Vanderbilt Football’s bye week — and the wins and losses around the SEC — have only heightened the stakes for this week’s matchup versus the Kentucky Wildcats. The Black and Gold are currently seeded No. 14 in the College Football Playoff ranking and would face elimination with a third loss. Kentucky, on the other hand, is hot on a three-game win streak, looking to jump to a record over .500. The Commodores enter Saturday in a must-win scenario to keep their playoff hopes alive, while Kentucky will look to maintain its season turnaround to notch bowl eligibility in Nashville.
The Hustler went behind enemy bylines to interview Jonathon Bruner, Sports Editor at the Kentucky Kernel, to learn more about the Wildcats ahead of Saturday’s game.
Vanderbilt Hustler: Kentucky just notched its third consecutive win after dropping four games in a row. What are the most significant changes that have contributed to this winning streak?
Bruner: Not that any of the wins have been fluky, but Kentucky was in a real [schedule] gauntlet. Some of the heat on Mark Stoops has really motivated this team, and you can tell that [the team] is bought in with him — that’s helped a lot. The emergence of Cutter Boley has been the difference-maker because this offense has really clicked into place. The defense as a whole has improved despite some really brutal injuries, but we might see that as an issue this week as the competition takes another uptick. This will be the true measuring stick on whether the turnaround is really there, or if it was more due to the downtick in competition compared to what Kentucky played at the beginning of the year. I do think that you are seeing a team coming into Nashville playing its best ball of the year by light-years.
Earlier in the season, the Wildcats dropped some close, decisive ranked matchups with Ole Miss and Texas. What went wrong in those games, and have those issues since been solved?
With the Ole Miss game, a lot of it was that the quarterback situation was not figured out yet. Zach Calzada played the majority of that game until late in the fourth quarter, and then Boley came in and has started ever since. If Boley was starting by the Ole Miss game, maybe it could have gone differently. With Texas, it just came down to some critical play-calling errors, especially in overtime. Texas’s defensive front is dominant, and on the very first drive of the game, Kentucky opted to go for it, and it got stood up. That goal-line situation repeated itself again in overtime. Even as critical as some have been about Bush Hamdan and his play calling, you’ve seen a change. Now, it’s not automatic third and short, run it right up the middle — since the Texas game, there’s been a big improvement on fourth down. So I think a lot of problems that resulted in those two early losses have worked themselves out, and now this Kentucky team is looking a whole lot different.
How should the Wildcats be preparing for Nashville? Which Commodores pose the biggest threat for Kentucky, both offensively and defensively?
The obvious answer is [Diego] Pavia. Specifically, in Kentucky’s case, it struggles against mobile quarterbacks. If Pavia has a great game with his legs, that’s going to spell trouble for Kentucky. So, something defensively is going to have to give — that’s where the injuries could really come back to hurt Kentucky. On offense, I look at Vandy’s defensive line to be a difference maker — if something goes wrong for Kentucky, that could be a big reason why. Part of the reason why Boley’s offense has really found itself is because the offensive line play has been stellar. He’s not had to worry about being in trouble very often, so he’s had time to make these reads — and the run game has worked really well. If Vanderbilt can find a way to disrupt the rhythm that this offense has found, that’s going to be a big way for it to take control. But Kendrick Law, Seth McGowan and Boley — that’s the big three — have all been rolling. If they can stay that way, then Kentucky easily has a lane to win this game.
You’ve mentioned Boley’s improvement already, but what other impact players do the Commodores need to look out for?
[Kendrick] Law and [Seth] McGowan are two who the offense will run through. Hamdan finds ways to force-feed them the ball one way or another. Law, just last week, had 11 catches [for]124 yards — both career highs. It’s clear that he’s got a connection with Boley. But I think a lesser-known name that has shown a lot of comfortability with Boley is Hardley Gilmore IV. He’s a big-time deep threat, and he’s a guy who is dynamic and can make plays in space. Outside of the well-known names that people already know coming into this game for Kentucky, Gilmore is another pass catcher to watch out for.
What is your score prediction for Saturday?
I think it’s going to be like Ole Miss and Texas — another tight loss — but I’m going to go 27-24, Vanderbilt. I think that Kentucky keeps it close, but there’s ultimately going to be some sort of swing play, whether it’s an interception or red zone stop, that will be that one play where [Kentucky] looks back and [thinks], ‘Man, that could have been the one.’
Vanderbilt hosts Kentucky in Nashville on Nov. 22, with kickoff slated for 2:30 p.m. CST.
