Last year, the Bulldogs visited Lexington and ran away with the game in which many thought that the CATS were outcoached. The defense had a diseastrous night and gave up 250 yards rushing to 1 player (Tony Dixon). This year the Wildcats visit Starkville and hope to atone for perhaps the biggest shocker of the '09 season.
Miss State returns a total of 12 starters (6 on each side of the ball; offense and defense).
Chris Reif looks to be the starting QB this year and seemingly only has 1 reeturning playmaker in WR Chad Bumphis (who was heavily recruited at UK). State will try to confuse the Wildcat defense with their spread formation and the O-line will have 100 career starts by this point in the season. It also looks like Vick Ballard might be the starting RB.
The Defensive line returns 1 starter Pernell McPhee (who was also highly recruited by UK) and the rest of the D-line looks to all be sophomores, but pretty talented by any measure of SEC evaluation. There is also talent at linebacker in returning starters Chris White, and K J Wright. The secondary may have the most talent of all defensive units with several playmakers having big time experience.
When the CATS visit Starkville look for a hard fought battle.
For the CATS to win: The defense of the Cats will have to rule the day. UK should be able to match up pretty well with almost anyone when they are on offense, the season will be decided on how they match up when they are forced to play defense. If UK can get the State offense off of the field, they will win. If the defense has significant injuries or chooses not to show up (like last year), it will be a long day for Joker & Company. At this point, it is too close to call.
No comments:
Post a Comment