Kentucky Football: 3 keys to victory vs. South Carolina in Week 5

1. Pressure Ryan Hilinski

True freshman quarterback Ryan Hilinski, took over the starting job for the Gamecocks once starter Jake Bentley got injured.

Hilinski has started three games so far and has shown potential to be a solid quarterback for the Gamecocks. He looked great against FCS opponent Charleston Southern, made some good plays against Alabama and took some hits, and had a rough game this past weekend against Missouri.

While Kentucky will be trying to protect their quarterback, they will be trying to get after South Carolina’s. Hilinski has made some freshman mistakes the past two games and most of those have come when he has had pressure in his face. He has been sacked five times in the last two games while throwing three touchdowns and two interceptions.

In the last game against Missouri, the pressure affected his ability to be accurate as he was only 13-of-30 throwing the ball and ended up with 166 yards passing.

Kentucky’s defense has nine sacks through the first four games of the season and have forced five interceptions. Kentucky will look to add to both those totals this week and if they can get constant pressure on Hilinski the odds of them winning the game increase.

However, Hilinski will get better with each game and will get better against pressure as he develops so the Wildcats need to make sure to do their job on offense to win the game.