Kentucky vs. Ole Miss Game Preview

     Kentucky welcomes Ole Miss to town this Saturday for a big week 2 game set as the first SEC game of the year. The stage is big. Ole Miss is looking to get back for what Kentucky did to them last year. Ole Miss suffered a 20-17 loss to the cats last year which prevented them from making the playoffs. Kentucky looks to break a pretty disappointing streak of 7 straight home SEC losses. From a Kentucky fan this is unacceptable and this couldn’t be a bigger game this week. 

     Ole Miss is coming off an impressive week one slaughtering of Georgia State 63-7. Austin Simmons the young sophomore quarterback went 20-31 for 341 yards 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Kewan Lacy ran for 108 yards and three touchdowns. Ole Miss looked impressive in most aspects on the offensive side except for the offensive line. The offensive line ranked low in the PFF rankings which caught the attention of many Kentucky fans and caught the attention of the national media. While Kentucky struggled on the offensive side the defense looked solid. Kentucky's defensive line ranked 1 one in the country in pass rush for week 1. With an unproven offensive line coming into town this week Kentucky could have their way with this Ole Miss offensive line. 

  But for Kentucky to win they have to pay better on offense. Zach Calzada finished 10-23 for 85 yards. He cannot do this this week against Ole Miss. While in my opinion not all the blame is to be set on him, with his first deep ball of the game being overturned on what I thought was a bogus call and any pass interference calls and missed pass interference class his statline is deflated to what it actually should be. The wide receivers are also to blame with only catching 4 balls for 12 yards, they’ll  have to get more open this week and create some space. Toledo does have a solid secondary and will have multiple draft picks in their secondary according to Adam Luckett. The tight ends for Kentucky were a strong piece with Willie Rodriguez and Josh Kattus combining for 71 yards. I don’t want to jump around the fact that this Toledo team is also really good. They are projected to win the MAC and a popular Group of 5 playoff pick. 

     With a solid showing for Ole Miss and a mediocre showing for Kentucky this looks to be one of the bigger matchups this week. Some of the biggest keys to the game are the Ole Miss offensive line has to get better and Austin Simmons needs to play well and lead this offense against the best defense he’s ever seen. Kentucky needs to be able to consistently run the ball and stay ahead of the chains which they did well with Toledo, the wide receivers have to be more involved and Zach needs to play better. The defense has to put pressure on a young quarterback starting in his first ever SEC away game and make him as uncomfortable as possible. If they can do this I truly believe this game could go either way.