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2023 Kentucky Football Foes: Missouri Tigers

Week 6’s home clash with the Tigers will officially put the Cats halfway through their 2023 SEC slate.

NCAA Football: Kentucky at Missouri William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports

Greetings, BBN!

The 2023 schedule glance now turns its gaze to Week 7 and the Missouri Tigers, who the Cats will host at Kroger Field on October 14th for their 4th SEC game and 7th game overall.

This is a very key game for UK, just like it is every year, as wins against Missouri in seven out of the past eight seasons has helped fuel their Stoops’ success. No other team has lost more to the Cats since 2015 than Mizzou, and every year the Tigers seem to get more and more desperate to find a way past the Cats.

Let’s dive into this matchup.

Missouri at Kentucky

  • Time/Date: TBD time on October 14th
  • Location: Kroger Field
  • TV Channel: TBD
  • Early Odds: ESPN FPI gives the Cats a 63.2% chance of winning.

Missouri has done just enough each of the past four seasons to squeak into a bowl, though they’ve had three losses and one cancellation in those bowls. Eliah Drinkwitz is entering his fourth year with the team and, while not delivering huge results, has kept the ship from sinking each year.

The Tigers’ schedule sets up favorably for another bowl this year, though I’m sure their fanbases will be looking for more than just 6-6. This game will be huge for them as they look to stack up as many wins as they can in an effort to raise their ceiling.

Kentucky will be facing the Tigers after back-to-back games with Florida (home) and Georgia (away), then getting a bye week before a massive home showdown with Tennessee. Hopefully, UK enters this game at least 4-2, and 5-1 would be terrific.

With Missouri coming off of four straight seasons of six or fewer wins, a loss at home would be terrible, though not as bad if UK enters the game 6-0 or 5-1. Falling to 4-3 would be a catastrophe and possibly derail the entire year.

On the bright side, if UK can win any SEC game it’d be a home game against the team they’ve won seven of eight against, and would be a terrific win to grab before heading into a bye week, resting, resetting, and giving Tennessee everything they have on the 28th.

Prediction: It’d be pretty scary to play a take-care-of-business-and-don’t-lose game the week after Georgia in Colombia, but fortunately for the Cats, they’ll be getting Missouri in Lexington and one week after the Tigers host LSU. Outwit, outplay, outlast, get a win heading into a bye.

Kentucky 34, Missouri 24