kentucky
Free NCAA Football Prediction: Missouri Tigers vs. Kentucky Wildcats Odds
Looking for Missouri Tigers vs. Kentucky Wildcats free picks? College football betting sees the Tigers taking on the Wildcats on September 11, 2021, at Kroger Field in Lexington, KY. Cappers Picks provides complimentary handicapping picks all NCAA football season long so stay tuned for more FREE college football game Week 2 predictions like this Tigers Wildcats free pick.
College Football Handicapping Analysis: Week 2
Missouri Tigers (1-0) vs. Kentucky Wildcats (1-0)
Date: Saturday, September 11, 2021
Time: 7:30 pm EST
Venue: Kroger Field
NCAA Football ATS Spread Odds: Missouri +5 / Kentucky -5
NCAA Football Moneyline Odds: Missouri +175 / Kentucky -190
NCAA Betting Total Odds: O/U 56
Week 2 college football sees the Tigers and Wildcats meeting at Kroger Field.
The Missouri Tigers and Kentucky Wildcats each came away with opening day wins to start the 2021 campaign 1 – 0. The Tigers prevailed 38 – 28 over Central Michigan and the Cats conquered LA Monroe, 45 -10.
We have a line move on this total as it opened at 52.5, and as you can now see it is up 3.5 points to 56. Might the public be expecting a good bit of points to come this Saturday, or is it really too early to tell? This is obviously a big game for both programs being a conference game early in the season, although they each will play cupcakes next weekend before really getting into the SEC portion of the slate.
The Wildcats are favored by 5 points in this SEC matchup with a 56 showing on the total. A win for either program will put them in a position to potentially be 3 – 0 to start the 2020 season, so there will be a battle to watch on Saturday at Kroger Field.
Missouri Tigers
The Tigers are 1 – 4 ATS in their last 5 season road openers and they certainly want to avoid seeing that trend go any further in the wrong direction to start 2021. Missouri was 1 – 4 on the road overall last season although they did have to face 3 teams ranked in the top-10 (All losses).
Missouri had all they can handle last weekend against the Chippewas despite being favored to win by 14 points. A 38 – 28 win looks good enough on paper but there are some concerns to be addressed for head coach Eliah Drinkwitz.
The Chipps were up 14 – 7 early and it was a 24 – 21 game in the 4th quarter before the Tigers finally pulled away to win by 10. Tiger QB Connor Bazelak had some tough moments but overall he stayed composed even in a tight game. Bazelak ended the game 21 of 32 with 257 passing yards and 2 TD passes, but his relief came in the fun game. Tyler Badie picked up 203 rushing yards, added 40 yards receiving, and picked up a score in the passing game.
In all, Bazelak connected with 9 different pass catchers and the team committed zero turnovers in the win.
The defense was the difference in the game, as they picked off Jacob Sirman twice while causing three fumbles in the game.
Kentucky Wildcats
Kentucky has appeared in 5 straight bowl games under head coach Mark Stoops, this being his 9th year with the team. Last season they were awarded a bowl bid despite only holding a 4 – 6 regular-season record. Their 5th win of 2020 came against N.C State in the Gator Bowl, 23 – 21, as the Wolfpack were ranked 23rd in the Nation at 8 – 3 out of the ACC.
The Cats picked up a 45 – 10 win to start 2021 cruising past LA Monroe out of the Sun Belt Conference. Favored by 31 points.
Junior QB Will Levis looked like he had everything working as he threw for 4 TD and 367 passing yards in the win. There was chatter that incoming Freshman Beau Allen might give Lewis a fight for the starter’s role, but Allen still got some time on the field last weekend. Allen threw 7 passes and complete 4 of them for 62 yards. Neither QB has much to add, if anything, to the run game, however, so the protection upfront will be huge for Kentucky this season. Levis only needs 54 passing yards to put up his best season, being that he was a backup at Penn State for two years before transferring over to the Cats.
Levis put up 421 passing yards in the entirety of 2020 and threw for 367 yards in the season opener last weekend as mentioned.
Chris Rodriguez Jr. had a heck of an opening game against Monroe running for 125 yards on 19 carries. C-Rod saw the bulk of the rushes with 19 for the game as Smoke and Drennan combined for 32 yards on 8 carries.
Levis had a pair of receivers go over the century mark in the win and Isaiah Epps almost reached the number too with 83 yards. Josh Ali and Wan’Dale Robinson combined to catch 10 balls for 3 scores gaining 261 receiving yards (136 & 125 resp.)
Kentucky has been pounding out linemen to the NFL for the past few seasons and they have some big boys up front to rely on. In all honesty, this might actually be seen as a work in progress IMO because they lost two of their highly touted linemen to the NFL. We will see if this becomes an issue over time and I surmise that there will be some issues on the offensive line as 2021 rolls on.
Defensively? Well, DC Brad White has plenty of NFL connections, but Kentucky only got 5 guys back from last season. I think this will be a sore spot for the Cats this year and seeing them favored by 5 points makes me think one way? We’re going dog, baby!
NCAA Football Handicapping Trends
- Tigers are 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games in September.
- Under is 5-0 in Tiger’s last 5 games as a road underdog.
- Under is 7-1 in Tiger’s last 8 road games.
- Under is 6-1 in the last 7 meetings.
- The underdog is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 meetings.
- Under is 19-7 in Wildcats last 26 conference games.
Free Week 2 NCAA Football Pick
There are a lot of under trends pointing to that total but I am a thinkdog kind of guy. Give me points in a big game like this with a Missouri team I feel is tougher then the Cats
4* Free Week 2 NCAA Betting Pick:
Missouri +5 is where your action is going on Saturday although I expect them to outright take this win. When Vegas gives you points and you like that dog to bark you pounce on it!
4* Free Week 2 NCAA Betting Pick: Missouri +5
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