Mondays with Bobby, featuring Mitchell Henry

Finally, Western Kentucky kicks off the 2013 season Saturday against Kentucky at LP Field in Nashville. As is the habit each Friday (or day before the game), here are five things to watch for when the Tops take on the Cats.

1 — Petrino vs. Stoops: Is not enough being made of this significant part of the game? What we know is that Bobby Petrino (WKU) is 75-26 all-time, 8-0 in season openers and 4-1 against Kentucky. He’s known for offenses that unmercifully confuse the defense, and he’s known for getting the ball to his featured athletes in an up-tempo setting over and over and over again to make for excitin’, scoreboard-lightin’, out-of-sightin’ football games.

What we know about Mark Stoops (UK)… well, we don’t know much about him as a head coach. As a defensive coordinator, Stoops was one of the best. He also has family lineage that should indicate he’ll do a fine job as a head coach. The signs and arrows are pointing in a positive direction for Stoops – but what will his first outcome be?

Watch the coaching situations Saturday: Play calling, clock management, substitutions, personnel matchups, trick plays – the overall gameplan. Who will do it better?

2 — Quarterback play: At least the Kentucky football team has some idea of what it’s getting – even if they’re not sure who they’ll be getting it from. Both Jalen Whitlow and Max Smith have experience playing college football, much more experience than that of Western Kentucky junior Brandon Doughty.

Whitlow and Smith have had to learn Kentucky offensive coordinator Neal Brown’s new Air Raid attack. The two of them could play exceptionally well. One of the two could prosper, while one of them could fall back. Both could fail miserably.

The Hilltoppers will ride with one quarterback – Doughty (although don’t throw away the notion DaMarcus Smith could play, too). Doughty missed the majority of 2011 with a torn ACL and was an afterthought in 2012 behind Kawaun Jakes and backup James Mauro.

He’s had to learn Petrino’s new offense, a little more complex and a little more multiple than Willie Taggart’s West Coast system. He has looked very strong in spring and fall camp. He hasn’t done it in real time.

When the dust has cleared Saturday, look at which quarterback(s) played the best for their respective team.

3 — The WKU secondary vs. the UK Air Raid: If Kentucky’s offense truly wants to throw the ball all around Nashville, they’ll have to do it against a Hilltoppers’ secondary which is very, very good.

Yes, Kentucky threw for 332 yards against WKU in 2012 (on 61 attempts, 5.4 yards per pass) – but also threw four interceptions. The WKU secondary is a year older, faster and stronger and did finish the 2012 season ranked 34th in the nation against the pass.

Kentucky did not draw a good team to try its new Air Raid offense out on – but if the Tops don’t tackle well and allow UK to get into some sort of rhythm, that could make all the difference.

4 —The UK offensive line vs. the WKU front four: The Hilltoppers up front for WKU may be good. In time. Saturday, four young men will start for the Western Kentucky defensive line who have never done so before. One, Bar’ee Boyd, is a former linebacker. The other three are sophomores or younger. Their first test? A Southeastern Conference offensive line.

The Cats’ offensive front is underrated in my book. Not the best in the SEC, but a formidable unit nonetheless. Can Western Kentucky get around them to rush the passer? Can they wreak enough havoc to stuff the run? Will WKU defensive coordinator Nick Holt have a plan to mask this deficiency with an array of blitzes?

Watch for Kentucky to try to expose WKU’s defense at their weakest point.

5 — Special teams: Have we forgotten about this? With all the talk of the coaches and the quarterbacks and the trash talk – what about that oft-forgotten third part of the game? In what I think will be a close game, a special teams play could make all the difference.

Andrews will be a major factor in the return game for WKU and senior punter Hendrix Brakefield is always good. Meanwhile, the Cats have three freshmen at kicker while Petrino hasn’t decided yet on whether to stick with sophomore walk-on Garrett Schwettman or freshman Joseph Occhipinti for field goals.

Watch to see which team makes the most of its rare special teams opportunities.

Filed under: Football, Talkin’ bout the Tops