Three things I’ll be watching when Kentucky football plays South Carolina on Saturday

Three things I’ll be looking for when Kentucky plays South Carolina at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Kroger Field. The SEC Network has the television coverage.

1. Can Kentucky run the football?

Whether quarterback Will Levis plays or not — I believe he will play — Kentucky needs to improve its running game to optimize Rich Scangarello’s offense.

Through five games, Kentucky is 124th in rushing offense. Its team rushing game high so far this season is 108 yards last week against Ole Miss. Its average-yards-per rush is as follows: 1.92 vs. Miami (Ohio); 1.84 at Florida; 2.86 vs. Youngstown State; 2.94 vs. Northern Illinois and 2.92 last week at Ole Miss. Overall, Kentucky is averaging 2.52 yards per rush, which is 129th out of 131 FBS teams.

To be fair, those numbers are skewed somewhat by the number of sacks UK has allowed. In college football, unlike the NFL, sack yardage is included in team rushing yardage. And Kentucky is tied for 127th out of the 131 in sacks allowed per game at 3.8.

If you remove the sack yardage, Kentucky has rushed 153 times for 557 yards, an average of 3.64 yards per carry. Sans sacks, UK averaged 5.28 yards per carry last season.

The good news is Chris Rodriguez returned to the Cats’ backfield last week. Rodriguez rushed for 1,379 yards last season before being suspended for the first four games this season. In his 2022 debut, he rushed for 72 yards on 19 carries last Saturday against Ole Miss. He clearly wore down. After rushing nine times for 45 yards (5.0 per attempt) in the first half, Rodriguez was held to 27 yards on 10 carries (2.7 per attempt) in the second half.

The senior has enjoyed success against South Carolina. He rushed for 144 yards in 26 carries last year in Columbia. In 2020, he rushed for 139 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries against the Gamecocks at Kroger Field. The Cats would love to see that kind of production Saturday night.

2. Can Kentucky’s defense recapture its third-down success?

In UK’s first three games, opponents were able to convert only seven of 40 third downs against the Kentucky defense for 17.5 percent. In the last two games, however, opponents have converted 13 of 29 third downs for 44.8 percent.

Last Saturday, defensive coordinator Brad White was particularly upset that Ole Miss was able to convert third-and-long situations. The Rebels were successful on a third-and-11 from their own 20 on their second touchdown drive. They converted two third-and-8s on a field goal drive in the second quarter. They converted a third-and-7 on a field goal drive in the third quarter. They hit on a third-and-15 on their first possession of the fourth quarter.

“Small execution errors,” White said on Tuesday of what he saw on film. “Kind of uncharacteristic of what we’ve been able to do. One, there was a communication issue from the sideline, being able to get the call in. Those are things that we’ve got to, as a coaching staff, we’ve got to continue to do better at. As players in those moments, understanding football IQ. What I’m trying to get done with certain calls, they have to be aware of some things that we’ve talked about all week.”

White said that times, against a fast-tempo team like Ole Miss, players forget where they are on the field and what the opponent likes to do “in certain target areas. We had a letdown last week in that regard and we’ve got to get that fixed this week.”

South Carolina’s offense is tied for 85th nationally in third down conversions at 36.36 percent.

3. How good is Spencer Rattler?

Before the 2021 season, Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler was considered the top quarterback prospect for the 2022 NFL Draft, if not the No. 1 pick overall. By season’s end, he had lost his starting job to Caleb Williams and decided to transfer to South Carolina.

Reunited with South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer, a former Oklahoma assistant, Rattler has completed 98 of 151 passes (64.9 percent) for 1,121 yards and four touchdowns with seven interceptions. He ranks 95th nationally in pass efficiency with a rating of 126.67. UK’s Levis ninth nationally at 174.92.

“I think his numbers don’t necessarily bear out how well he’s played,” The State’s Ben Portnoy said on my podcast. “He had a really good game at Arkansas, went for (377) yards, his career-high at South Carolina in five games, albeit a really small sample size. He’s looked a lot better the last two weeks. I think some of that has been a product of who South Carolina has played.”

In blowout wins over Charlotte (56-20) and South Carolina State (50-10), Rattler completed 38 of 50 passes (76 percent) for 399 yards and two interceptions. Those two interceptions, both against South Carolina State, were not his fault, Portnoy said. The ball went through the receiver’s hands.

“It probably looks like a middle of the road start to his first five games than you would expect or hope if you’re South Carolina, but I think he’s played well,” Portnoy said. “He’s definitely shown those flashes of those ‘Holy Cow’ throws that we all got used to seeing at Oklahoma.”

Kentucky linebackers coach Mike Stoops saw those flashes when he was on the Oklahoma staff while the Sooners were recruiting Rattler. He’s seen them on his tape study of the Gamecocks.

“He’s got a very live arm,” Stoops said Wednesday. “He’s athletic, can move, can throw on the run. He sees the field well. He can make all the throws.”

Can he make them against Kentucky’s defense, we shall see.

Grid grab bag

▪ UK was obviously hurt by the injury to Jeremy Flax on the final drive last Saturday. His sub at right offensive tackle allowed the strip of Levis and fumble recovery that sealed the win for Ole Miss. Flax is questionable for Saturday night.

▪ UK wide receiver Dane Key is No. 13 in ESPN’s ranking of the top 25 true freshmen in college football so far. Through five games, Key has made 18 catches for 269 yards and three touchdowns, including that 55-yard scoring grab in the 26-16 win at Florida.

▪ Saturday, the Offensive Line Room at Troy will be renamed in honor of the late John Schlarman. The former UK offensive lineman and offensive line coach, who passed away in 2020, coached the offensive line at Tory under Neal Brown. First-year Troy head coach Jon Sumrall coached with Schlarman at Kentucky. Troy (3-2) plays host to Southern Miss.

▪ Off to a 2-3 start, Brown and West Virginia welcome Baylor to Morgantown on Saturday. One problem, the former Kentucky OC will be without start freshman running back CJ Donaldson, who is out after suffering a concussion in last weeks’ 38-20 loss at Texas.

▪ Texas A&M at Alabama on Saturday night has received more attention, for obvious reasons, but the SEC game of the day is Tennessee at LSU. It’s a noon start on ESPN. Tennessee is ranked eighth; LSU 25th. Vols quarterback Hendon Hooker has completed 70 percent of his passes. He’s thrown for eight scores without an interception, bringing his numbers to 39 and three for his time in Knoxville.

▪ SEC picks: I like Tennessee over LSU; Arkansas over Mississippi State; Florida over Missouri; Georgia over Auburn; Ole Miss over Vanderbilt; Alabama over Texas A&M and Kentucky over South Carolina (with or without Levis).

▪ Lots of speculation this week that if Louisville loses at Virginia on Saturday (noon on the ACC Network), Scott Satterfield would be fired as U of L coach. But WDRB’s Eric Crawford reports, “After some conversations with sources, I feel confident in saying that Scott Satterfield’s future at Louisville is not contingent on the result of Saturday’s game at Virginia, and that the school appears to have no plans to make a move this weekend or during the off week.”

▪ On the NFL side, former UK wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson continues to be on the sidelines with a knee injury for the New York Giants. Robinson has already been ruled out of playing Sunday when the Giants take on Green Bay in London.

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