University of Missouri

Missouri-Kentucky college football preview

By TOD PALMER

The Kansas City Star

October 30, 2014 7:59 PM

JoJo Kemp (left) and Kentucky gave Kivon Coman and No. 1 Mississippi State a tough game in Lexington last week before falling 35-21. The Wildcats don’t play as well on the road, though. Timothy D. Easley The Associated Press

When/where: 3 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Columbia

TV/radio: SEC Network; KMBZ (980 AM)

The series: Tied 2-2

The line: Missouri by 6 1/2

MISSOURI (6-2, 3-1 SEC)

Date	Opponent	Result/time
Aug. 30	South Dakota State	W, 38-18
Sept. 6	at Toledo	W, 49-24
Sept. 13	Central Florida	W, 38-10
Sept. 20	Indiana	L, 31-27
Sept. 27	at South Carolina	W, 21-20
Oct. 11	Georgia	L, 34-0
Oct. 18	at Florida	W, 42-13
Oct. 25	Vanderbilt	W, 24-14
Saturday	Kentucky	3 p.m.
Nov. 15	at Texas A&M	TBA
Nov. 22	at Tennessee	TBA
Nov. 28	Arkansas	1:30 p.m.

KENTUCKY (5-3, 2-3 SEC)

Date	Opponent	Result/time
Aug. 30	Tennessee-Martin	W, 59-14
Sept. 6	Ohio	W, 20-3
Sept. 13	at Florida	L, 36-30 (OT)
Sept. 27	Vanderbilt	W, 17-7
Oct. 4	South Carolina	W, 45-38
Oct. 11	Louisiana-Monroe	W, 48-14
Oct. 18	at LSU	L, 41-3
Oct. 25	Mississippi State	L, 45-31
Saturday	at Missouri	3 p.m.
Nov. 8	Georgia	11 a.m.
Nov. 15	at Tennessee	TBA
Nov. 29	at Louisville	TBA

What’s at stake

Staying in the hunt for an SEC East repeat. Georgia, which plays Florida on Saturday in Jacksonville, Fla., leads the division with a 4-1 record, but the Bulldogs have games at Kentucky and versus Auburn looming. Missouri remains within striking distance of Georgia, which owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.

Cheers if …

Missouri’s passing game shows signs of life. Kentucky ranks second in the SEC in interceptions (13) and third in pass defense (185.6) and defensive pass efficiency (103.6). Quarterback Maty Mauk emerged from the doldrums against Vanderbilt after three weeks, but the passing game still is fully revved up. It needs to be in November.

Jeers if …

Missouri loses the turnover battle. Kentucky is third in the SEC with a plus-9 turnover margin, while Missouri is fifth at plus-6. Neither team converts on third down well or dominates time of possession, both signs of the ability to sustain drives. That means field position will be especially critical, including a short field created by turnovers.

Three things about Kentucky

1 The Wildcats haven’t won on the road in SEC play since knocking off Georgia in 2009 and haven’t won any true road games since beating Louisville in 2010. No player on Kentucky’s roster has appeared in a road win for the program, which has lost 19 consecutive road games.

2 Quarterback Patrick Towles, a sophomore from Fort Thomas, Ky., ranks third in the SEC with 259.6 passing yards per game. That’s better than Mississippi’s Bo Wallace, Alabama’s Blake Sims and Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott, who is among the Heisman front-runners.

3 Senior defensive end Alvin “Bud” Dupree has the second-most career sacks at Kentucky since 1985 with 20, including a team-high four this season. He also ranks second for the Wildcats in tackles (45), with a team-best six for a loss.

Key matchup

Missouri’s offensive line vs. Kentucky’s front seven. Last week, the Tigers eased to a fairly comfortable 24-14 win against Vanderbilt in large part because of the run game, which churned out 244 yards on 46 carries. It allowed Missouri to sustain drives with manageable third downs and should be similarly efficient against Kentucky.

MISSOURI OFFENSE

P	No.	Player	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.
WR	21	Bud Sasser	6-2	220	Sr.
WR	88	Jimmie Hunt	6-0	205	Sr.
LT	65	Mitch Morse	6-6	305	Sr.
LG	63	Brad McNulty	6-4	305	Jr.
C	77	Evan Boehm	6-3	320	Jr.
RG	60	Connor McGovern	6-4	300	Jr.
RT	62	Taylor Chappell	6-5	300	Jr.
TE	80	Sean Culkin	6-6	245	So.
WR	18	Wesley Leftwich	6-1	200	Jr.
QB	7	Maty Mauk	6-0	195	So.
TB	6	Marcus Murphy	5-9	190	Sr.
K	99	Andrew Baggett	6-1	215	Jr.

MISSOURI DEFENSE

P	No.	Player	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.
DE	33	Markus Golden	6-3	260	Sr.
DT	96	Lucas Vincent	6-2	300	Sr.
NG	90	Harold Brantley	6-3	290	So.
DE	56	Shane Ray	6-3	245	Jr.
LB	10	Kentrell Brothers	6-1	240	Jr.
LB	30	Michael Scherer	6-3	230	So.
LB	25	Donavin Newsom	6-2	230	So.
CB	7	Kenya Dennis	6-0	195	Jr.
SS	9	Braylon Webb	6-0	200	Sr.
FS	21	Ian Simon	6-0	195	Jr.
CB	11	Aarion Penton	5-10	185	So.
P	92	Christian Brinser	6-2	195	Sr.

KENTUCKY OFFENSE

P	No.	Player	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.
WR	9	Demarco Robinson	5-10	158	Sr.
WR	1	Ryan Timmons	5-10	195	So.
LT	77	Darrian Miller	6-5	292	Sr.
LG	75	Zach West	6-4	318	Jr.
C	72	Jon Toth	6-5	301	So.
RG	69	Ramsey Meyers	6-5	300	Fr.
RT	70	Jordan Swindle	6-7	306	Jr.
TE	85	Steven Borden	6-3	246	Sr.
WR	8	Javess Blue	6-0	191	Sr.
QB	14	Patrick Towles	6-5	238	So.
RB	5	Braylon Heard	5-11	189	Jr.
K	99	Austin MacGinnis	5-10	168	Fr.

KENTUCKY DEFENSE

P	No.	Player	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.
DE	94	Za’Darius Smith	6-6	263	Sr.
DT	90	Melvin Lewis	6-4	320	Jr.
DT	50	Mike Douglas	6-4	288	Sr.
DE	47	Jabari Johnson	6-1	276	Jr.
DE	2	Bud Dupree	6-4	264	Sr.
MLB	45	Josh Forrest	6-3	236	Jr.
WLB	33	Ryan Flannigan	6-2	225	Jr.
CB	3	Fred Tiller	6-0	170	Jr.
S	5	Ashely Lowery	6-1	220	Sr.
S	1	A.J. Stamps	6-0	199	Jr.
CB	16	Cody Quinn	5-10	172	Jr.
P	9	Landon Foster	6-1	198	Jr.

Tod Palmer’s pick: Missouri 21-17

Kentucky doesn’t play well away from home. In Lexington, the Wildcats gave No. 1 Mississippi State a game. Away from Lexington, coach Mark Stoops’ squad wasn’t competitive at LSU and fell in overtime to a bad Florida team. Missouri has been finding ways to win (sometimes against the odds), and the trend will continue.

Tod Palmer, tpalmer@kcstar.com

This story was originally published October 30, 2014 at 7:59 PM with the headline "Missouri-Kentucky college football preview."