Taylor Wyndham tackles Tim Tebow

The Kentucky Wildcats football team has a difficult challenge each season. It is tough to compete on a high level in the Southeastern Conference, and it is especially tough in the SEC East. Today, we are going to look from the perspective of three Kentucky bloggers to their analysis of the Florida Gators football team.

Let’s start with a little background of this annual matchup between UK and UF. Kentucky has played Florida 60 times since their first meeting in 1917. They have 10 wins at home and only 7 wins in the Swamp. Only 5 of those 17 victories have come since 1957. That leaves 43 wins for the Florida Gators, a 71.7% winning ratio on those 60 games. The Gators are a formidable opponent for the Wildcats.

Here is the analysis of the Florida Gators from three Kentucky bloggers:

Ralph Lee of Tailgate Review (read full article)

Now that the Tim Tebow era has come and gone (produced 2 National Championships) it is on to the next chapter for coach Urban Meyer and the Gators. If you’re a Gator fan, you may be a little apprehensive as to what this season holds. But, if you are a “Gator Hater” then you will be relieved not to see #15 lined up on the offensive side of the ball. However, Meyer is committed to a certain brand and style of play and that will not change even if he lost nine starters from the 2009 team, including 5 juniors who left early. It is now time to breakdown the Gators and see what the 2010 season may hold for them.

OFFENSE: John Brantley becomes the man under or behind center for the 2010 Gators; of course Brantley has played in several games either due to injury or because they were blowing some helpless team out. Brantley’s strength is a strong and accurate arm, things considered to be weaknesses for Tebow. But what Brantley can’t replicate is the heart, fire or desire Tebow played with. Brantley will have one of the fastest players in the nation lining up in the backfield with him in Jeffery Demps. Demps is a “jitterbug” with lightning speed and big play capabilities. At wide-out, Brantley will mainly be throwing to Deonte Thompson and Frankie Hammonds Jr…….who? Both of these guys have a lot of abilities but they are unproven against high caliber competition. The offensive line should be solid as all five projected starters have been starters at one point and time doing their tenure in the “Swamp”.

DEFENSE: Despite losing Tebow, it actually appears to be the Defense that took the biggest hit with the NFL Draft. Gone are CB Joe Hayden, LB Brandon Spikes, and DE Carlos Dunlap. Their replacements will have the physical skill level but will lack experience and the leadership that the 2009 defense counted on. There are no superstars on this defense but as a group, they will be fast to the ball and they will be hungry to prove themselves. However, these young Gators may also give up their share of big plays and any well balanced offense may give them fits.

SPECIAL TEAMS: This unit will be solid but not spectacular, especially in terms of punting and kicking. Of course the Gators will have speed and quickness at KR and PR but they will not have experience. The place-kicker was 22 of 30 last year and he will probably get more opportunities this year. The Gators will also come after the opposing punters with a heavy rush as another way of trying to score punts.

Schedule: This is where Florida will have an advantage over a lot of other teams, both in and out of conference. Out of 12 regular season games, they only hit the road 4 times. But out of the 4, this is where they will probably get their only two losses of the regular season. On Oct. 2, the Gators will travel to Tuscaloosa to play the defending SEC and National Champions, the Crimson Tide of Alabama. The other probable loss will come on the last game of the year when the Gators travel to Tallahassee to play their arch-rival, the Florida St. Seminoles. Outside of these two games, the Gators may receive minor or early game scares from South Florida (9/11), at Tennessee (9/18), UK (9/25) and then there is a home game against LSU that could be intriguing as well.

Overall, this Gator squad may not be up to par with the squads of the last four years but the schedule is a very favorable one. On top of that, people tend to forget that Urban Meyer is a real good football coach and not just a coach living solely off of the talent that hits the field. One thing to keep an eye on is Coach Meyer’s health and how relaxed or uptight he gets this season. A 10-2 record is very likely with 9-3 or 11-1 being other options depending on an upset either way (the Gators will be underdogs against both the Tide and the Noles while they will be favorites in every other game). Expect the Gators to play for the SEC Championship in December though who their opponent will be is not quite so clear.

Kyle of Wildcat Blue Blog (read full article)

September 25 – @ Florida

We all know that it’s been a long time since UK beat Florida last and this is a game that most Kentucky fans would take any way they can get. The Gators will be in for a tough road on Defense this year after losing Coordinator Charlie Strong to the Head coach position at Louisville. Then the two team leaders graduated in Linebacker Brandon Spikes and Quarterback Tim Tebow. There were plenty of other key players that left to take their careers on to the NFL notably leading receivers Aaron Hernandez and Riley Cooper, Top offensive Lineman Maurkice Pouncey, and defensive standouts Carlos Dunlap, Joe Hayden, and Major Wright. Despite sending several players to the NFL, the Gators return another talented and fully stocked roster of hyper-speed athletes for the 2010 season and should be he early favorite to win the SEC east. Kentucky will come into the Florida match up off of three home games that they should be favored in and a likely three game winning streak.

Kentucky will lose if…..
The Gators take control of the game early and force Kentucky to pass the ball playing catch-up. If Kentucky gives up special teams touchdowns to Brandon James, Jeff Demps, or Chris Rainey, it will be hard to stay in the game with the more talented Gators. If John Brantley proves to be the gun slinging QB that Tebow was not and Kentucky’s inexperienced defensive backs cannot cover the speedy Florida receivers. As long as Florida considers Kentucky a worthy opponent and doesn’t look on to higher profile game, the Gators should have enough talent to beat the Cats. If Kentucky turns the ball over, and the inexperienced defense gives up easy scores this could be a long game for Joker.

Why Kentucky will win…..
This is not the Kentucky teams of Bill Curry or Hal Mumme. If Kentucky can go into this game with the confidence that they CAN win this game, it can make as big of a difference as anything done on the field. While Florida still has the edge in team speed, the gap is miles closer than it has been in years past and there is no reason for Kentucky to just roll over. The Kentucky ground game should prove to be effective against Florida’s completely new corps of linebackers and this could be one of Derrick Locke’s best chances to show what he can do against an elite defense and improve his draft stock. The Quarterback (whoever it is by this point) will have three games of experience under his belt and will have had enough time to hit his rhythm with the receivers. The Defense will need to stop a finesse attack of speed rushers stretching the field and a new type of passing team, but Kentucky has done well against these types of offenses in the past. The Gators are just replacing too much talent on the field and the new players are bound to make some mistakes. If Kentucky can capitalize off of these mistakes and avoid making their own, The Cats should emerge victorious.

Ken Howlett of A Sea of Blue (read full article)

Florida Gators: September 25 @ Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
2009: Florida 41 UK 7

Gator head coach Urban Meyer loses a lot in 2010. From all-world quarterback/fullback Tim Tebow and his 2,895 passing yards (21 touchdowns), as well as 910 rushing yards (14 touchdowns), to top receiver Riley Cooper (961 receiving yards; nine touchdowns), to tight end extraordinaire Aaron Hernandez (850 receiving yards; five touchdowns), to All-SEC linebacker Brandon Spikes (68 tackles; 6.5 tackles for loss; two interceptions), to linebacker and leading tackler Ryan Stamper (78 tackles; two interceptions), to All-SEC defensive end Carlos Dunlap (38 tackles; 9.0 sacks; 10.5 tackles for loss), to defensive end Jermaine Cunningham (34 tackles; 12.0 tackles for loss; 7.0 sacks), to cornerback Joe Haden (10 pass breakups; four interceptions).

But shed no crocodile tears for Meyer, he returns plenty of talent, and has the top rated recruiting class in the nation coming to the Gainesville campus.

It will, though, be a difficult task putting up the strong stats the 2009 Gators put on the board: 35.9 points per game (2nd in SEC) on 457.9 yards per game (1st), versus giving up only 12.4 points per game (2nd), and 253.2 yards per game (2nd). The opus for successfully following up Florida’s 13-1 (8-1) 2010 record falls squarely on the shoulders of new quarterback John Brantley (410 passing yards; nine touchdowns in ’09). Brantley, who UK fans got a good look at after Tebow went down with a concussion in the third quarter of last year’s contest, is a pro-style quarterback, rated the top QB coming out of high school two years ago. His arm is strong and accurate, and defensive coordinators are already losing sleep.

Brantley, though, loses the top two Gator receivers in Cooper and Hernandez, but he does return uber-athletic wide receiver Deonte Thompson (24 receptions; 343 yards; four touchdowns), and five-star recruit Andre Dubose who underwent hamstring surgery and missed last season. Protecting Brantley, and clearing the way for Florida’s stud running backs are five new offensive linemen … I do use the term “new” loosely, for all five players have starting experience.

And speaking of the Gator running game: The top two Gator ball carriers (other than Tebow) are back for the 2010 season. Led by speedy Jeffery Demps (745 yards rushing; 7.5 ypc; seven touchdowns), and Chris Rainey (575 yards; 6.5 ypc; five touchdowns), Florida will be very difficult to contain on the ground.

As mentioned above, defensively, the Gators lose a lot of talent, but new D-coordinator Teryl Austin will run his 4-3 defense with returning starting linebackers A. J. Jones (37 tackles; 4.5 tackles for loss in 11 games) and Brandon Hicks (38 tackles; 5.0 tackles for loss; 4.0 sacks).

If there is such a thing as a certain loss, this is it.

History of the Matchup between Kentucky and Florida
Note: This may be painful for Kentucky fans to read. Below are the results of all 60 Kentucky and Florida football games. These statistics were pulled from this excellent website. Florida has won 23 straight games against the Kentucky Wildcats. Will that streak end this year?

Here is the detailed Summer Outlook for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Here is the detailed Summer Outlook for the Florida Gators.

What will be the final score in 2010 for UK @ UF?