The No. 10 Florida Gators (3-1, 1-1 SEC) will be in Lexington, Kentucky for their first SEC road game of the season. The Gators are riding high off a win against Rival Tennessee, while Kentucky (4-0, 1-0 SEC) comes into the game following a 16-10 road win over South Carolina.
Gators Territory teamed up with Cats Illustrated to give you a better view of Florida's opponent this weekend.
What kind of difference has Will Levis meant to Kentucky? What should Florida fans expect from the Penn State transfer?
He has reintroduced the long ball which had so long been lacking. Kentucky has only had a vertical threat in a couple of other seasons recently and it really shortened the field and made balance difficult. Levis is an elite deep ball thrower and he's good on play action. He has also really brought a fiery demeanor and is a real competitor.
However, over the last two weeks, opponents have focused on taking that deep ball away and he is a bit less refined at this point in compensating. He protected the ball in the first two games but not as much lately. He's going to make some big plays, the question for me is how many mistakes he makes.
I can't make any sense about the turnover disparity (-9) for Kentucky. Can you or can they? Is it simply bad luck?
The defensive philosophy is probably a part of the margin. Mark Stoops always coaches his teams to keep everything in front of them so there isn't a lot of hard press at the line of scrimmage. This has its benefits but sometimes I think it lessens the number of turnovers there otherwise might be.
But right now the issue is mostly offense. Chris Rodriguez has four fumbles and all of them came within 10 yards of one goal line or the other. Josh Ali coughed it up twice in the last game. And Levis has made some throws that he shouldn't have.
They have to own the responsibility for all of that but you do have to assume it will start to even out a bit.
The six players that returned this week. What, if any, impact could they have on Saturday against Florida.
Because they have been away from practice for so long and out of a typical game prep setting I really wonder how realistic it is for them to do much. Kentucky will probably ride with the guys that have gotten them to 4-0. You could see JuTahn McClain get some action as an all-purpose running back and Andru Phillips gives them a fourth cornerback they can play.
Where do you see Kentucky having the advantage? Either a singular matchup or area?
I think their ability to create big plays in the passing game and rushing game on offense will present a challenge for the Florida defense. I'm not convinced UK will be able to line up and move Florida a lot upfront but I think the combination of the pass game's explosiveness and Florida giving up some big plays is something that could create some game-changing explosives.
Kentucky is 4-0 and a win over No. 10 Florida could really mean the program has arrived under Stoops? How big is this game for UK and what do you expect Kroger Field to be like on Saturday?
This is a huge game for Kentucky. I've seen some say it's the biggest game in x-number of years and that's not really true as they played UGA in 2018 for what would have probably sent them to Atlanta (it didn't go so well). But it's probably top five or so in the Stoops era. Kentucky has not had a signature home win in the same way as it has won bowl games or won in the Swamp. I think fans are really eager to get that monkey off their backs and the players surely feel that way too. There has been a lot of letdown not only against Florida late in games, but also in these big home game matchups, and that's going to create a tremendous energy in the stadium. It will be a very loud atmosphere.
