 total games played, it is third-most played rivalry in Southeastern Conference history. Only Auburn-Georgia (122 games) and Ole Miss-Mississippi State (114) have been played more.
• The Cats won 29-26 in Lexington last season on a last-minute Stephen Johnson touchdown run. Benny Snell, Jr. led the Wildcats with 180 rushing yards and three touchdowns.
• UK is looking to snap a 16-game losing streak in Knoxville. The last win came in 1984, a 17-12 victory.
• The two teams have played annually since 1919 except for 1943 (war year, no team for either school).
• Biggest UK win: 56 (56-0) in 1893 in Knoxville
• Biggest Tennessee win: 52 (52-0) in 1994 in Knoxville
• Games decided by 7 points or less (excluding ties): Tennessee leads 27-12
Kentucky-Tennessee Connections
• Kentucky has five players on its roster from the state of Tennessee: DL Quinton Bohanna (Cordova), OT Darian Kinnard (Knoxville), LB Harold Lacy (Memphis), DB Jaylen Scott (Clarksville), DB Domonique Williams (Knoxville).
• Despite its proximity, Tennessee has only one player from the Commonwealth on its roster: Airin Spell (Paducah).
• UK offensive coordinator/running backs coach Eddie Gran was the special teams coordinator and RB coach at Tennessee in 2009. He coached in the Chick-fil-A Bowl that season.
• UK co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw spent three seasons at Tennessee. He was the QB coach in 2010 and 2011, and the receivers coach in 2012.
• UK Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart worked in Tennessee’s athletics department from 1986-98.
A Kentucky Win Would…
• Improve Kentucky to 8-2, the best 10-game start to a season since 1977 (9-1) and equal the most regular season wins since 1984.
• Complete Kentucky’s league schedule at 6-2 in SEC play, the best SEC record since 1977 (6-0).
• Be just the fourth time the Cats have won eight regular season games in the past 57 years, also 1976 (eight regular-season wins), 1977 (10) and 1984 (eight).
• Be just the second time in school history the Cats have won six SEC games.
• Would guarantee sole possession of a second place finish in the SEC East. UK has clinched at least a tie for second in the SEC East. Along with 2016, it is the highest finishes since the league split into divisions in 1992.
• Break the school record for most SEC wins over a three-season span (14); the 1976-78 teams won 13 league games
• Improve Kentucky to 17-7 over its last 24 regular-season games, best 24-game regular-season stretch since Nov. 6, 1976 to Nov. 18, 1978 (17-6-1)
• Improve Kentucky to 13-8 in its last 21 SEC games, the best 21-game stretch since Nov. 13, 1976 through Oct. 4, 1980 (13-8)
• Give the current senior class (2015-18) the most wins (27) in their career since the class from (2007-10) won 28. The class from 2006-2009 won 30 total games.
• Make Mark Stoops the first UK coach to win consecutive games over Tennessee since Fran Curci (1976-77).
• Would give Stoops 18 SEC wins in his first six seasons, the most since Fran Curci logged 19 in his first six (1973-78).
• Give UK its second straight win over Tennessee.
• Snap UK’s 16-game losing skid in Knoxville and give the Cats their first win in Neyland Stadium since 1984.
• Give Kentucky three SEC road wins for the first time since 2009, and the fifth time in school history (1949, 1973, 1977, 2009).
• Kentucky would be the fourth SEC school to defeat Florida in Gainesville and Tennessee in Knoxville in the same season since 1987 (2013 Vanderbilt, 2014 Missouri, 2017 LSU).
Cats Ranked in National Polls, CFB Playoff Poll
• Kentucky entered the national polls on Sept. 23 after defeating Mississippi State. It is the first time the Cats have been ranked since the 2007 season.
• The Cats now are No. 12 in the Associated Press poll and No. 12 in the coaches’ poll.
• UK has been ranked seven consecutive weeks for the first time since the 1977 team appeared in the polls for 10 consecutive weeks from Oct. 3 through the final AP Poll of the season on Jan. 3, 1978.
• The Cats were ranked ninth in the first College Football Playoff poll released on Oct. 30.
Don Franklin Auto Countdown to Kickoff Show
All-Southeastern Conference defensive end Jeremy Jarmon and former quarterback Dusty Bonner will be alongside host Christi Thomas for the Don Franklin Auto Countdown To Kickoff, the two-hour pregame show that airs prior to each UK football game in 2018.
A live video broadcast of Countdown to Kickoff will air on UKAthletics.com, the UK Athletics mobile app and the Kentucky Football Facebook page.
For home games, Countdown to Kickoff will broadcast live in front of Nutter Field House outside Gate 1 of Kroger Field with special guests and giveaways. The set of the show is conveniently located near the Coke Fan Zone in Nutter Field House and the Cat Walk presented by Chevy.
When the Wildcats are on the road, the show will broadcast from Kroger at the Tates Creek Centre in Lexington.
