Kentucky (7-5) vs. Florida State (7-5)
Dec. 31st,
4:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
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Prediction & Box Score
2007 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl History, Each Team's Best Bowl
Moments, & More
 |
|
National
Rankings |
|
Florida State |
Kentucky |
|
Total Offense |
|
82nd 360 ypg |
25th 438.58 ypg |
|
Total Defense |
|
36th 350.42 ypg |
65th 390.25 ypg |
|
Scoring Offense |
|
90th 22.92 ppg |
15th 36.67 ppg |
|
Scoring Defense |
|
31st 21.92 ppg |
80th 7.45 ppg |
|
Run Offense |
|
96th 121.08 ypg |
52nd 156.50 ypg |
|
Run Defense |
|
22nd 114.42 ypg |
92nd 190 ypg |
|
Pass Offense |
|
47th 238.92 ypg |
24th 282.08 ypg |
|
Pass Defense |
|
73rd 236 ypg |
21st 200.25 ypg |
|
Turnover Margin |
|
32nd 0.33 |
47th 0.08 |
|
Florida
State
at
Clemson L 24-17
UAB
W 34-24
at Colorado
W 16-6
Alabama
W 21-14
NC State
W 27-10
at W For.
L 24-21
Miami
L 37-29
Duke
W 25-6
at BC W 27-17
at
Va Tech L 40-21
Maryland
W 24-16
at
Florida L 45-12 |
Kentucky
E Kentucky
W 50-10
Kent State
W 56-20
Louisville W 40-34
at
Arkansas W 42-29
Fla
Atlantic
W 45-17
at S Carolina L 38-23
LSU W 45-37 3OT
Florida
L 45-37
Miss State
L 31-14
at
Vanderbilt W 27-20
at
Georgia L 24-13
Tenn.
L 52-50 4OT |
|
Position
Ratings
relative to each
other |
|
FSU |
5
highest
1 lowest |
K |
|
3.5 |
Quarterbacks |
4.5 |
|
2.5 |
RBs |
3.5 |
|
3.5 |
Receivers |
4 |
|
2.5 |
O
Line |
2.5 |
|
2 |
D
Line |
2.5 |
|
3 |
Linebackers |
3 |
|
3.5 |
Secondary |
3.5 |
|
4 |
Spec
Teams |
3 |
|
4 |
Coaching |
3.5 |
|
At least now we'll get to see what kind
of a coach Jimbo Fisher is.
Of course Bobby Bowden is still the head man at Florida State, but
more and more, this will become Fisher's team as the torch has been
passed for whenever the legend chooses to retire, and now the
program might have its toughest bowl test ever with around 36
players suspended for cheating on a test or out with an injury
including most of the defensive line and two starters on the
offensive line. Florida State likes to
brag that if one guy doesn't get the job done, there's always
someone ready to step into place. Now the rhetoric will be put to
the test.
It's not like Kentucky is going to cry too many tears as it goes for
its second Music City Bowl win in a row and just its second bowl
victory since 1984. The Wildcats come into the game on a two-game
losing streak and a collapse of four losses in five games since
stunning LSU in triple overtime, and while just getting to a bowl
game is always a plus for the Wildcats, now the pressure is on; you
can't lose a game to a team without a bulk of its players and almost
all the depth.
You don't get to the
level Florida State achieved without being able to sidestep a few
landmines, and it's been able to rally through suspensions over the
years, but there hasn't been anything like this. Will the
controversy rally the troops and get the remaining players fired up
enough to play out of their minds, or will this be the straw the
breaks the camel's back in a lousy year?
FSU hung around the ACC title chase with a stunning 27-17 win at
then No. 2 Boston College, but a thumping loss to Virginia Tech
ended the dream the week after. One of the ACC's most maddening
teams, the Noles were good enough to beat Alabama, Colorado,
Maryland and BC, but choked away a home loss to a lousy Miami team
and got blasted by Virginia Tech and Florida by a combined score of
95 to 33. The defense has been fine, the offense has been lousy, and
for many fans, the Fisher era officially couldn't kick off fast
enough. Again, this is still Bowden's team, but for Fisher to turn
down West Virginia, he has to be assured that he gets to pull the
strings.
Kentucky might be playing second fiddle to the suspension storyline swirling
around the game, but it needs a nice performance to finish up or
else it might be back to being the Kentucky of old. Oh sure, there
were some great moments with early wins over Louisville and Arkansas
to go along with the win over LSU, but that was it. The Cats might
have put up a fight in a four-overtime loss to Tennessee in the
regular season finale, but they were awful against Mississippi State
and struggled too much against Florida and Georgia.
Each team will get off the bus throwing, and each will showcase the
quarterbacks in an attempt to get this into a bit of a shootout, but
can Florida State keep up the pace with a depleted team? There is a
bit of a precedent for pulling off shockers after major suspensions.
Arkansas, coached by Lou Holtz, crushed No. 2 Oklahoma 31-6 in the
Orange Bowl, but that was after only three players were suspended
(although they were the key offensive playmakers). Obviously, this
situation is different, but the Noles will play with a fight and a
chip on its shoulder since no one will believe they can win.
Hopefully that will be enough to make this more than just a Kentucky
scrimmage.
Players to watch: Alright, so what does Florida State have
left? Apparently, QB Drew Weatherford isn't one of the
suspended players, and he'll be the one who has to carry the team
with the game of his life. He was sensational at times after getting
benched for Xavier Lee midseason, throwing for 339 yards
against Duke and 354 yards in the win over BC. While he hasn't
always been accurate, he's been good at limiting mistakes throwing
just one interception, in a win over UAB in early September, with
eight touchdown passes. He'll have to press a little against the
good UK secondary, even if that means throwing a bad pass or two to
try to get the offense moving.
Kentucky's Andre Woodson might not be considered the
be-all-end-all top five pick some were projecting him to be earlier
in the season, but he could grow into the first quarterback taken in
the 2008 NFL draft if everything breaks right. The salary drive
continues after throwing for 430 yards and six touchdowns in the
four overtime loss to Tennessee, and a big bowl game could generate
the type of buzz JaMarcus Russell started to get after a great Sugar
Bowl performance in the win over Notre Dame. While he wasn't as
accurate over the course of the season as he was over 2006 and the
first four games of this year, going eight straight games without
throwing an interception, he was still fantastic completing 63% of
his throws for 3,351 yards and 36 touchdowns and just eight picks.
Florida State struggles to run the ball, but when it does, it'll
have to deal with the SEC's leading tackler, Wesley Woodyard,
who made 123 stops, with his 69 solo tackles seven more than the
total tacklers UK's second-leading hitter.
Even though he's under 220 pounds, the former strong safety is
extremely tough and never afraid to mix it up. While he wasn't
turned loose into the backfield all that often in the second half of
the year, he should be sent a little bit to generate a bit more
pressure on Weatherford.
Kentucky
will win if...
it gets up early and doesn't let
the Noles get any confidence. Attitude will be everything early on
for FSU as it mentally plays the us-against-the-world card early on.
If it gets any sort of a lead or gets any sort of early success,
that might might feed into any overconfidence UK might have. Even if
the Noles were at full strength this would've been a good matchup
for a UK defense that can't stop the run, has a nice secondary, and
an experienced, talented quarterback who doesn't make a lot of
mistakes. As long as UK is at least even in the turnover margin, if
Woodson outplays Weatherford, or at least plays him even, the Cats
will come away with another Music City Bowl win.
Florida State will win if... this gets into a slugfest. The
depleted Florida State defense will still be solid, and as long as
this doesn't get into a track meet of any kind, the offense should
be able to keep pace. That's not to say the Seminole offense will
try to control the game on the ground, it'll be throwing from the
word go, but it needs to own the clock, keep the chains moving, and
keep its defense off the field with an efficient short-to-midrange
passing game. FSU simply might not have the depth to handle a tiring
battle.
What will happen: Florida State will play hard early, but it
won't have the horses to keep up in the second half. The offense is
too inconsistent, and the defense too depleted, to win if Kentucky's
head is in the game for a full sixty minutes. Andre Woodson will be
efficient, and while the UK defense will be average, it'll control
the game late with at least two key picks of Drew Weatherford to put
it away.
Line: Kentucky -4 ... CFN Prediction: Kentucky
30 ... Florida State 13
2007 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl History, Each Team's Best Bowl
Moments, & More
