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Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 10-12-2016, 06:19 PM:

At the halfway point of the season, let’s look at how the Kentucky defense has performed with regards to the level of competition provided by the opponent’s offense.

To do this, we subtracted the yards gained by the opponent against Kentucky from that team’s total yards for the year, then divided by the number of other opponents. Then we compared that average against the number of yards it gained on Kentucky.

Interestingly enough, four of the six teams the Cats have played to this point gained less yardage against Kentucky than their average against other opponents. And remember, UK’s defense is currently ranked 95th nationally in yards allowed per game at 437.0.

Here’s a game-by-game breakdown.

Southern Miss: Shannon Dawson, Kentucky’s offensive coordinator just a season ago, has been rocking and rolling as the Golden Eagles’ new play-caller. Southern Miss (4-2) is seventh in the nation in total offense, averaging 532.2 yards per game.

Dawson’s offense gained 520 yards in the 44-35 season-opening win over Kentucky in which the visitors stormed back from a 25-point first-half deficit. If you take out the UK game, however, USM is averaging 534 yards per game. So the Kentucky defense actually held the Golden Eagles 14 yards under their average.

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