Florida vs. Kentucky Preview

The Florida Gators notched another SEC victory last week after defeating the Tennessee Volunteers 38-14. This week they willl be on the road heading to Lexington, Kentucky to take on the undefeated Wildcats. Florida has won 33 of the last 34 games in the series, but it definitely hasn’t been easy in the past few meetings. Kentucky is a much improved football team, and Mark Stoops has the program going in the right direction. Kentucky has a few players you should be on the look out for as the Gators try to continue their dominance over the team from the Blue Grass state.

Let’s start at the quarterback position. Penn State transfer Will Levis won the job over Joey Gatewood in fall camp, which subsequently caused Gatewood to transfer to UCF. Through four games, Levis has thrown for 902 yards and seven touchdowns while completing 65% of his passes. He’s putting up solid numbers, but has also thrown five interceptions on the season. As a matter of fact, Kentucky is dead last in the country in turnover margin (-9). The Gators will have to get some pressure on him and create opportunities for the secondary force some turnovers.

Christopher Rodriguez Jr. is the Wildcats starting running back and a load to bring down at 224 pounds. He leads the SEC in rushing with 521 yards to go along with four touchdowns. Florida has done a great job of containing opposing teams rushing attacks to this point in the season and will need to continue that this week as Rodriguez has the ability to break off some long runs. The Wildcats are going to try to use him in a multitude of ways, including as a receiver out of the backfield.

Kentucky’s most explosive playmaker is wide receiver and Nebraska transfer Wan’Dale Robinson. He leads the team in all major receiving categories with 25 catches for 402 yards and 2 touchdowns. He lines up all over the field and is able to create a lot of mismatches do to his short area quickness and flat out speed. The Gators secondary is gonna need to know where he is on the field at all times as he is a threat to score every time he touches the football.

Linebacker DeAndre Square is their leader and best player on defense. He leads the team with 25 tackles and also has 5.5 tackles for loss. He’s the kind of player that runs sideline to sideline and is always around the football. The Gators are a team that likes to lean on the running game and Square will do everything he can to take that away.

Kroger Field has become a tough environment to play in, especially since Kentucky has become a much better team over the past few years. The Gators know that this won’t be an easy game, but they’re definitely going to be up for the challenge.