The #7 Kentucky Wildcats take to the road to battle the #14 Ole Miss Rebels in an SEC showdown on Saturday. Kentucky comes into the game at 4-0 overall and 1-0 in conference play. Ole Miss is also 4-0 on the season but this will be their first conference game on the season. The opening kick is scheduled for 12:00pm EST.
College football, the NFL and baseball pennant races, oh my! Check out my premium picks as the sports season heats up. My Best Bet of the week is available for only $49.99 (normally $100) if you use this link. Don't miss out as this comes with profit guarantee. Win or get the money back in credit!
Kentucky has forever been a basketball school and that is unlikely to change anytime soon but over the past few seasons, head coach Mark Stoops and his Wildcats team have put football back on the map. On Saturday, the Wildcats took down a tougher-than-expected NIU squad in a 31-23 home win that improved the Wildcats to 4-0 heading into this Saturday's showdown in Mississippi.
“You know, obviously not the finish that we were looking for. I think that kind of puts a bad taste in everybody’s mouth who was sitting there. We’re up 17 with eight minutes to go in the game and you’re feeling pretty decent, and I think at that point in time we punted. And, obviously, they hit the big, explosive play on the first down well, after the three. They come back and get the explosive play when we were up 14 and we knew the absolute exact play that was coming. And, if I’m not mistaken, the corner and one of our defenders ran into each other and created the explosive, which is not good in that situation. You got to make them work for their yards. I thought the — you know, the beginning of the game was sluggish for us, letting them drive down and score. Offensively, came out — again, just didn’t do much early in the first half. And, just overall, just a sluggish game. Good to get it behind us.” Stoops said in his post-game press conference.
Senior quarterback Will Levis was the story with four touchdown passes on the night on 18-of-26 completions for 303 yards. Two Kentucky wide receivers had big nights as Tayvion Robinson had seven grabs for 147 yards and two touchdowns while freshman Barion Brown had four catches for 102 yards and two touchdowns himself. Running back Kavosiey Smoke rushed for 85 yards on 12 carries to supplement the passing attack. The Wildcats had 406 yards of total offense on the night.
Defensivel y, the Wildcats held the scrappy NIU team to 327 yards total yards and three scores. The Wildcats defense was relatively quiet on the evening, they were unable to generate any turnovers and the Wildcats failed to generate any sacks and only had one tackle for a loss in the game.
Nothing better ?? pic.twitter.com/ZY0VGtkBjK
— Kentucky Athletics (@UKAthletics) September 28, 2022
The undefeated Wildcats will face their second ranked team this season as they roll into Ole Miss. Here are some of the key numbers to digest so far this season for the Wildcats. Kentucky is 48th in scoring offense and 91st in total offense. Kentucky' rushing offense is ranked 113th while its passing offense is ranked a more solid 43rd in the country. On the defensive side of the ball, Kentucky's scoring defense is ranked 21st in the country and their total defense is ranked an impressive 17th. Against the run, the Wildcats are ranked 43rd while they are ranked 16th against the pass. Finally, Kentucky is ranked 55th in the country.