Kentucky struggles early but pulls ahead late.
Riding high after a big win Kentucky is juiced up when Missouri rolls into Lexington for Kentucky’s first SEC matchup of 2021. Kentucky’s program is in a much better place than Missouri’s, but they’re still an SEC opponent and can’t be overlooked.
With many returning players Kentucky won’t haven’t forgotten the taunting the Missouri sideline gave to Kelvin Joseph making him look like “worker skinny” instead of “bossman fat.”
Kentucky is 5-4 against Missouri since they migrated over to the SEC, and 7-4 all time. Missouri is one of the rare teams in the conference that Kentucky has a winning record against.
However, last year Kentucky played one of their worst games of the year against the Tigers falling 20-10 and was never really in the game. Coach John Schlarman didn’t make the trip to Columbia and passed away a little more than two weeks later.
I look for Kentucky to struggle early offensively, with the defense picking up a takeaway that leads to easy points. Kentucky goes into halftime tied 14-14 and comes out swinging in the second half. Kentucky’s rushing attack proves to be too much for Missouri and wears the Tiger defense down. That allows the Wildcat offense to outscore Missouri 20-7 in the second half for a comfortable 13 point victory and a 2-0 start to the season.