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Tennessee vs. Kentucky: Three Keys for Each Team

By Caleb Calhoun

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Oct 3, 2015; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Patrick Towles (14) runs the ball during the game against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels at Commonwealth Stadium. Kentucky defeated Eastern Kentucky 34-27 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

1B. Kentucky: Use Patrick Towles’s Mobility

The biggest reason the Vols have enjoyed a strong pass rush in each of their last two games is because they went up against Greyson Lambert of the Georgia Bulldogs and Jake Coker of the Alabama Crimson Tide: two statues in the pocket.

This week, they go up against a quarterback who can destroy you from the pocket but also has a bit of Aaron Rodgers’s mobility. Tennessee’s pass rush is not as great at that. Just ask Baker Mayfield and Will Grier in the fourth quarter.

If Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats are going to keep this close, they need Towles’s head to be in the game the whole time and for him to use his mobility to avoid the inevitable pressure that is going to come his way.

Doing that will buy him time and he could possibly have another 300-plus yard game, maybe even pick up a lot of rushing yards, something Tennessee has been terrible at defending all season.

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    • Towles is good enough to evade pressure, and keep plays alive. And Tennessee’s secondary has shown that the longer opposing quarterbacks stay up in the pocket, the more likely they are to be torched for big plays. Again, Mayfield and Grier showed that.

    So to have any chance of winning on Saturday, Towles has got to be mobile and deal with the pressure that comes his way. He has shown himself to be good enough to do that. He will have to show it more than ever this weekend.

    Next: Tennessee Key #2: Use Joshua Dobbs As Much As Possible

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