The Vanderbilt Commodores, led by quarterback Diego Pavia, face the Kentucky Wildcats, led by quarterback Brock Vandagriff on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024 (10/12/24) at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky.

How to watch: Fans can watch the game for free via a trial of DirecTV Stream or fuboTV. You can also watch via a subscription to Sling TV.

Here’s what you need to know:

What: NCAA Football, Week 7

Who: Vanderbilt vs. Kentucky

When: Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024

Where: Kroger Field

Time: 7:45 p.m. ET

TV: SEC Network

Live stream: fuboTV (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial)

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Here are the best streaming options for college football this season:

Fubo TV (free trial): fuboTV carries ESPN, FOX, ABC, NBC and CBS.

DirecTV Stream (free trial): DirecTV Stream carries ESPN, FOX, NBC and CBS.

Sling TV ($25 off the first month)– Sling TV carries ESPN, FOX, ABC and NBC.

ESPN+($9.99 a month): ESPN+ carries college football games each weekend for only $9.99 a month. These games are exclusive to the platform.

Peacock TV ($5.99 a month): Peacock will simulstream all of NBC Sports’ college football games airing on the NBC broadcast network this season, including Big Ten Saturday Night. Peacock will also stream Notre Dame home games. Certain games will be streamed exclusively on Peacock this year as well.

Paramount+ (free trial): Paramount Plus will live stream college football games airing on CBS this year.

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Here’s a preview capsule via the Associated Press:

Vanderbilt (3-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) at Kentucky (3-2, 1-2), Saturday, 7:45 p.m. ET (SEC Network)

BetMGM College Football Odds: Kentucky by 13 1/2.

Series record: Kentucky leads 49-43-4.

What’s at stake?

A spot in the AP Top 25 is possibly on the line for the winner. Both Kentucky and Vanderbilt received votes for this week’s poll coming off big wins. Vanderbilt ended an 0-60 drought against AP top-five teams by upsetting top-ranked Alabama 40-35 last week. Kentucky is well-rested following an upset of then-No. 6 Mississippi on Sept. 28. The last time the Commodores won consecutive SEC games was in 2022 when they won at Kentucky, then beat Florida.

Key matchup

Vanderbilt’s offense might get a lot of attention thanks to the swagger and confidence of its quarterback. The Commodores’ 33.5-point average in SEC games ranks fourth, while their 37.6-point overall average stands fifth. The 40 points they hung on ‘Bama was their second-highest total this season. Ole Miss was Kentucky’s first opponent to surpass 300 yards (353), but the Wildcats held the nation’s top offense in scoring, yardage and passing to just 17 points and 262 yards passing.

Players to watch

Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia. Not only does the reigning Conference USA offensive player of the year play with a big chip on his shoulder, he also imbues confidence in his teammates by finding the open receiver or crack to run through. Pavia is why Vanderbilt ranks 22nd nationally in scoring at 37.6 points a game. He completed 80% of his passes against the Tide for 252 yards and two TDs.

Kentucky WR Dane Key has caught 15 passes for 245 yards and a touchdown the past two games, including a career-high eight receptions for 105 with a score that helped the Wildcats beat Ole Miss. The junior from Lexington had a career-best 145 yards on seven catches in a 41-6 win over Ohio. Key’s team-high 369 yards on 23 catches rank seventh among SEC receivers and he’s ninth all-time in program history with 1,524.

Facts & figures

The visitor has won the past two meetings. Vanderbilt won 24-21 in Lexington in 2022. … Vanderbilt held the ball for over 42 minutes against Alabama, had a season-high 26 first downs and converted 12 of 18 third downs. … Eli Stowers, a converted quarterback, led the ‘Dores with six catches for 113 yards against Alabama and leads SEC tight ends with 333 yards receiving. … Kentucky ILB D’Eryk Jackson has team highs of 26 tackles and made at least one stop while starting the past 27 of 28 contests. … Barion Brown and Key have each surpassed 100 career catches this season.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)

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Across Route 205 from Uncle Sam’s Gun & Pawn Shop, beat-up cars and rusty pickup trucks idled, stretched along the bleak Appalachian highway.

The vehicles’ occupants, who live mostly in mountainside shacks and trailers in poverty-stricken eastern Kentucky, waited patiently to be allowed into the fire station parking lot. They were there to collect apples brought in from West Virginia in huge boxes and to rummage through piles of clothes, furniture, and bedding donated in Ohio.

For them, the food and household essentials being dispensed by local volunteers from the Hazel Green Food Project, drawing from a network of charities such as the Christian Appalachian Project and God’s Pantry, would be enough to stave off the hunger and cold for another few days.

This is Wolfe County, the poorest of 120 counties in Kentucky, the poorest county in all of Appalachia—and the heart of Trump Country. Donald Trump, the former president, secured a thumping 70 per cent of the vote in Wolfe County in 2020 and is likely to increase his margin this time.

From its founding in 1860 until the end of the 20th century, Wolfe County was a Democratic stronghold. As its poverty increased—the median income is $24,349 and the child food insecurity rate 33 per cent—Wolfe County voters, 99 per cent of whom are white, turned to Republicans and have embraced Trump with fervor.

Sharlon Whitley’s mobile home burned down in May and she lost everything. With no insurance and raising three of her grandchildren— their parents succumbed to opioid addiction—Mrs Whitley, 68, and her husband were destitute until neighbors banded together to provide them with a trailer.

Rick Pitino came home Friday night.

Nearly three decades after he led Kentucky to the 1996 national championship, Pitino walked onto the floor at Rupp Arena and was cheered loudly by fans during Kentucky’s Big Blue Madness event.

Pitino, now the coach at St. John’s, wore a Kentucky sweater in his return to campus. He went to Rupp Arena multiple times as an opposing coach with Louisville, but he never enjoyed the warm reception he received Friday night, an opportunity created when Kentucky hired Mark Pope, the captain of that Pitino-coached 1996 squad, in March.

Surrounded by some of his former players, an emotional Pitino needed a moment to gather himself after he grabbed the microphone.

“I am so happy to be back,” he said. “I said before I pack it in, in coaching, I want to go back to Camelot for one more time. There is no way I could return better. This is one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time because I visited all my players. I visited the fans that made me happy for every single day for eight years.”

Prior to Friday’s reunion, it was a tumultuous journey for Pitino with the Kentucky fan base. In 1997, he received a record 10-year, $70 million deal to coach the Boston Celtics a year after his national title run at Kentucky. But after a turbulent tenure in the NBA, Pitino resigned as Celtics coach and agreed to accept the job at Kentucky’s in-state rival Louisville in 2001, following Denny Crum’s departure.

At his introductory news conference, Pitino said one of his greatest concerns in taking the Louisville job was the backlash he knew he would receive from Kentucky fans. He was right. Once John Calipari arrived as Wildcats coach in 2009, the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry regained its fiery edge.

In 2012, ahead of Louisville’s matchup against Kentucky in the Final Four, Pitino called the rivalry “pure hatred.” And following a loss to the Wildcats at Rupp Arena in 2015, he was accused of using an obscene gesture toward the crowd. Pitino denied those claims despite video that suggested otherwise.

That bitter history made his return Friday night even more surprising. But Pitino has served as a mentor for Pope since he agreed to replace Calipari, who left for Arkansas after a difficult four-year stretch. And his connection to Pope along with Calipari’s lukewarm finish at the school seemed to soften the resentment on both sides.

Pitino told the Kentucky crowd Friday night that Pope will carry Kentucky — which suffered two first-round exits in the past three NCAA tournaments — to “greatness.”

“And now we get to root for … someone that that name Kentucky is what he’s all about,” Pitino said. “It’s not about Pope. It’s not about Pope. You’ll never hear him say [that]. The most selfless, humble, young man I’ve ever coached in my lifetime. One of the great, great examples of what Kentucky basketball is all about. Mark Pope is going to lead you to greatness in every sense of the word. Thank you all very much.”