Kentucky reaches midpoint at 5-1 ahead of Oklahoma trip, KSR says it has beaten expectations

Kentucky has reached the halfway point of its schedule at 5-1, a record that has gone past what most people expected from the Wildcats this fall. In a midseason column for KSR on On3, Jeff Drummond picks out four Kentucky players whose play has done the most to make that possible.

The full player-by-player breakdown is behind KSR's subscriber paywall. The parts that are public make the main point plain: six games into Will Stein's season, the Wildcats are ahead of schedule. The article's lead photo shows linebacker Sam Greene running down an LSU ballcarrier in Kentucky's 35-34 overtime win over the Tigers on Oct. 10 at Kroger Field in Lexington.

That one-point win over LSU is the reason this midseason check-in reads more like a progress report than a rescue mission. Beating an LSU team in overtime at home gave Kentucky its biggest result of the season. It also pushed the Wildcats to No. 15, and it changed how the second half of the schedule looks. A team that started the year with modest expectations now has a ranking to defend and a real chance at a strong finish in SEC play.

The second half starts with a tough road game. Kentucky plays at Oklahoma on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern on SEC Network. Stein spent his Tuesday press luncheon on Sooners week, and KSR's preview coverage has focused on Oklahoma's defense as the main obstacle for the Wildcats.

The ranking hasn't made Kentucky the favorite. The Sooners are 3-2, but the market still likes them at home. Oklahoma is favored at -233 on Novig, one of the venues pricing the game, and the best sportsbook price on the Sooners is -258 at DraftKings. The spread has Oklahoma favored by 6.5 points, and the total is 43.5. That total points to a lower-scoring game than the shootout Kentucky played with LSU. Full pricing is on the Kentucky at Oklahoma odds page.

That leaves a ranked 5-1 team as close to a touchdown underdog against a team with two losses. The gap reflects Oklahoma's home field and a feeling that Kentucky's record may be a little ahead of its roster. The Wildcats have already won close games, and the LSU win came down to the final possession in overtime. Winning in Norman would be a stronger sign than anything they did in the first half of the season that the surprise is real.

The midseason honor roll Drummond lays out for KSR is a reminder of how Kentucky got here: players outperforming their billing in a season that has gone better than planned. Saturday night will show whether they can keep that going on the road against a program the market still rates above them.