Southern Miss at Kentucky, Saturday, 7:45 p.m. ET (SEC)

BetMGM College Football Odds: Kentucky by 28.

Series record: Kentucky leads 3-1.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

Southern Miss looks to bounce back from its second 3-9 finish in three seasons. The Golden Eagles also aim to break an eight-game skid against SEC teams, with its most recent win coming at Kentucky in 2016. The host Wildcats seek a strong start before a two-game conference stretch that includes No. 1 Georgia on Sept. 14.

KEY MATCHUP

Kentucky ranked 98th in FBS offense last season (339.5 yards per game) and looks to move up in many categories under new coordinator Bush Hamdan, who led a top-30 unit at Boise State in 2023. The Wildcats also break in a new quarterback in Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff, who backed up Stetson Bennett and Carson Beck the past three seasons. Southern Miss’ defense looks to improve after yielding nearly 421 yards per game in 2023 (109th of 130 FBS teams). Third-down defense was the Golden Eagles’ upside as opponents converted just 38% of opportunities.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Southern Miss linebacker Dylan Lawrence made a team-high 78 tackles last season and will again be counted on to set the tone for a defense seeking overall improvement. He had just one of the Golden Eagles’ 25 sacks but was key to their third-down defense and 17 takeaways. Lawrence is among 25 graduates on the roster.

Kentucky junior defensive lineman Deone Walker and linebacker J.J. Weaver each had at least seven sacks last season and anchor one of the Wildcats’ deepest units under Mark Stoops. Walker has been projected as a possible first-round NFL draft pick; Weaver is back for a fifth season after passing on the draft last spring.

FACTS & FIGURES

The Golden Eagles were picked to finish sixth in the Sun Belt Conference West Division in a preseason poll of league coaches. … They are 4-16 against the SEC in season openers, earning their last win over Kentucky in 2016. … Wildcats receiver/returner Barion Brown has returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the past two openers. … Stoops begins his 12th season as the SEC’s longest-tenured coach following the January retirement of Nick Saban at Alabama. … The Wildcats received three votes in the preseason AP Top 25.

__

AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll

Mark Pope is getting ready for year one as the head coach of the Kentucky basketball program, and he has a team that can make a run in the NCAA Tournament. Coach Pope’s team has a lot of veteran players that have them built for a run in March.

Joe Lunardi of ESPN just updated his Bracketology and has the Wildcats as a six seed in the East Region. The Wildcats, in this draw, would play the winner of Villanova and Pittsburgh, who would be playing for the 11 seed, in the first round of the tournament. This game would be played in Milwaukee if the Wildcats were to receive this draw. If Kentucky won their Round of 64 matchup, they would play the winner of Baylor and Louisiana Tech in the Round of 32.

What stood out about this draw for the Wildcats was their #2 seed being, UConn, which is a draw no team wants. The Huskies have won back-to-back National Championships, and Dan Hurley has the team necessary to pull off the three-peat.

In the most recent Bracketology update from Lunardi, there are ten SEC teams in the field, which has the SEC tied with the Big Ten tied for the most teams in the tournament.

Coach Pope’s team has the upside to be a higher seed in the NCAA Tournament, but knowing how much of a gauntlet SEC play will be this season, a six seed could end up being where the Wildcats end up in year one of the new regime.

The Kentucky Wildcats are entering a new era in the 2024 season as Mark Pope returns to Lexington to take over the UK program.

With a full roster built from the transfer portal this offseason, Pope and his coaching staff are now looking to make a splash in the class of 2025 and land some elite high school talent to pair alongside transfers.

The Cats have long been the destination for top high-school talent, and as the new staff looks to keep that momentum going, they are looking to land a backcourt player after adding Malachi Moreno to the frontcourt.

Well, 5-star guard Mikel Brown Jr. has scheduled an official visit to Kentucky beginning September 27th, according to KSR’s Jacob Polacheck.

A 6-foot-3 and 165-pound point guard, Brown played for the Overtime Elite program in Atlanta this past season but will now play for DME Academy in Florida. He’s ranked as high as eighth overall in the 2025 class by 247 Sports.

While no official predictions have been logged for Brown, Jamie Shaw of On3 recently gave an early pick for Kentucky to be the ultimate landing spot. Shaw gave the prediction with a 25% confidence level.

Now, the confidence level is low, but this gives the BBN some hope, especially now that an official visit has been scheduled.

Want more A Sea Of Blue coverage? Then follow our Twitter page and like us on Facebook to get all the latest Kentucky Wildcats news and views. And Go CATS!