Middle Tennessee at Kentucky

The Sports Xchange

November 14, 2018 at 6:27 pm.

GAME SNAPSHOT
KICKOFF: Saturday, noon ET
SITE: Kroger Field, Lexington, Ky.
TV: SEC Network Alternate
SERIES: Kentucky leads 2-0. Kentucky won the last meeting 20-14 in 2008.
RANKINGS: Kentucky No. 17

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Blue Raiders

–QB Brent Stockstill figures to challenge Kentucky’s defense with his savvy and passing ability. He has completed 68.8 percent of his 320 pass attempts with 21 going for touchdowns against only five interceptions. He has averaged nearly 230 yards a game passing and netted 180 yards rushing.

–WR Ty Lee has at least one reception in 36 consecutive games, the longest such streak in program history. Lee has 51 receptions for 621 yards to led the Blue Raiders in both categories and is tied with WR Patrick Smith with five touchdown catches.

–LB DQ Thomas, a sophomore, is MTSU’s sack leader with 6 among his 10 tackles for loss, which are second to the 11 of LB Khalil Brooks. Thomas has 49 tackles overall and been credited with five quarterback hurries and three passes broken up.

Wildcats

–QB Terry Wilson was 21-of-34 passing for 172 yards and a touchdown in the loss to Tennessee. He wound up with a negative-6 yards rushing after being sacked five times, but did have a 19-yard gain on one of his carries. He has completed 66.7 percent of his passes this season for an average of just under 139 yards a game.

–WR Lynn Bowden has been coming on strong down the stretch for the Wildcats. He had six catches for 57 yards in the loss to Tennessee, giving him 25 receptions over the last three games. He has had at least three receptions in every game this season for Kentucky, giving him 55 catches for 566 yards and three touchdowns for his sophomore season.

–LB Josh Allen is within one sack of Dennis Johnson’s single-season record for Kentucky after being credited with one against Tennessee. Allen has 11 sacks for the season and 25.5 for his career. The school career mark is 26 by Oliver Barnett.

KEYS
TO THE GAME

Kentucky may be having some recent struggles on offense, but this is no time to panic, says coach Mark Stoops, who plans no major changes when the Wildcats take on Middle Tennessee State Saturday.

Kickoff at Lexington’s Kroger Field is noon ET on the SEC Alternate Network.

“That wouldn’t be a very good idea,” Stoops said when asked if it is time to re-think his entire offensive scheme. “We got two opportunities to get the most victories we’ve had in a regular season since 1977. I don’t think that’d be very wise.

“We did a lot of good things to win seven games, and we plan on trying to get to eight and nine. I appreciate all the good things that they did to put us in that position. That would be called panic mode.”

The No. 17 Wildcats (7-3) managed only 262 yards in total offense in the loss to the Volunteers after rushing and passing for 310 against Georgia the week before. They have failed to reach the 300-yard mark in three of their last five games after getting to at least that mark in each of their first five games.

Not coincidentally running back Benny Snell Jr. has reached the 100-yard mark rushing only once in his last six games. He was in triple digits in three of his first four games with a season-high 175 in the win over Florida.

It could be that opponents have caught up with the junior, who is threatening to become Kentucky’s all-time leading rusher. He needs to average 108 yards over Kentucky’s next three games (two regular season plus the bowl) to pass Sonny Collins’ record of 3,835 yards.

“They’ve been defending it differently,” Snell said. “They’ve been loading the box from now to the beginning of the year. That really shouldn’t matter to me.”

Stoops said a “lot of things” go into the issue.

“Part of our recipe to win a bunch of games is we have to make long drives,” Stoops said. “In our victories throughout the season, we’ve had 12-, 13-play drives because we’re not overly explosive.

“But, you have to be very good and you have to be very precise, and you can’t have a missed assignment here, a missed assignment there.”

Middle Tennessee State could present an opportunity for the Wildcats to get their running game together. The Blue Raiders (7-3) have allowed opponents to rush for an average of 165 yards a game, but have won their last four outings, the last a 49-32 race against UTEP.

“They’re creating big plays and they’re getting ahead and scoring some points,” Stoops said, “and then they are throwing the ball and certainly that was the case this past week with UTEP. They jumped out on a big lead on them and then they’re throwing it and creating big plays. Their defense has been very good at forcing turnovers.”

Quarterback Brent Stockstill, son of coach Rick Stockstill, leads the Raiders offense. He has passed for 857 yards his last three games.

“He’s one of those guys he’s a real gamer,” Stoops said. “You can put pressure on him, you can get him out of the pocket, and he finds guys open. He puts it in good spots, he throws a catchable ball. You got to have a lot of respect for the way he plays.”

Kentucky has finished its conference schedule, finishing 5-3 in the SEC East, but the Raiders are 6-1 in Conference USA play and have a key league game coming up the following week against UAB. Stockstill (the coach) says he won’t pull any punches by pulling players against Kentucky.

“We are going to try to win this game,” he said, “and worry about next week next week.”

This will be the third SEC opponent for the Blue Raiders, who lost to Vanderbilt 35-7 and Georgia 49-7 in early September.

“We are looking forward to it,” coach Stockstill said. “We know the challenge that lies ahead, but we are excited about it.

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