Kentucky will head to Ole Miss as a big underdog

Kentucky is riding high off a 41-6 win over Ohio last night, but the celebration won’t last long. Next weekend’s opponent is a toughie and it’ll be the first road game of the season for the Wildcats.

The folks over at FanDuel already have odds for Kentucky’s showdown in Oxford with No. 5 Ole Miss, which is set for Saturday, Sept. 28 at noon EST (ABC or ESPN). The Wildcats have opened as a major underdog, with the Rebels currently a 16.5-point favorite in the SEC matchup. The over/under has been set at 51.5.

Kentucky is 0-2 in league play so far this season, losing to South Carolina in embarrassing fashion in Week 2 before bouncing back to nearly beat then-No. 1 Georgia seven days later. Ole Miss has yet to play an SEC foe, winning its first four games by a combined score of 220-24.

Kentucky has undoubtedly played a tougher schedule than Ole Miss a third of the way through the 2024 schedule. The biggest “challenge” for Lane Kiffin’s team came in Week 3, a 40-6 win over a 1-2 Wake Forest squad. The Rebels have also beaten Furman, Middle Tennessee State, and Georgia Southern. Kentucky will be Ole Miss’ most talented opponent yet.

It certainly won’t be easy for Kentucky to pull off the upset though. ESPN’s Matchup Predictor gives Ole Miss a 90.5 percent chance at the win. The Rebels also have the fifth-best percentage to make the College Football Playoff, per ESPN, at 76 percent. Quarterback Jaxson Dart has already thrown for over 1,500 passing yards and 12 touchdowns in just four games.

But if Kentucky wants to make its first big statement of the season, this will be the opportunity. The Wildcats moved up one spot in ESPN’s Football Power Index (FPI) to No. 38 after the Ohio win. UK now has a 40.2 percent chance to reach the six-win threshold and is clinging to a 0.2 percent chance of making the CFP.