Not only are Kentucky at home, but Tennessee is 0-3 on the road this year and this is the first time they are favorites. They have some major injuries that are a cause of concern for their great defense. They are extremely thin and it's going to hurt them in this game. You have already seen the line which opened at +3.5 come down in many places and in some places it moved to 2.5 today.
I think Kentucky has faced an equally challenging schedule, and in fact they have faced an average defense ranked 41st while TN has faced 46th. Kentucky has a similar rushing attack to Mississippi and maybe even better now that Derrick Locke is 100% healthy. They add WR Randall Cobb int he wild cat and that could spell issues with TN which had all kinds of problems with McCluster out of the wild cat. TN seems to have issues stopping runners that are small and quick, and while Locke fits the bill he's not exactly McCluster yet. I can see Kentucky pounding the ball all day long and dominating the time of possession something TN has got to be afraid of because if they don't get up and they are forced to throw it could get ugly. Even though Crompton has had an excellent season Kentucky has possibly the best shut down CB Trevard Lindley finally getting healthy and helping the defense force turnovers which they did a lot of against Georgia.
Derrick Locke also leads the SEC with a 30.5 kickoff return average and is a threat to bring it back every time and should give Kentucky good field position all day long. With that said Kentucky has lost to TN 24 straight times and it's something they are not taking lightly. Both teams are in a bowl game and Kentucky with a win could move to 8-4 and go to an even bigger bowl game which is the goal here. I look for DT Corey Peters to plug the middle and stop Montario Hardesty early giving Kentucky the advantage by getting an early lead.
