From The Otherside is a weekly series where Gamecock Scoop gets insight from a journalist who covers the Gamecocks' weekly opponent. In addition to this article, Justin will have a short appearance on the Gamecock Scoop Podcast tomorrow as well.
Justin Rowland is the Publisher of CatsIllustrated.com, the Kentucky site on Rivals.
Who Is Kentucky in 2022?
Different than the Kentucky opposing fans will have come to know in some ways, similar in others.
It's a pretty familiar team defensively. The goal is to take away explosive plays, make you drive the field, and bank on college offenses not being good enough to consistently execute that. They're a good defensive team. There are starting captains at linebacker with one, JJ Weaver, possibly coming back this week and another, Jacquez Jones, out with an injury. Those linebackers were the three highest graded players (PFF) last week against Ole Miss and they're the heart and soul of the team.
Quarterback Will Levis and wide receivers Tayvion Robinson, Barion Brown, and Dane Key make this a much more dangerous team in the passing game than Kentucky has had since at least 2010 or so. The return of RB Chris Rodriguez boosted the running game last week, but the offensive line has struggled a lot.
UK has allowed more sacks and negative yardage plays than it typically has, but we saw that the physical, ball control identity could still be there against Ole Miss last week, when they set themselves up in Ole Miss territory three times with a chance to win late but weren't able to capitalize.
I think they're in an SEC tier along with Tennessee, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Texas A&M, and maybe LSU, and those squads would beat one another up.
How does the offense stack up against SC's defense?
South Carolina gave up 200 rushing yards to its first three opponents this year so expect Kentucky to try and establish the run more than any other point this season. Rodriguez looked really good last week compared to what they've had at running back in his absence. UK runs a true pro-style offense so it will be Chris Rodriguez setting up play-action shots to those dynamic receivers.
Kentucky's offensive stats don't look great, but they have moved the ball when they have needed to. It's tough to keep those receivers from making big plays for long and I suspect they'll have some more opportunities to tip the game this weekend.
Right tackle Jeremy Flax was injured late in the Ole Miss game and that's going to be a trouble spot. David Wohlabaugh struggled at left tackle earlier in the year and quickly gave up that sack that led to the turnover.
Kentucky has allowed far too many sacks and tackles for loss, but finally has an offense that is capable of playing from behind the chains.
How does the defense stack up against SC's offense?
Though I'm not an expert on the Gamecocks, Kentucky is pretty much "what you see is what you get" on defense. You had better be able to really run the ball well or have a quarterback who can pick a defense apart underneath and with precision in order to have sustained success against them.
The defense didn't get off to a good start in Oxford with the tempo perhaps bothering them in the first quarter. But after that first part of the game, the defense settled in and played very well. Holding Ole Miss to 22 points and less than 400 yards of offense will probably look like a really good effort at the end of the season.
Kentucky doesn't miss many tackles and is pretty physical against the run in the box. Carrington Valentine is improved at corner.
The defense is banged up, though. Jacquez Jones had been playing the best football of his career the last few weeks before his injury and safety Jalen Geiger has been out a few weeks now. The overall depth on defense is being tested a bit, so if South Carolina's offense can stay on the field and run 70-80 plays, that might be their best bet.
Just as sacks are a problem on offense, they're a problem on defense. Sacking Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart was not the emphasis because of what Ole Miss does offensively, but UK needs to get more pressure.
Keys for a Kentucky win?
Limit the damage from the South Carolina pass rush and avoid turnovers. Will Levis fumbled on UK's final two possessions last week. Levis is going to be a very high draft pick but the ball security has to improve. He's got such a live arm and is so confident that sometimes he tries to do a little too much and would be better served just getting rid of the ball.
If Kentucky plays fairly clean then the 10.5 line or whatever is it now makes some sense based on the results for the teams this year.
