Ole Miss opens as a seven-point underdog to Kentucky

The Kentucky Wildcats have opened as a touchdown favorite over the Ole Miss Rebels with the two teams set to meet Saturday afternoon in Lexington.

According to Sportsline, Kentucky has opened as 7-point favorite over the visiting Rebels. Both teams come into the contest having lost their season openers on Saturday. Ol Miss fell at home to the Florida Gators, while Kentucky lost on the road at Auburn by a 29-13 score.

The game from Lexington will be televised on the SEC Network.

The last time the two teams met in November of 2017 resulted in an exciting, fourth-quarter touchdown catch from D.K. Metcalf off the arm of quarterback Jordan Ta'amu that completed a 37-34 come-from-behind Ole Miss win. Kentucky led 20-17 at halftime in that game. That 37-34 final constituted Ole Miss smallest margin of victory in the series.

The Rebels own a 24-13-1 advantage in the series with Kentucky that dates back to 1944. As far as games played in Lexington, Ole Miss owns a 10-11-1 record. The Rebels' longest win streak in the series came from 1956-1963 when John Vaught's national powerhouse teams won eight in a row over the Wildcats.

Ole Miss is under the direction of first-year head coach Lane Kiffin, who is 1-0 in his career versus the Wildcats. In 2009, when Kiffin was in his only season as the head coach of the Tennesse Volunteers, he beat Kentucky in Lexington, earning a hard-gought 30-24 decision.

Saturday will be only the fourth meeting between Ole Miss and Kentucky on the gridiron over the last decade. In the three games played since 2010, the Rebels won 42-35 (2010, Oxford) and 37-34 (2017, Lexington). The lost to the Wildcats 30-13 in 2011 at Lexington.

SOURCE: Johnson, David. "Ole Miss opens as a seven-point underdog to Kentucky." OMSpirit - 247Sports.com, 27 September 2020, https://247sports.com/college/ole-miss/Article/Ole-Miss-opens-as-a-seven-point-underdog-to-Kentucky-152092166/