Tennessee football: Vols, SEC and top 25 predictions for Week 1 of 2019
Toledo Rockets at Kentucky Wildcats
TV: SEC Network; Line: Kentucky -12.5; Over/Under: 58.5
Saturday, Aug. 31 at 12 p.m.; Kroger Field; Lexington, Ky.
Nobody knows what to make of the Kentucky Wildcats. In fact, Tennessee football’s game down there is a hard game to project this year. On paper, they should be significantly worse from their 10-3 record last year. After all, they still lost to the Vols by 17 in 2018, and they lose their entire defense and their top offensive player, running back Benny Snell Jr.
This is why the line for them facing the Toledo Rockets is barely over 12. It’s also why they enter this year outside of the top 25. However, Mark Stoops has had rebuilding teams before at UK, and those teams did better than his previous teams.
Meanwhile, Toledo returns a ton of offensive talent entering Jason Candle’s fourth full season on the job as head coach. This is why there are expectations for UK to struggle a bit. Coming off a rebuilding year, Candle is expected to take Toledo to another level while the Wildcats stumble a bit to open the year.
Prediction
Despite Toledo being on the rise and Kentucky falling, the Wildcats still have enough to win this game. Stoops is a defensive wizard, and the Rockets will be a bit out of rhythm returning guys from injury. However, it will still be ugly. So take Kentucky to win and cover, but take the under.