Kentucky opens as slight favorite vs. Missouri

The experts aren’t completely out on the Wildcats following the program’s beatdown in Athens. Despite suffering a 55-17 loss at Georgia on Saturday, Kentucky has opened as a slight favorite at home against Missouri next week.

The early lines are rolling out for next week, with the Wildcats getting the one-score nod against the Tigers. Kentucky enters the matchup as a two-point favorite with the over/under set at 51.5 points and the money line sitting at -128 in favor of the home team.

Missouri is coming off a 49-39 home loss to No. 23 LSU, the team’s first of the season to move to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in conference play. The Tigers opened the season with wins over South Dakota (35-10), Middle Tennessee (23-19), No. 15 Kansas State (30-27), Memphis (34-27) and at Vanderbilt (38-21) before the LSU loss.

Kentucky opened the season as a favorite in five consecutive games and started 4-1 against the spread before the blowout loss at Georgia. The way-too-early line opened at -23.5 in favor of the Bulldogs before closing at -14.5 leading up to kickoff with the over/under closing at 47 points — UGA destroying the spread and the over hitting easily.

UK opened as a multi-score favorite in each of its first four games before closing at -25 vs. Ball State, -35 vs. EKU, -25 vs. Akron and -13.5 at Vanderbilt, then closed at -1 vs. Florida. The Wildcats beat the spread against the Cardinals, Zips, Commodores and Gators while falling well short against the Colonels. As for point totals, the over hit in the season opener (49), the SEC opener in Nashville (50) and against Florida (44) while the under hit in wins two and three (62.5 and 48.5).

What can fans expect next Saturday? ESPN’s matchup predictor gives the Wildcats a 55.8% chance to win at home, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network.

What do you need to know about Missouri?

The Tigers average an impressive 465.7 yards on offense including 322.2 through the air and 143.5 on the ground. Quarterback Brady Cook leads the way with 1,879 yards on 71.8% completion to go with 13 touchdowns and just two interceptions. Luther Burden III is a star on the outside, racking up 793 receiving yards and five touchdowns on 54 catches. Theo Wease Jr., Mookie Cooper and Marquis Johnson have also surpassed the 200-yard mark on the year.

Cody Schrader is the team’s lead running back, picking up 577 yards and six touchdowns on 94 carries. Nathaniel Peat has also added 266 yards and two touchdowns on 58 carries.

The defensive success is a different story, however. Mizzou gives up 353.2 yards per contest including 245.2 through the air and 108.0 on the ground. The Tigers gave up 533 total yards and 25 first downs against LSU on Saturday.

How will things go against Kentucky inside Kroger Field? We’ll find out next week.