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Before the season even began, every follower of the Kentucky football program had the Missouri game circled on the calendar.
Despite it being so early on, it was evident that to accomplish their ultimate goals, beating the Tigers was a must.
Although it wasn’t pretty at times, the Cats handled their business and escaped with a 35-28 win.
What now?
Well, after finishing a grueling conference matchup, Kentucky will get some breathing room this week when the Chattanooga Mocs come to town. It’ll be another early one with kick-off scheduled for 12 pm ET on SEC Network+ (read more about it here).
A member of the Southern Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), Chattanooga is 1-1 this season and coming off a 20-0 shutout of North Alabama on Saturday.
It goes without saying that Kentucky should roll in this one and have opportunities to clean up some sloppy play from the Missouri game before heading to Columbia (SC) in two weeks for a showdown with the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Look for Will Levis and the Kentucky offense to get rolling early and often. Levis is now 28/44 with two interceptions (off of drops from receivers) and five touchdowns in his first two games as a Wildcat. The Penn State transfer has lived up to the hype and is running Liam Coen’s offense very well just two games into the season.
As good as Levis has been, the story for Kentucky to this point absolutely has to be the electric play-making ability of Wan’Dale Robinson. The Bluegrass native now has 10 receptions totaling 226 yards and two scores. He’s also rushed the ball three times for an incredible 24 yards per carry.
The Wildcat defense definitely left a lot to be desired by giving up nearly 400 yards to Missouri on Saturday.
Thankfully, Chattanooga doesn’t have a Connor Bazelak to deal with. The Mocs played two quarterbacks last week and have relatively modest numbers against terrible competition. You check out their individual player stats here.
It goes without saying that this should be a simple tune-up before the Cats travel to South Carolina for their first road test of the season. Anything but a blowout will be a disappointment, though the real goal will be keeping everyone healthy as the SEC schedule heads up.
Game: Chattanooga Mocs at Kentucky Wildcats
Location: Kroger Field
Time: 12 pm ET on Sept. 18
TV Channel: SEC Network+
Live Stream: WatchESPN and the ESPN app.
Radio: UK Sports Network
Early Odds: No line has been set yet, but ESPN’s matchup predictor gives Kentucky a 98.6% chance of achieving victory.