Kentucky Wildcats 2009 Football Preview

Carl H | September 4, 2009 | 0 Comments

And now for Guy and nickev’s outlook for the 2009 Kentucky Wildcats.

Guy:
Miami (OH) – W
Louisville – W
Florida – L
Alabama – L
@South Carolina – W
@Auburn – L
Louisiana-Monroe – W
Mississippi State – W
Eastern Kentucky – W
@Vanderbilt – W
@Georgia – L
Tennessee – W

Record – 8-4
Bowl – Chick Fil A
Offensive POY – Chris Matthews
Defensive POY – Trevard Lindley
Player to watch – Danny Trevathan

I think that the ‘Cats take another positive step forward in 2009. 2006 was the year when UK started to turn things around. 2007 was the year when the ‘Cats proved they can compete with big time opponents. 2008 was about keeping the momentum and the defense catching up to the offense.

This is the year when I see UK moving toward balance between offense carrying defense and vice versa. The improved play of Mike Hartline with a much improved receiving corps is going to give UK a passing game that will open up the running game significantly behind a veteran group of offensive lineman.

On defense, a combination of a core of veterans in Trevard Lindley, Micah Johnson, and Corey Peters and an infusion of young, athletic talent led by DeQuin Evans, Danny Trevathan, and Winston Guy will improve the defense even from last year’s stellar performance.

A very tough four game stretch (Florida, ‘Bama, South Carolina, and Auburn) will be crucial, because I believe UK needs to win one to make this season a really good one. I think the team needs one these games to preserve confidence (particularly the offense). I think UK does so by taking down Steve Spurrier in Columbia. A win over USC has been a long time coming and I think this is the year.

A win over Tennessee has been even a longer time coming and I believe the ‘Cats pull it off this season. By this time, Morgan Newton will have won the backup job and Joker Phillips will be inserting him as a change of pace for a series or two per game. Hartline and Newton are both going to star and the fans will be rushing the field on the way to actually playing a bowl game south of the state of Tennessee.

As for the SEC as a whole, Tim Tebow is going to win POY again, leading his Gators to the conference title over LSU.

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NICKEV:

Miami (OH) – W
Louisville – W
Florida – L
Alabama – L
@South Carolina – W
@Auburn – L
Louisiana-Monroe – W
Mississippi State – W
Eastern Kentucky – W
@Vanderbilt – W
@Georgia – L
Tennessee – L

Record – 7-5
Bowl – Music City
Offensive POY – Alphonso Smith
Defensive POY – Micah Johnson
Player to watch – Chris Matthews

The Cats desperately need production from both their quarterback and running backs to be productive this season. With Micah and Trevard leading the way, their defense should keep them in games, but they need Alphonso Smith, Derrick Locke and Mike Hartline to move the football if they expect to reach their fourth consecutive bowl game.

Most publications out there are predicting that the Cats do not reach a bowl this season after winning three bowl games in a row.

I disagree, I think people are underestimating how much of a difference both JUCO transfers, DeQuin Evans and Chris Matthews, are going to make and I don’t think they realize how good this defense could possibly be.

If they can win either the South Carolina or Auburn game on the road, the Cats have a clear path to a dance party at a bowl game. If they win both, they put themselves in a spot for an upper echelon bowl game.