Kentucky Football Game Saturday: Wildcats vs. ULM odds, prediction, injury report, schedule, live stream, and TV channel for season opener

It’s time for Football in the Bluegrass! The Kentucky Wildcats will return to Kroger Field on Saturday to kick off the 2021-22 season and perfect weather is in store as the Wildcats welcome the Louisianna-Monroe Warhawks to town inside a packed Commonwealth Stadium.

It will be Kentucky’s first action since New Year’s Day when they closed the 2020 season with a 23-21 win over NC State in the Gator Bowl, their and the team’s third straight bowl game title.

Coach Mark Stoops is very excited about this team and seems very relaxed. As assistant coach Vince Marrow has pointed out this is traditionally the sign of a confident coach. Stoops seemed that way on his Monday night call-in show as well.

The two schools have squared off five times in history with Kentucky winning the last four. ULM out of the Sun Belt Conference won the first time way back in 1994.

Kentucky has aspirations of a big year and even challenging for second place and the Southeastern Conference East trying to fend off Florida for that spot behind favorite Georgia.

It all starts this week. CATS! CATS! CATS!

Kentucky vs. Louianna Monroe odds for Week 1:

Heading into Saturday’s Week 1 matchup, Kentucky is currently favored by 31 points over the Warhawks according to the latest odds from WynnBET.

The over/under is sitting at 115.5 with Kentucky looking at scoring 43.0 points to ULM’s 12.

Kentucky Wildcats Injury Report vs. Louisianna-Monroe for Week 1:

Kentucky still has some players on the mend in Dekel Crowdus and JJ Weaver and neither is expected to see action. Freshman punter Wilson Berry has been nursing a back issue, but Stoops watched him Monday and expects him to be ready. Kentucky has a lot of player depth that coaches are ready to see in real game situations so these injuries don’t look to impact them in week one.

Kentucky Wildcats vs. Louisianna-Monroe Warhawks Prediction for Week 1:

While most everyone clearly expects Kentucky to win this game there are so many unknowns for both teams who are opening with different coaching schemes.

Kentucky has the new Liam Coen offense in place, but just how much of a grasp the players have it won’t be known until Saturday when they face an opposing team other than itself. He brings a more wide-open pro-style from the NFL which should provide a much more up-tempo and more wide-open offense.

With the addition of transfer Wan’dale Robinson, a player who can do just about anything on the field when he gets his hands on it to better wide receivers as well as the under-utilized tight ends. Stoops has been really high on Brenden Bates despite the attention Izayah Cummings has gotten moving over from wide receiver.

But it all begins with new transfer quarterback Will Levis. Will he have better touch throwing short passes since we know he has a big arm for the deep ball pass. How much leash will be on Levis and how much running will they do behind Christopher Rodriguez and Kavosiey Smoke.?

After going 0-10 last season scoring the fewest points while giving up the most in the Sun Belt, ULM made a head coaching change and brought in Terry Bowden. Who knows what will resonate with this change but they also have another old ball coach Rich Rodriguez running the offense and his son Rhett starting at quarterback.

As for the defense they gave up 27 sacks last season so expect the Kentucky defense to be hungry to get into the Warhawks backfield.

Betting here would be difficult just with all the unknowns. I believe Kentucky will do its best to run the ball a lot as Stoops prefers, unload a few big throws, but Coen won’t truly open the playbook in this one. I’d expect the Wildcats to try and get as many in-game reps as possible preparing for Week 2 and Missouri.

One interesting fact in the series history in three of the five games the loser has scored 14 points and 13 in the other. The other was a 42-40 win in the Rich Brooks era. The winners of three of the games have surpassed 40 points and 36 in the other. In the last meeting in 2014, Kentucky won 48-14.

I’ll take Kentucky 41-13

Download the WynnBET App And Make Your Pick Here

Kentucky Wildcats next game and schedule:

Following their matchup against ULM on Saturday, the Wildcats will remain at home and kickoff Southeastern Conference play on Saturday, September 11 at 7:30 pm. when they welcome Missouri to Lexington.

What channel is the Kentucky Wildcats game on this week?:

Kentucky’s game with ULM will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

Taylor Zarzour (play-by-play), Matt Stinchcomb (analyst) and Alyssa Lang (sideline) will be doing the broadcast.  That’s DirecTV 611, Dish 408 (Hopper 404), U-Verse 607/1607, and Spectrum Cable 516 in Louisville and Lexington.

For the radio enthusiasts, our stellar team of Tom Leach (play-by-play), Jeff Piecoro (analyst), and Dick Gabriel (sideline) will have the UK radio network call that can be heard at 840 AM around Louisville and in the Lexington area at both 630 AM and 98.1 FM. If you are outside these areas listen online at www.UKAthletics.com.

Kentucky Wildcats vs. Louisianna-Monroe live stream:

For those that are looking for streaming options, you have two choices.

FuboTV is one option to consider, especially since they are currently offering a free seven-day trial for new users.

Eligible subscribers can stream the SEC Network broadcast via WatchESPN.