Alabama football vs. Kentucky predictions: Can 2023 Wildcats redefine season’s legacy?
It’s almost football time in the Bluegrass! Here are some final thoughts and predictions about how Kentucky’s game against Alabama might play out at Kroger Field on Saturday.
A second chance
The current Wildcats can do nothing about Kentucky’s woeful history against Alabama, but they can at least make an effort to change the perception of their own performance against an elite team.
A week of hype before UK’s October game at Georgia led to an embarrassing 51-13 loss. That blowout was particularly frustrating due to a series of early self-inflicted mistakes and careless penalties.
“Alabama with the big name, after the big loss to Georgia, we’re coming in still trying to fix our legacy for this year,” sophomore Deone Walker said this week.
Walker in particular has a chance to erase the bad taste of the Georgia loss. He is considered one of UK’s most talented players and perhaps its best NFL draft prospect, but he contributed to the Georgia game getting out of control early with a careless personal foul penalty after a play had been blown dead that negated what would have been Kentucky’s first defensive stop of the game.
“He’s that guy they want to know where 0 is,” defensive line coach Anwar Stewart said. “I told him, every day you go out, you have got to put it on film. You’ve got to practice like it, you’ve got to do it. That’s where the eliteness comes from. Not just going through the motions. He’s been doing that.
“Like we talked about the Georgia game, he gets an opportunity now to rewrite it. He knows that. We talked about it a little bit, and he’s excited about the challenge.”
Senior day spotlight
As normal with the final home game, Kentucky will recognize its seniors before kickoff Saturday, but as has been the case since the NCAA granted all players in 2020 an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, participating in senior day does not necessarily mean goodbye.
Of the 19 Wildcats scheduled to be recognized, only six scholarship players are actually playing in their final season of eligibility. Even from that group, left tackle Marques Cox might be able to return for another year if he applies for a medical waiver after missing all but four games last season due to injury. Five players who participated in senior day last year but decided to return to school are not planning to go through the ceremony again this weekend.
Eight scholarship players are planning to participate in senior day despite having eligibility remaining after this season: offensive lineman Eli Cox, tight end Izayah Cummings, running back Ray Davis, linebacker Luke Fulton, safety Jalen Geiger, linebacker D’Eryk Jackson, running back JuTahn McClain and cornerback Andru Phillips. At least a few of those players will probably return next season, but others might elect to use their remaining eligibility elsewhere as graduate transfers.
Of that group, Davis is the only likely NFL draft pick. It is too early to assume any of them are definitely gone or definitely returning. It is worth noting that five players UK lists as seniors on the roster are not participating in senior day, increasing the chances of a return: linebacker Daveren Rayner, kicker Alex Raynor, nose guard Josaih Hayes, offensive guard Tanner Bowles and safety Zion Childress.
Kentucky football injury report
The big injury news for the Wildcats this week is that quarterback Devin Leary is on track to play against Alabama after missing the fourth quarter of the Mississippi State win after experiencing vision issues following a hard hit.
“He’s fully available and will be ready to rock,” offensive coordinator Liam Coen said Tuesday.
Safety Jordan Lovett dressed out for the Mississippi State game but did not play for the second consecutive week. Defensive lineman Octavious Oxendine was also limited in Starkville but is listed as playing. Phillips and McClain both picked up injuries in Starkville, so their status is worth watching in warm-ups.
PREDICTIONS
Alabama 35, Kentucky 14
It would not be a shock to see this play out like many recent Kentucky-Georgia games where the score was closer than the actual play on the field, but 10 games into a season it’s impossible to expect Kentucky to suddenly find the type of complete performance that will be needed to ruin Alabama’s playoff hopes. Kentucky’s best hope is that Alabama has a hangover after back-to-back ranked games against Tennessee and LSU.
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The way Alabama’s quarterback is playing now makes it difficult to remember he briefly lost his starting job earlier in the season. His ability to make plays with his arm or his legs is likely to cause trouble for Kentucky. “He’s playing at a really, really high level right now,” defensive coordinator Brad White said.
THE LAST WORD
White on limiting explosive plays:
“You try to not let them over top of you, but they’ve got a lot of talented athletes with a lot of speed, a quarterback with a big time arm that can extend with his legs and really create some of those off-schedule plays too that allow guys to get vertical and get down and create some space. You want the honest answer? Sometimes you just hold your breath when the ball is in the air. You just hope it’s not a perfect ball. Sometimes you win them, and sometimes you don’t. The great teams are able to make some of those. The big thing is to have a short memory if they make some and play the next down.”
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