Kentucky is looking to
get their fifth win of the season on the road against the Commodores.
LEXINGTON – November 15, 2019 – Bradley Charles – Bluegrass
Sports Nation
On Saturday, the Kentucky Wildcats (4-5, 2-5 SEC) travel to
Nashville, Tennessee, to square off against the Vanderbilt Commodores (2-7, 1-5
SEC).
Kentucky:
The Cats need to win two of their final three regular season games to become bowl-eligible. After Saturday’s game at Vanderbilt, UK comes home to play Tennessee Martin and Louisville.
It is pivotal for UK to defeat Vanderbilt this weekend,
otherwise they would be forced to defeat both Tennessee Martin and Louisville
to become bowl-eligible. A victory on Saturday would make the rest of the
regular season much more enjoyable/stress-free for BBN.
All signs point toward Lynn Bowden Jr. seeing the majority,
if not all, of the snaps at quarterback as Sawyer Smith’s health remains
somewhat unclear.
Vanderbilt:
Last week, Vanderbilt played on the road against Florida in a 56-0 win for the Gators. Similar to UK, the Commodores have started three different players at quarterback this season; in total, five different players have thrown a pass for Vanderbilt this season.
Offense:
Running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn is having a tremendous season. Vaughn has carried the ball 166 times on the season for 818 yards and six touchdowns; the rest of the Commodores have tallied 111 carries for 240 yards and a touchdown.
Through the air, the Commodores have gone 157 of 295 on
passing attempts for 1,607 yards, seven touchdowns and nine interceptions. As
for the receivers, Kalija Lipscomb leads the team in receptions (33) and
receiving yards (381) to go along with two receiving touchdowns. Running back
Ke’Shawn Vaughn also plays a big role in the passing game as he has recorded 24
receptions for 248 yards and a touchdown.
Defense:
The Commodores are allowing 465.5 total yards per game this season. Linebacker Dimitri Moore leads the team with 71 total tackles, including 5.5 tackles for a loss. Fellow linebacker Andre Mintze has recorded four of the teams 13 sacks this season. Safety Tae Daley has tallied three of the teams five interceptions this season. Freshman safety Dashaun Jerkins is having a productive season; Jerkins is second on the team in total tackles with 53.
Stoops’ Comments on the Commodores:
On Monday, Coach Stoops had this to say about the Commodores, “Vandy is a team that you know they are going to play extremely hard, you know they are going to be well-coached … You better concentrate on yourself and get ready to play, because you expect a very hard-fought game from them.”
Historical Summary:
Kentucky leads the all-time series against Vanderbilt 45-42-4, but Vanderbilt owns a 27-20-2 record in Nashville.
In this series, 37 games have been decided by a touchdown or
less; including three of the past four.
UK has won the last three meetings; four of the past five.
The Cats have held Vanderbilt to 22 points or less in each
of the last five meetings.
The first meeting between these two schools took place in
1896. Of SEC teams, only the Tennessee series dates back further (1893).
General Information:
The game is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. and will air on the SEC Network.
BSN Coverage:
The Bluegrass Sports Nation team of Brendon Miller, Ty Back and Bradley Charles will be in Nashville to bring you all the action.
