With a win on Saturday afternoon in Nashville, the Kentucky Wildcats become bowl eligible for the fourth strait season. Something that is rarely seen at the University of Kentucky.

However, if they are not able to pull out the victory against the ‘Dores, they will be left with the daunting task of beating either Georgia on the road or Tennessee at home.

The good news is that it looks like the Wildcats are finally getting healthy. Trevard Lindley, Micah Johnson, Derrick Locke, Randall Cobb, and Mike Hartline are all expected to play. Most anticipate that Morgan Newton will still get the start at quarterback, but that Hartline will take some snaps.

Vanderbilt enters the conest on a six-game losing streak and they will be without their starting quarterback, Larry Smith. Smith, a redshirt sophomore, started the first nine games of the season and the bowl game last year, before suffering a season ending hamstring injury against Georgia Tech.

Stepping in for Smith will be senior Mackenzi Adams, who threw for 193 yards and two touchdowns in Kentucky’s 27-20 win over Vandy the last time the two teams squared off in Nashville.

Adams is experienced but he lacks both the arm strength and speed of Smith.

The strength of this struggling offense is their two talented freshmen tailbacks. Both Warren Norman and Zac Stacy have impressed in their rookie campaigns. Norman has already rushed for 658 yards on the season, while Stacy has accounted for 421. They both have found the endzone three times.

Norman is not a big back but he sees holes and he hits them hard. He is extremely fast and doesn’t dance around. He is strictly a north-and-south runner.

He has also returned three kicks for touchdowns and has already eclisped the SEC single season kickoff return yardage record.

Their wide receiving core has struggled all season with drops, which hasn’t helped the confidence of their quarterbacks. They are inexperience and undersized and, in all honesty, are not SEC-caliber wideouts.

Simply put, the Vanderbilt offense is why they are winless in the SEC and have only won two games all season (Western Carolina, @Rice). Injuries have played a part in their struggles but they just can’t score the football.

They have yet to score more than 10 points in an SEC game and have 12 touchdowns and 31 trips to the redzone overall. On the rare occasion that they get it to the rezone they struggle to punch it in.

On the defensive side of things, it is another story. All season long the defense has found ways to keep them in games, but the offense just hasn’t been able to do enough to get wins.

In their 27-3 loss at Florida last week, they sacked Tim Tebow four times and held the Gators well under their scoring average.

Myron Lewis, a senior cornerback, headlines a strong secondary for the Commodores. At 6-2, 205-pounds, Lewis is a big corner and he will play in the NFL next year, whether it be at corner or at safety. Sophomore Casey Hayward plays opposite of Lewis and has been effective as well.

Their strong secondary allows them to be very tough and physical with their front seven. The Vanderbilt defense will come after the quarterback, which could cause Kentucky problems. Remember, Newton is still very inexperience and Hartline isn’t going to be very mobile back there.

Defense is going to be the story of this game and I expect it to be very low scoring. If Kentucky doens’t give up the big drive or big play, they should have success against this struggling Vandy offense. Time of possession will play a big key as Vandy has been out-possessioned by as much as 10 to 15 minutes on multiple occasions.

Both defenses are good but Kentucky’s offense is good enough to put some points on the board. Vandy’s offense is not.

With Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke back in action, expect whoever is quarterbacking to be a lot more comfortable. Cobb and Locke are Kentucky’s two most explosive weapons, so give them the ball, a lot. Force whoever is holding “The Legend of Cobb” sign to rip off at least two numbers and the ‘Cats win.