The Southern Line
No. 10 LSU at Kentucky: Tigers Carry the Ranking Into Kroger Field
A two-loss top-10 LSU visits a 5-1 Kentucky team with the better record, and the noon kickoff will test which résumé holds up.
No. 10 LSU arrives at Kroger Field on Saturday with the ranking, but Kentucky arrives with the better record. The Tigers are 4-2 and already carrying two losses into the middle of October. Another one would make it hard to stay in the top 10. Kentucky is 5-1 and playing at home, and that gives the Wildcats a real chance to be taken seriously in the conference race. Kickoff is set for noon ET on ESPN.
The question is whether LSU's talent edge outweighs what the records say. The Tigers have been ranked all along despite their two defeats, and that tells you how highly the pollsters rate their roster. Kentucky has played its way into this spot by winning the games in front of it. An early kickoff at home, in front of a crowd that has watched its team win five of six, takes away some of the comfort a road favorite usually has.
No individual players are listed on this week's board, so this one looks like a team matchup. For LSU, the job is to show that its losses were the exception. For Kentucky, the job is to show that its record means something against a ranked opponent. The team that controls the line of scrimmage and avoids short fields should have the advantage in what the market expects to be a game with plenty of points.
The market still trusts LSU. The Tigers are 10.5-point favorites, and the total sits at 59.5. That line says the Tigers are expected to win comfortably on the road. Kentucky's record suggests the home team will see it differently, and the gap between those two views is what makes this game worth watching.
