Kentucky football game Saturday: Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt odds and prediction for Week 11 game

Kentucky football continues to lick its wounds after three straight losses and is looking to roar back to life on both sides of the ball with Vanderbilt next up on Saturday.

Normally this would look like a great chance for Kentucky to finally get everything working on both offense and defense, something that has proved difficult in this losing streak as one seems to show up while the other doesn’t.

Then again this is Vanderbilt. Losers of four straight themselves it always seems historically these matchups are bizarre and at times painful to watch.

Kentucky football vs. Vandy the strange, bizarre, hard to predict games

Kentucky (6-3, 4-3) leads the series with the Commodores (2-7, 0-5) 47-42-4. The Wildcats have won the last four and five of the past six. That was after Vandy has won three in a row from 2011-2013 in all blowouts.

Big Blue won 38-35 in Lexington last season.

In this series, you never quite know what to expect, and this season is no different. You would think betting this game would be easy, but there have been low scoring, high scoring, squeakers, and blowouts.

It’s like betting the spinning wheel at a church picnic you never know where it’s going to stop. It can be exhilarating or unbearably frustrating.

Coach Mark Stoops was asked in the weekly media session about the mood or the mentality of the team after falling to the Vols.

"“As far as team morale and where we’re at, I’m very optimistic,” Stoops said. “I know our team, I know our leaders, I’ve seen a lot of them, I talked to a lot of them after the game. They’re highly motivated to finish the season. I can promise you, there’s a lot of guys in that building that are motivated to move on and try to go get the next victory.”"

The stats heavily favor Kentucky as do the oddsmakers.

As usual, there will probably be more blue and white in Vanderbilt Stadium despite it being played in Nashville. Maybe Big Blue Nation can help this team get on track unless the high expectations turned low haven’t sunk too deep.

Just the straight-up stats:

Kentucky                Stats                                 Vandy
28.7                Avg. Points Scored                  14.9
23.4                 Avg. Points Allowed               35.6

180.8              Ave. Rushing Yards                 117.3
119.2              Ave  Rushing Yards Allowed 184.6

212.8              Ave. Passing Yards                 183.9
230.2              Ave  Passing Yards Allowed 278.6

393.6              Avg. Total Yards                        301.2
349.4              Avg. Total Yards Allowed        463.2
17                     Giveaways                                17
5                       Takeaways                                13

Kentucky vs Vanderbilt Odds Week 11

The Week 11 betting odds on WynnBET currently have Kentucky as the favorite by 21 points. The under/over currently sits at 52.5. As for the Moneyline Kentucky is listed at minus -2000 while Vanderbilt is plus +2000. They have Kentucky’s points at 36.5, while the Commodores are 15.5.

Looking at the straight-up facts

• Kentucky is 6-3 against the spread this season.
• Vanderbilt has 2 wins against the spread this season.
• In head-to-head games, Kentucky leads 47-42-4
• In Lexington last year Kentucky won 38-35
• When Kentucky runs up over 463.7 yards, the team is 3-1 against the spread and 3-1 overall.
• The Commodores have been underdogs by 21 points or more twice and have failed to cover the spread in either.

Kentucky vs Vanderbilt Predictions Week 11

Throughout most of the season I felt Kentucky would lose to Georgia and then either Mississippi State or Tennessee, but not both.

They played well against top-ranked Georiga, looked dreadful against Mississippi State, and lost a 45-42 shootout to Tennessee. In Starkville, the offense was a mess with quarterback Will Levis playing his worst game while the defense tried to carry them. Against Tennessee, the opposite happened.

Vandy doesn’t have enough weapons or possess the ball long enough, in theory, to keep up with Kentucky. They would need to control the time of possession and keep the score in the 20’s more than likely to have a shot.

Kentucky controlled the ball for over 46 minutes against the Vols but still lost. However, Levis and the offense moved the ball up and down the field for more than 600 yards.

Vandy ranks 128th out of 130 teams averaging just under 15 points per game. They have no downfield passing threat, unlike Mississippi State and Tennessee. Converting third downs have also been an issue with the Commodores only successfully converting 42 out of 138 opportunities. On fourth down though they are 9 of 15.

If UK’s offense and defense both show up for this game I think Kentucky can easily cover the spread. But that is a big IF.

Both teams have given the ball away 17 times this season so this could be ugly.

With that said I am still not convinced this team has all the parts working at the same time and as usual this game will be a game of chance as to what the outcome is. I don’t think Kentucky covers the spread but does get the win.

Final score – Kentucky 34 – Vanderbilt 17

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