Tenn.-Martin Skyhawks at Kentucky Wildcats: Open Game Thread

Today, Kentucky takes on the UT-Martin Skyhawks in their season opener. I am sorry to be absent this weekend on a golf thing, but Keith and James will be ably filling in. First, let’s look at the game particulars:

When: Sat., Aug. 30 - 12:00 p.m. ET
Where: Commonwealth Stadium,Lexington, Ky.

UT Martin is an FCS school, and even when we have been at our worst over the last two seasons, we’ve never been in jeopardy of losing to the formerly Division II squads. Let’s just hope this one isn’t going to make history. Given that the Skyhawks were 7-5 last season, I don’t expect any surprises.

What we all want to see:

• Just how good is this running game going to be?

• Can the line actually block? They were bad last season, but they should be better, and deeper, this year.

• How will Patrick Towles do throwing? Can his receivers get open and catch it?

• Will the linebacker spot be a weakness this season, or will somebody step up?

• The secondary has been abused the last two seasons, but returns mostly intact. Can they finally reach SEC level?

• Matt Elam. Because we want to see that man-mountain play.

• Will Neal Brown’s up-tempo offense be able to break last year’s tradition of not actually playing up tempo?

This should be a good, fun contest. What we usually learn in games like this is the bad stuff more than the good, unfortunately, but weaknesses need to be identified just as much as strengths.

Go, ‘Cats!