Kentucky Football: Cats move up in polls despite being off on bye week

The Kentucky football team is once again knocking to get into the top 10 ranking in both the Coaches and AP Polls as they rose in each to land at No. 12 in both.

After being handed their first defeat of the 2021 season in a 30-13 loss to top-ranked Georgia two weeks ago the Wildcats dipped slightly in both polls where they settled at No. 15 in the AP Poll and No. 14 in the Coaches Poll.

We thought they actually came out a winner despite the loss.

As they kick off the back portion of their schedule there still seems to be some skepticism out there especially by oddsmakers.

Kentucky football opens as a 2 point underdog leaving Vince Marrow livid

Big Blue heads to Starkville, Mississippi this weekend to play Mississippi State a team that isn’t even ranked yet somehow opened as a 2 point favorite over the Cats over at WynnBet.

Seriously.

While it is true the Bulldogs (4-3, 2-2) have won the last five home matchups with Kentucky dating back to 2008 they are sitting in fifth place in the SEC West while UK (6-1, 4-1) is just a game behind Georgia in the SEC East.

Let’s just say this drew the ire of one Kentucky football coach who was not amused. Vince “Big Dog” Marrow.

Marrow’s bark must have been heard all the way to Las Vegas as the line later moved Kentucky to a 1 point favorite.

The Kentucky football team apparently has to keep making statement after statement. Wins over Florida and LSU in consecutive weeks and playing Georgia tougher than any team has this year isn’t enough to convince some doubters.

The Wildcats are going to have to silence all those annoying cowbells ringing inside of Davis Wade Stadium At Scott Field that 61,000 people shake non-stop.

There are six ranked schools from the SEC making the Top 25 this week with Arkansas sitting as the next team out in the AP. Florida also received 3 votes.

In the AP Poll

No. 1 Georgia

No. 3 Alabama

No. 10 Ole Miss

No. 12 Kentucky

No. 14 Texas A&M

No. 18 Auburn

In the Coaches Poll ranks No. 9 and Auburn comes in at No. 21.  Arkansas and Florida were both in the Others Receiving Votes sections.

How high can this Kentucky football team can climb is anyone’s guess right now. The ESPN FPI has Kentucky handily beating Vanderbilt (94.3% chance of winning) and New Mexico State (99%). They are sitting at 52.5% in the final game against Louisville and a slight nod to beat Tennessee (51.4%).

Against Mississippi State, the visiting Wildcats only have a 46.5% shot at winning.

Kentucky has won the last three games against their cross-conference at Kroger Field and the series overall is knotted at 24 wins apiece.

We’ll get more into the odds, matchup, history, and or prediction on Tuesday but let’s say Marrow and this Kentucky team were just handed some extra incentive by Vegas to kick off this week’s practice.