Tennessee football has no room for error in its College Football Playoff hunt as it heads north to face Kentucky in a border rivalry Saturday night. The Vols are looking for the fifth straight win over Kentucky while the Wildcats are looking for their first SEC victory this season.
Each week, the RTI team will provide game predictions for Tennessee’s matchup. We move on to the Kentucky Wildcats.
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Ric Butler
Alright, a little break from the Tony Vitello saga. Football is back, baby! But really, it’s pretty wild just how much the Alabama loss has flown under the radar because of all the Vitello news in the past week. Perhaps that’s a good thing for Tennessee’s football team, though. A week where the attention isn’t as much on them as normal, and a week where the team can put their heads down and get back to work after a loss.
It’s always nice to come home after a loss, but that’s not the case for the Vols. They’ll be traveling north to Lexington. But, admittedly, it’s still a good chance to right the ship and get some confidence before returning to Knoxville for the Oklahoma game. Kentucky, though, has been fairly decent at home. Despite a 0-4 conference record so far, the Wildcats only lost to Ole Miss by seven and Texas by a field goal in overtime. It hasn’t been a great year for Kentucky, and it’s not a great team by any stretch, but they’ve been fiesty and scrappy at home.
For Tennessee, I think you want to see the Big Orange come out with a little bit of swagger. A little bit of punk rock to them. It just wasn’t something we saw at Alabama, especially as the game started to get worse with drops and missed tackles. It felt like Tennessee didn’t have an attitude, but maybe they can bring one out on Saturday night in Lexington.
This is a game where I’d think that Tennessee feeds the running back room. Joey Aguilar isn’t hurt or injured, but he took some licks last week against the Tide. Kentucky hasn’t been overly impressive stopping the run or the pass this year, so Tennessee could try to control the game and the pace with things on the ground. Wear down the Kentucky defense, and then work the passing game back in. We’ll see. For Tennessee’s defense, I think getting to an inexperienced quarterback and making him as uncomfortable as possible is the key to success.
Like Tennessee’s past games, it might not always be pretty, and it might not be a blowout, but I think Tennessee gets back on track against the ‘Cats this weekend. Vols cover with a line that’s been inching toward the ‘Cats, too.
Prediction: Tennessee 31, Kentucky 21
Ryan Schumpert
Tennessee football is looking to bounce back from its worst performance of the season when it travels north on Interstate-75 to face Kentucky Saturday night. The Vols played extremely poorly a week ago at Alabama. How will they bounce back? Tennessee has largely been good following losses under Josh Heupel. The Vols haven’t lost two straight games since 2021.
Consecutive road games is a challenge but this is about as light of an SEC road game as you’ll find. Kentucky enters the matchup 2-4 (0-4 SEC). However, the Wildcats have been pretty solid at home to this point in the season. They lost by a touchdown against Ole Miss and drastically outplayed Texas last week before losing in overtime. Both of Tennessee’s victories in Lexington under Josh Heupel have been very competitive games, though those Kentucky teams were better than this one.
There’s two big questions for me in this game. First, can Tennessee make Kentucky quarterback Cutter Boley uncomfortable? The sophomore signal caller has played better in the last few weeks after replacing the injured Zach Calzada. Tennessee’s pass rush did not perform well last week against Alabama. If they bounce back in this game and make life difficult on Boley, the underclassmen has shown some tendency to make turnover worthy plays.
Second, can Tennessee’s offense play a clean football game? Can the Vols play complimentary football. If they do that, Tennessee is fully capable of running away with this game and winning convincingly. But Tennessee has not showed an ability to do that this season, really at all, but particularly not on the road. Tennessee wins this one but it’s a one-score game in the fourth quarter.
Prediction: Tennessee 30, Kentucky 24
Ryan Sylvia
I’m not saying Tennessee should have beaten Alabama last weekend in Tuscaloosa. That should not have been a 17-point loss, though. The Vols had plenty of opportunities to get back in that game and make it interesting down the stretch. Instead, UT consistently flushed away its chances.
This week, my expectation is for Tennessee to be in a similar situation, but on the other side of things. I think the Vols will hold a narrow lead heading into the fourth quarter, and that’s where things get pivotal. Will Tennessee step on Kentucky’s throats and run away with it? Or will UT let the Wildcats linger and give them a chance down the stretch?
After watching the game in Tuscaloosa, it’s hard for me to bet on Tennessee’s ability to put a game away. There’s just been too many mistakes, whether it’s dropping very catchable passes or simply not tackling on defense. I still think the Vols will win, but it could be another frustrating one that shouldn’t be as close as it ends up being.
In the SEC this year, you can’t complain about any win, though. While Kentucky is undoubtedly the worst team in the conference, Justin Rowland put it best in my QnA with him this week: “This team is probably deserving of the No. 16 spot in any SEC power ranking. That’s fair. But they aren’t as bad as the worst team in the SEC usually is and do have the ability to play well at times.”
So, even if it’s not the prettiest, as long as Tennessee escapes Lexington and returns to Neyland Stadium against Oklahoma with just two losses, I think you have to take it.
Prediction: Tennessee 30, Kentucky 21
