Terry Wilson

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- It’s difficult to imagine a path to a winning season for the Kentucky football team over a 10-game season without victories the next two Saturdays. After playing Ole Miss Saturday and Mississippi State Oct. 10, the Wildcats (0-1) will be 40% finished with their home schedule and still facing trips to Tennessee, Florida and Alabama as well as a game with Georgia in Lexington.

Both games will be tests for Mark Stoops’ defense because the Rebels and Bulldogs each generated more than 600 yards of offense in their opening games.

Although Mississippi State earned most of the national publicity because of their upset of defending national champion Louisiana State, Ole Miss went overlooked.

Why would I say overlooked?

Ole Miss put 35 points on Florida, and according to the Phil Steele preseason yearbook, the Gators were projected to have the No. 11 defensive line, the No. 4 group of linebackers and the No. 12 secondary in the nation. Steele rated those units second, third and third in the SEC.

This game will not be a layup for Kentucky.

1. Time: 4 p.m.; Kroger Field, Lexington, Ky.

2. Where to Watch: TV — SEC Network (Taylor Zarzour; Matt Stinchcomb; Taylor McGregor); Radio — Kentucky Sports Network; 840 WHAS (Tom Leach; Jeff Piecoro; Dick Gabriel).

3. The Line: Point Spread: Kentucky by 6; Over/under total points scored: 62.

4. The Last Time: Rebels won, 37-34, in Lexington in 2017. Ole Miss leads the series, 27-14-1 but UK leads 11-10-1 in games played in Lexington.

5. The Records: Ole Miss lost its season opener to Florida, 51-35, in Oxford last Saturday. Kentucky was defeated at Auburn, 29-13. The Rebels were 4-8 last season while Kentucky finished 8-5.

6. The Player to Watch (Ole Miss): Elijah Moore, receiver.

All Moore did against Florida was catch 10 passes for 227 yards. He was a favorite target of quarterback Matt Corral with six first-down catches. Moore’s longest reception was 57 yards, one of four passes that he took 25 yards or more.

At 5 feet 9 inches tall, Moore plays in the slot. His 227 yards were an Ole Miss school record in an SEC game. A four-star recruit from Saint Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Moore de-committed from Georgia. He also had offers from Oregon, Utah, Michigan, UCLA, Wisconsin and other programs.

Moore made 36 receptions as a freshman in 2018 and 67 last season while scoring six touchdowns.

ProFootballFocus rated his performance the second-best in the nation, behind only Jaquail Roberson of Wake Forest.

7. The Player to Watch (UK): Terry Wilson, quarterback.

Stoops was not overjoyed with Wilson’s performance at Ole Miss because of an interception and a fumble — and neither were the folks who grade film at ProFootballFocus.

Wilson earned a 48.8 (of 100) offensive grade, which ranked 68th among 73 graded quarterbacks.

Wilson was solid on first down (9 of 13), better on second down (10 of 13) and fair on third down (5 of 10).

The Wildcats need work on their vertical passing game. Kentucky averaged 6.3 yards per attempt, which ranked 11th in the SEC. Ole Miss, by comparison, averaged 13.4 per attempt, while Florida averaged 9.9 yards per attempts against the Rebels.

8. Sideline Storylines: It’s risky calling any game a Must Win. But a coach (Stoops) in his eighth season who has stacked several solid recruiting classes playing at home against a first-year coach (Lane Kiffin) beginning a rebuilding job should not lose games like this one.

Ole Miss, for the record, is an add-on to the Kentucky schedule. The teams were not scheduled to play until the SEC office reworked the schedule and added two conference games because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

In addition to improved play by Wilson, Kentucky also needs more production from it running game. The Wildcats averaged 3.6 yards per rushing attempt against Auburn. Only three of 40 rushes went for more than 10 yards, none in the second half.

ProFootballFocus said this about the performance of UK’s offensive line:

“The Kentucky offensive line’s debut against Auburn wasn’t as strong from a run-blocking standpoint as what we saw from them on a routine basis in 2019, but the Wildcats were still pretty strong overall. They ranked fifth in the SEC in team run-block grade and ranked first in pass-block grade.”

Right tackle Darian Kinnard earned the best grade from PFF.

9. The Quote: Stoops, discussing the mercurial Kiffin:

“I don’t know him personally too well, but as a play caller and a coach he’s very good, very talented. He grew up around the game with his father, Monte, being a coach, his whole life being around it. Lane’s been around it and is very talented. And different, you can see Lane adapting and changing. He’s a different coordinator now and they are a little bit different style, than the last time we crossed paths. But definitely puts a lot of stress on you.”

10. Social Media:

11. The picks:

Eric Crawford UK 35-31; Annice McEwan UK 24-21; Tom Lane UK 28-24; John Lewis UK 33-23; Aaron Matas UK 31-24; Rick Bozich UK 31-21.

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