Eastern Michigan Eagles at Kentucky Wildcats
TV: SEC Network; Line: Kentucky -15.5; Over/Under: 53.5
Saturday, Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m. E.T.; Kroger Field; Lexington, Ky.
Similar to the Mississippi State Bulldogs, the Kentucky Wildcats had an ugly win over a Group of Five team to open the season. But also similar to Mississippi State, they had nothing to apologize for. UK beat a Toledo Rockets team that returns a ton of starters, and Mark Stoops’s team lost everybody. By the way, it’s worth mentioning that the Wildcats covered.
Hey, before last week, UK seemed like a likely win for Tennessee football. Now it seems like a likely loss. So give them credit where it’s due. This week, they host another MAC team that went 7-6 last year, just like Toledo, and actually beat Toledo at home 28-26. So the Eastern Michigan Eagles have lots of similarities to that program.
Chris Creighton is back for his sixth season there. Meanwhile, his team returns almost as many starters as Toledo. They both returned 10 outside of the quarterback. So could you see anymore similarities? Simply put, this game could end up being a lot more intriguing than you think and is another solid test for Kentucky.
Prediction
We accurately picked Kentucky to win last week’s game by 14 points. This week, they face an EMU team that should be similar. However, unlike UK, the Eagles have to replace their quarterback and barely beat the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers last week. So the Wildcats will win this one by a bit more, meaning they cover. We won’t make last week’s mistake, though. The game hits the over.