The No. 17 Kentucky Wildcats (5-2, 2-2 SEC) and the No. 3 Tennessee Volunteers (7-0, 3-0) play Saturday at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET (ESPN). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook‘s lines around the Kentucky vs. Tennessee odds, and make our expert college football picks and predictions.
The Wildcats hit the road for Knoxville, and that usually doesn’t end terribly well. The Vols have dominated the all-time series 82-26-9, but the ‘Cats have made inroads with 2 wins in the last 5 meetings, including a 34-7 win in Knoxville on Oct. 17, 2020.
Kentucky stopped a 2-game losing streak with a 27-17 win over Mississippi State last time out on Oct. 15, and have had 2 full weeks to prepare for QB Hendon Hooker and the Vols.
Hooker has entered the Heisman Tophy conversation. He has completed 70.6% of his pass attempts for 2,093 yards, 18 TD and 1 INT while running for 315 yards and 3 more scores.
The Vols have scored 34 or more points in each of their 7 wins. The defense has allowed 24 or more points in 3 of the last 4, including last week against FCS UT-Martin, but the offense has enough to more than overcome.
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Kentucky at Tennessee odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Friday at 7:27 a.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): Kentucky +360 (bet $100 to win $360) | Tennessee -500 (bet $500 to win $100)
- Against the spread: Kentucky +11.5 (-108) | Tennessee -11.5 (-112)
- Over/Under (O/U): 60.5 (O: -120 | U: -105)
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Kentucky at Tennessee picks and predictions
Prediction
Tennessee 34, Kentucky 20
Moneyline
Tennessee (-500) will cost you 5 times your potential return, and that’s way too much risk for not enough reward.
Kentucky (+360) will give the Vols a good game in the first half before UT pulls away in the second half, but you can’t roll the dice on the ‘dog, either.
PASS.
Against the spread
Go a little lightly on TENNESSEE -11.5 (-112) to cover the number. The Vols are 6-1 ATS in their 7 wins, while hitting in 4 of the last 5 outings. The Vols are also a healthy 12-3 ATS in the previous 15 games in this series, including 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings at Neyland.
The advice is to go lightly, however, as Kentucky +11.5 (-108) has been productive against the number lately, too. The Wildcats are 20-5-2 ATS in the last 27 games against teams with a winning overall record.
Over/Under
UNDER 60.5 (-105) is a strong play here.
Not only is the Under 5-2-1 in the last 8 meetings in Knoxville, the Under has hit in 7 of the last 8 overall for Kentucky, while going 27-11 in the previous 38 SEC games.
For Tennessee, nearly all of the trends point to an Over result. However, the Under is 10-4 in the last 14 home games against teams with a winning road record.
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