Arkansas-Texas A&M Highlights Week 5 Vegas SEC Predictions
Saturday Blitz Vegas SEC Predictions Week 5
Vanderbilt Commodores at Kentucky Wildcats
Line: Kentucky by 17
All of a sudden, Derek Mason’s first team at Vanderbilt may be gaining a little more respect than we initially gave it. Keeping the quarterback competition open has turned the offense into a decent unit, surprisingly, and after rallying against UMASS and hanging tough with South Carolina, this is a very different team than the one that lost to Temple to start the season. Now, they have to pay a visit to the much more talented Kentucky Wildcats, a team that could easily be 3-0 under second-year head coach Mark Stoops after an overtime loss to Florida. If Vanderbilt wants to win this game, the quarterback play has to keep showing improvement, whomever is the starter, and the defense can’t be torched by the Wildcats passing game the way it was by South Carolina.
Kentucky, meanwhile, is looking at a 6 or 7-win season, but to do that they have to beat Vanderbilt on Saturday. They need to be able to throw the ball a lot against a defense still struggling with Mason’s new scheme, the ever-dreaded 3-4 switch. That has created lots of problems for the Commodores secondary, so even if the Wildcats have trouble stopping them, they should be able to throw it all over the field. If they can do that, the defense won’t even need to step up too much, but it will turn into a blowout if the unit does. Essentially, the Wildcats don’t need to deviate from what got them to 2-1 and what should be a 3-0 record.
Prediction
Kentucky will come out passing early and build up a big lead over Vanderbilt. The Commodores will rally with some good offensive play themselves, but it won’t be enough to keep up. Stoops’s team will pull out the win pretty easily.
Kentucky: 42 Vanderbilt: 24