South Alabama offense oreview: Kentucky must stop run on Saturday
· Yahoo Sports
After a massive upset win on the road at Texas A&M, the Kentucky Wildcats will face off against South Alabama on Saturday. South Alabama is led by head coach Major Applewhite, who has the Jaguars at 2-1 on the season. The Jaguars are led by their offense, they stick to establishing the run. Kentucky's defense will need to overwhelm the South Alabama offensive line to slow down this run game.
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It is worth noting that South Alabama could be without their starting quarterback, Bishop Davenport, who was unavailable due to injury in their week three win against Ohio. Jared Hollins stepped in and had a solid performance, completing 13-of-20 pass attempts for 192 yards and a touchdown. However, this South Alabama team leans on their running game to move the football. The Jaguars are averaging almost 50 rush attempts per game.
South Alabama has three upperclassmen at running back that all get involved in the game plan. Keenan Phillips has 226 rushing yards on 43 carries. PJ Martin has 54 carries on the season for 222 rushing yards. And Trae'von Dunbar also contributes with 23 carries for 127 rushing yards on the year.
The Jaguars have faced Southeast Louisiana, Tulane and Ohio to start the season, so this is a big jump in competition. Kentucky is allowing just 133 rushing yards per game this season, and they have been pretty stout against the traditional run game. This is a matchup where the Kentucky defensive line should overwhelm the Jaguars offensive line to slow down this rushing attack. If they can do that, South Alabama will really struggle to move the football in this game.
The Jaguars have been efficient in the passing game despite being a run first outfit. They are averaging 214 pass yards per game on just 26 pass attempts per game. They have an impressive 0.53 EPA/pass, but this Kentucky defense has talent they have yet to face in 2026. Kentucky is top 25 in EPA/pass allowed against two ranked opponents in their three matchups.
The key is to keep South Alabama off schedule and dominate the early downs to put them in third and long situations. South Alabama has been impressive on early downs this season, as they rank in the top 25 among Early Downs EPA/play. However, this has been the strength of Kentucky's defense. The Wildcats -0.16 Early Downs EPA/play ranks 16th among FBS teams.
Kentucky needs to show off their SEC talent and control the line of scrimmage. If they can continue to win on early downs, it has hard to imagine the Jaguars finding success offensively. Kentucky's defensive line have created a ton of havoc plays in the first three weeks of the season, and that should be no different in this game. This is a great opportunity for Kentucky to test some of their depth and rotate players more frequently on the defensive side of the football.
This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: South Alabama offense oreview: Kentucky must stop run on Saturday