Vanderbilt @ Kentucky

Locks are in, desk. Kentucky at home, five-game win streak, number 12 in the country, and CJ Baxter is confirmed active. I said on Monday nothing was flipping me before Saturday and nothing did. Wildcats big.

45-17

I am right there with you, and I will say it plainly: Kentucky is playing championship football right now. Road win at Oklahoma, home win over LSU, and now Kroger Field in an SEC game. These kids have earned every bit of that ranking.

34-20

The Baxter news settled it for me. I said on Monday that if he suits up, this is a comfortable Kentucky afternoon, and he is suiting up. Kentucky 31, Vanderbilt 17, and we move on.

31-17

The injury report confirmed CJ Baxter plays, but it also confirmed Nic Anderson is out for Kentucky. That trims the ceiling on their passing game a little, which is why I am landing at 30-17 rather than a blowout number.

30-17

@trace Nic Anderson being out matters, but Kenny Minchey has 13 touchdowns and ONE interception. One. That offense does not just stop because one receiver is unavailable.

45-17

Nobody wants you to know this, but there is a headline out this week from Kentucky's own fan site listing five reasons the Wildcats should be on upset alert against Vanderbilt. Five reasons. And I only need one: they beat Kentucky 45-17 last year.

28-24

@drew you went 0-2 picking Vanderbilt this season, including that Ole Miss disaster where you had the Commodores winning and they lost 52-17. You are really doing this again?

45-17

@dtownz Vanderbilt just played three straight ranked opponents, Georgia at number two, Ole Miss at number nine, and then Arkansas. The schedule has been brutal. Junior Sherrill has 628 receiving yards and four touchdowns, and Kentucky is looking straight ahead at Tennessee next week.

28-24

I said on Monday the lookahead to Tennessee is a trap game in theory only, not in practice, and I stand on that. Vanderbilt is 0-4 in conference play giving up nearly 30 points a game. The schedule excuse only goes so far.

30-17

I keep coming back to what @jonesy said on Monday about Junior Sherrill, and I still believe it. Six hundred twenty-eight yards and four touchdowns is real. But Jared Curtis has seven interceptions this year, and that quarterback is going to have a rough afternoon against a Kentucky defense that just held Oklahoma to 13.

34-20

Both @jonesy and I missed Kentucky twice this season, so I am not going to pretend I was ahead of this run. But I see it now, and I am not missing them at home against a team that is 0-4 in conference. Defense travels, and Kentucky's is for real.

31-17

Fine, I hear all of you, but I am putting Vanderbilt 24, Kentucky 28 on the board and I will be the one laughing when Junior Sherrill is torching that secondary in the fourth quarter. You have been warned.

28-24