LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- This is a great week to play Vanderbilt. Why? For the last week, everybody in Nashville has been telling the Commodores how great they are for beating top-ranked Alabama, pulling their attention away from Kentucky.
This is a terrible week to play Vanderbilt because the Alabama win was not a fluke. The Commodores actually outplayed the No. 1 team in the nation, rolling to 40 points, two weeks after Vandy nearly upset another top-10 team (Missouri) on the road. Vandy is not the bottom feeder of the Southeastern Conference this season.
Tune in Saturday night for the answer.
A Kentucky team returning from an off week after the Wildcats' victory at Ole Miss can extend its winning streak to three with winnable games against Florida and Auburn ahead.
A look at game six for Kentucky:
The Time: Saturday, 7:45 p.m., Kroger Field (61,000), Lexington.
How to Watch/Listen: TV — SEC Network (Tom Hart, play by play; Jordan Rodgers, analyst; Cole Cubelic, sidelines). RADIO — UK Sports Network (Tom Leach, play by play; Jeff Piecoro, analyst; Dick Gabriel, sidelines).
The Line: Point Spread — Kentucky by 13 1/2 points; Over/under total points scored 44.5.
The Last Time: The Wildcats won, 45-28, in Nashville last Sept. 23.
The Series: Kentucky leads, 49-43, while winning 7 of the last 8, although Vandy upset UK, 24-21, in Lexington in 2022.
The Records: Both squads are 3-2. In addition to the win over Alabama, the Commodores handled Virginia Tech and Alcorn State, while losing to Missouri (in overtime) and Georgia State (on the road). Kentucky has wins over Ole Miss, Southern Miss and Ohio University with losses to South Carolina and Georgia.
Player to Watch for Vanderbilt: Quarterback Diego Pavia earned national player of the week awards for directing the win over Alabama. He completed 16 of 20 passes while also running 20 times for 56 yards. In five games, Pavia has thrown 105 passes with eight touchdowns and no interceptions.
Player to Watch for Kentucky: Quarterback Brock Vandagriff still needs to crank up the Wildcats' passing attack. UK ranks 17th in the SEC (ahead of Oklahoma) in passing yards per game at 170.4 and ranks last in the league in touchdown passes with four.
Sideline Storylines:
- Vandy's offense tilts toward two rushing attempts for every pass, which helps to explain how the Commodores possessed the ball for 42 minutes and 8 seconds in the upset over Alabama. Clark Lea has tried to deliver on his pledge to build the Vandy program on toughness.
- Vanderbilt has returned a pair of interceptions for touchdowns this season.
- Vanderbilt has 51 new players, including 31 from the transfer portal. The roster features only one player from Kentucky: kicker Mason Rohmiller from Fort Mitchell. Vandy does have five international players, including a pair from Germany and one from England.
- Kentucky's victory over No. 6 Ole Miss two weeks ago was the highest-ranked team the Wildcats have defeated in Mark Stoops' 12 seasons as the UK coach.
- Dane Key has emerged as Vandagriff's top receiving target, catching 15 passes for 250 yards in the Wildcats' last two games.
- Linebacker D'Eryk Jackson is on track to lead the Wildcats in tackles for the third consecutive season. Jackson has 26 tackles and has broken up three passes. The last UK player to lead the team in tackles over three consecutive seasons was Wesley Woodyard from 2005-07.
The Quote: Lea on the challenge of putting the Alabama win in the rear-view mirror and focusing on Kentucky this week:
"What I told them is, 'We're going to be respectful to the people that want to celebrate with us and are proud of us and happy for us, but we're letting the lingering conversation around the game go in one ear and out the other.'
"We have to be singularly focused, and we all know. I'm not telling you guys anything y'all don't know. If you're not focused week-in, week-out, you leave it to chance.
“What we learned from Saturday is that when we put our strategy together and play a clean game, we have the ability to compete with anyone. What we've also put on display this year is when we don't do those things, that we can get beat by anybody.
"There's more than enough on Kentucky's film to know that this is a really talented group, and we gotta be super focused."
The Pick: Kentucky 28, Vanderbilt 13.
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