Week two of the college football season is here, and the Colonels will “travel” North to Lexington. For the first time since 2017, the Wildcats will host EKU. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:00 With the temperatures in the high 70’s, it should be a perfect day for football. Here is the EKU vs. Kentucky Preview.
Kentucky’s Offense
The return of Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen has Wildcat fans excited. Coen leads an offense with transfer QB Devin Leary who threw for 241 yards and a touchdown in week one. Another transfer, Ray Davis, leads the run game for UK carrying the ball 14 times for 112 yards and two touchdowns last week. The pass catchers are led by a trio of returning players in Dane Key, Barion Brown, and Tayvion Robinson who combined for 11 catches 173 yards, and one touchdown.
EKU’s Offense
Parker McKinney is looking to eliminate mistakes in week two following his 177 yards, one touchdown, and two interception performances from week one. The Colonels will look for more guys to have an impact, but WR Jaden Smith shined bright against Cincinnati with 5 catches and 81 yards. The tag team of Braedon Sloan and Joshua Carter will look to balance out the Colonels’ offense in the run game. Carter led EKU in week one with 68 yards.
Kentucky’s Defense
Sophomore Deon Walker will take up a lot of space in the middle for the Wildcats D, while the UK linebackers will be on the prowl. Trevin Wallace leads the Cats with 12 tackles and D’eryk Jackson has 8. The DBs are considered the most vulnerable on the Defense and will have their hands full this week. Last week the DBs did not have even one pass deflected or an interception.
EKU’s Defense
Last year’s weakness, the run defense, seems to have been addressed as the Colonels front seven led by Ryan Jackson, held their own against the Cincinnati run game. Big plays really hurt the Defense, but there were plenty of positives. Jackson and Cheik Fall both got a sack. Transfer Linebacker Logan Blake led the team with 10 tackles. The Colonels will finally get to see the prized transfer Franky West who will start at CB. The CBs, West, Deonta Bembry, and Kyeaure Magloire will be busy all day.
Game Outlook
Kentucky is a 31.5-point favorite early, but I think the Colonels learned a lot last week. We saw good Special Teams play, and the mistakes made should be fixable. Playing Kentucky in 2023 is not the same as it was six years ago. I think EKU will walk out with some moral victories, but probably (although possible) not a W. My prediction is 46-20 Kentucky, but if EKU can play a clean game, it could easily be closer.
Vince covers EKU Sports for Belly Up Sports. Catch his weekly EKU Show every Monday at 8:00 p.m. on YouTube, and catch all past shows on the Sports Stove Podcast. You can follow Vince on Twitter for more EKU thoughts. All photos used in this article were taken by members of the EKU Staff.
