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Tennessee football at Kentucky: 10 keys to the game for Vols and Wildcats

By Caleb Calhoun

Oct 3, 2020; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; A general view before the game between Kentucky and Ole Miss at Kroger Field. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 3, 2020; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; A general view before the game between Kentucky and Ole Miss at Kroger Field. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 31, 2020; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; A general view of the stadium at Kroger Field prior to the game between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Georgia Bulldogs. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 31, 2020; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; A general view of the stadium at Kroger Field prior to the game between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Georgia Bulldogs. Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports /

9. How will the temperature affect Josh Heupel’s offense?

Given the fact that he spent the past three years with the UCF Knights, Josh Heupel has never really been tested in cold weather. The high Saturday in Lexington is 57 degrees, but it is set to be below 50 degrees when they kickoff that night. Only a few times did he deal with weather this cold, and it never happened in 2020.

In 2019, his offense had three turnovers at the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in a 34-31 loss as the temperature got down to 30 degrees. It only scored 26 and 28 respectively when temperatures maxed out at 52 and 50 degrees respectively when he was offensive coordinator of the Missouri Tigers in 2016 and they visited the Vanderbilt Commodores and Arkansas Razorbacks.

There’s one game where poor weather didn’t affect him that we know of. It ironically came in 2017 against Tennessee football. The high in Columbia, Mo. when the two faced off that year was 50 degrees, and that was a night game, where it got down to 32 degrees.

Mizzou gained 659 yards in a 50-17 win that day. Butch Jones was fired the next day. What does this all mean for Saturday, though? That was one game against a reeling program. Kentucky’s defense is much better than UT’s was. As a result, the impact the weather has will be a big deal.

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