Coming off back-to-back conference losses, Kentucky enters Saturday’s matchup in a similar position to Auburn.
Unlike Auburn, though, the Wildcats know how to find ways to win in the Southeastern Conference, with no bigger feat than a road win against Ole Miss. That win came just two weeks after Kentucky was a point away from scoring a season-changing upset over Georgia.
Despite those highs, Kentucky currently finds itself 3-4 and moving in the wrong direction after a 48-20 loss to Florida. That creates an interesting matchup against Auburn, as both teams look to turn things around.
Here’s a closer look at Kentucky:
The team
As mentioned earlier, Kentucky’s mixed results throughout the season make it one of the most fascinating teams in the SEC.
After an ugly, 31-6 loss to South Carolina in Week 2, Kentucky nearly pulled off a stunning upset against Georgia and went on the road to knock off Ole Miss two weeks later. Since then, the Wildcats have struggled to find the same success.
Kentucky lost its next two games after beating Ole Miss, and the loss to Florida was particularly ugly, giving up a season high 48 points and 476 yards of total offense.
“It was an outlier for the Kentucky team,” Hugh Freeze said when asked about the Florida loss. “The job that they’ve done against the explosive teams like Ole Miss and Georgia this year is probably the more reality version of what you get from a Kentucky defense.”
Kentucky held both Georgia and Ole Miss to under 20 points and 400 total yards. The Wildcats rank 12th in the country in total defense (fourth in SEC), giving up 283.6 yards per game.
The staff
Head coach Mark Stoops is in his 12th season leading the program and is the ninth highest paid coach in college football. He’s 0-2 in his head coaching career against Auburn, the most recent game being a 29-13 Auburn win in 2020.
Stoops and Freeze have never coached against each other as head coaches, nor have they ever worked together.
The most significant Auburn connection on Kentucky‘s staff is Jay Boulware, serving as both the Wildcats‘ running backs coach and special teams coordinator. Boulware was Auburn’s special teams coordinator and tight ends coach from 2009-2012.
Bush Hamdan, Kentucky’s offensive coordinator is in his first season in Lexington after previously holding offensive coordinator jobs at Boise State, Washington, Davidson and Arkansas State. His offense has struggled in his first season at Kentucky, though, ranking 114th in the country.
Defensively, the Wildcats are led by defensive coordinator Brad White, who’s in his sixth season at Kentucky. Along with a top 15 defense this season, White led Kentucky to top 25 defenses in 2019, 2021 and 2022.
Players to watch
When looking at how Kentucky‘s first seven games have gone, it’s no surprise that many of its best players are on defense.
It starts up front for the Kentucky defense, and the first player that stands out is junior defensive tackle Deone Walker. Freeze said Walker is “probably a top-15 pick‚” when describing Kentucky’s defense, and he has the tape to back it up.
At 6-foot-6, 345 pounds, Walker is an imposing figure and tallied 7.5 sacks last season. His numbers this season don’t jump out as much, but Walker has a 79.4 pass rush grade this season, according to Pro Football Focus.
Of the players who have played significant snaps on defense for Kentucky, defensive back Jonquis Hardaway has the highest total PFF grade at 73.9. Hardaway has 27 tackles and one interception on the season and was teammates with Auburn wide receiver Cam Coleman at Central-Phenix City High School.
Offensively, wide receiver Dane Key is arguably Kentucky’s best player. He has 35 catches for 500 yards and two touchdowns this season and had eight catches for 105 yards in the upset win over Ole Miss.
At 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, Key often uses his size to his advantage with a contested catch rate of 56.3%, according to PFF. For comparison, no Auburn player with more than three contested catch targets has a contested catch rate higher than 44.4%.
Demie Sumo-Karngbaye leads Kentucky‘s rushing attack with 419 yards, but his status for the game is in question after being listed questionable on Wednesday’s availability report. His best game of the season came against Georgia where he rushed for 98 yards on 22 carries.
Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff is Kentucky’s starting quarterback, but Rutgers transfer Gavin Wimsatt has featured in five games this season too. Wimsatt has only thrown 10 passes on the year, but is third on the team with 128 rushing yards.
Vandagriff’s numbers are far from spectacular through seven games. He has 1,116 passing yards and six touchdowns on the season, but his best game came against Ole Miss where he threw for 243 yards and a touchdown on 18-of-28 passing.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m
