Despite holding a 27-1 advantage since the 1992 formation of the SEC East, Florida has had their struggles with Kentucky in recent years. The last time the Wildcats came to Gainesville, they ended a 31-year losing streak to the Gators. In last season’s showdown in Lexington, Feleipe Franks saw his season come to an abrupt end before Kyle Trask made his heroic debut. Down 21-10, Trask stepped into the moment and led a 29-21 come-from-behind victory.
With such a contested recent history, it’s difficult to simply dismiss the annual meeting with Kentucky as a guaranteed win. The Wildcats boast the SEC’s best passing defense, averaging just 222.8 yards per game, through the air. So, it will be strength versus strength in this year’s matchup. Right?
Well, the Wildcats did hold Alabama to just 283 yards passing, last weekend. But they still allowed 63 points and put forth one of their worst offensive performances of the season. Not only that, Kentucky will be shorthanded on Saturday. Very shorthanded, in fact. Recent reports indicate that the Cats will travel to Gainesville without 18 players and 10 staff members.
So, what can we really expect this weekend? In short, a continuation of Kyle Trask’s electrifying season. The Heisman front-runner will have one of his favorite targets back in the lineup, as Kyle Pitts returns from after suffering from a concussion.
According to Dan Mullen, the team has had a much better week of practice than what they did last week. With that in mind, I expect to see a much more polished performance than what we saw in the first half of the Vanderbilt game. Although, Kentucky will likely try to slow the game down, Florida is more than capable of disrupting such a game plan for an offense as poor as Kentucky’s.
As a team, Kentucky is averaging just 20.75 PPG, and has thrown as many touchdowns on the season as Kyle Trask did against Arkansas. Essentially, this is a team that is ill-equipped to keep pace with such a prolific Florida offense. All of this has been considered by the Vegas bookmakers, and is a big reason why the Gators are -25.5 favorites.
In the end, Florida knows that all of their goals are still attainable. They understand that they didn’t turn in their best performance last week, and that the nation is going to be comparing the outcome of Saturday’s game to Alabama’s 63-3 rout of the Wildcats. As a result, the Gators will be ready to make a statement when they take the field this Saturday afternoon.
Sixth ranked Florida (6-1) will host the Kentucky Wildcats (3-5) this Saturday at noon EST. The game will be televised on ESPN. I’m taking the Gators to win, 45-17.
ChompTalk.com 
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