Kentucky and Ole Miss renew their rivalry on Saturday, with Ole Miss looking to start the SEC schedule strong and Kentucky looking to prove the preseason doubters wrong with a major upset. Here’s how the game shakes out.
2025 So Far:
Kentucky started the year off with a 24-16 win over the MAC powerhouse Toledo Rockets. This is a Toledo team that is favored by FPI to win 9 games. While you’d like to see a better showing at home against a MAC school, this is not a bad win at all. Toledo is a good team that competes year in and year out. There’s a reason only 1 Power 4 team scheduled them, unless you count Washington State.
Ole Miss started the season off against a well coached Georgia State team that they overwhelmed. This looks like a sharp offense and defense, but time will certainly tell. It is difficult to make any sort of decision on a team’s future based on week 1 games against Sun Belt teams, but this is a Lane Kiffin coached team. They should be ready.
Areas of Concern
Kentucky is going to primarily run the ball this year, but they simply are not good enough to win with an anemic QB. Again, it’s one game, but Calzada did not look sharp at all in week one. He will need to be much more efficient for UK to have a chance in this game.
Ole Miss needs Austin Simmons to take care of the football. He had two interceptions against Georgia State on Saturday. That may not hurt them this week, but with LSU, Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Florida on the Schedule, it will bite them eventually. Also, Ole Miss needs to defend the run better. 195 yards on the ground in week 1 is not a good sign. They have to clear that up or this game at Kroger field could get tricky.
Prediction
I think Kentucky will be able to run the football, but that defense will most likely be overwhelmed by an Ole Miss offense that has nearly 700 total yards through one game. Austin Simmons cleans it up, and Ole Miss breezes 45-17.
Eric White, Editor
College Football Digest 