Even in what might turn into a historic season, Kentucky remains the target of disrespect from many college football insiders and apparently, Las Vegas oddsmakers. Going into College Station on Saturday as an unbeaten No. 13 ranked squad facing a 3-2 team that is unranked, the Wildcats are … a 6-point underdog?

Much of cause for concern on Kentucky’s side of things lies with the matchup. Kentucky’s bread and butter has been its ground game, while leads the SEC with 254.8 yards per game, 5.8 yards per carry, and 16 rushing touchdowns. However, the SEC’s leading rush defense is, of course, Texas A&M, which despite having already played Alabama and Clemson, is surrendering just 80.6 rushing yards per game and holds opposing runners to 3.1 yards per carry.

Accordingly, Kentucky figures to have to rely on its passing game.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, that’s still something of a mystery. Led by sophomore JUCO QB Terry Wilson, Kentucky has passed for just 153 yards per game, which is not only last in the SEC, but trails 13th place Tennessee by almost 30 yards. The news isn’t quite as bad as it seems, though.

For one thing, Kentucky flat out hasn’t needed to throw much. The Wildcats have trailed for only 29 total minutes in their first five games. Accordingly, the team has teed up just 108 pass attempts, second-fewest in the SEC. Kentucky’s passing efficiency is 12th in the conference, but it is within another good pass or two of teams like LSU, Auburn, and South Carolina.

Meanwhile, A&M is last in the SEC in pass defense efficiency. The Aggies give up over 272 yards per game in the air and have allowed 9 passing touchdowns while claiming only 2 interceptions.

Given all of the above, with Kentucky an underdog for the third consecutive week, it looks like this is the game where Terry Wilson will be called on to assume a bigger role. How that plays out is anyone’s guess.

Wilson has been electrifying and horrifying at times in his first five games. The best clues to his performance for this week probably came in the Wildcats’ Week 2 victory at Florida.

Wilson was 11-for-16 passing for 151 yards in that game, including both of his touchdown passes of the season. The bomb he threw to Lynn Bowden in the third quarter might have been the defining play of the game.

Wilson also rushed for 105 yards, a season high. His running was particularly pivotal in helping Kentucky pick up difficult first downs, such as this play early in the second half.

But all was not peaches and cream for Wilson, who threw a costly interception late in the first half with Kentucky in the red zone, and also lost a fumble on the edge of field goal range. ESPN analysts were questioning whether Mark Stoops would keep him in the game after that pair of errors.

It has been fascinating watching Wilson’s development across five games. In the opener against Central Michigan, he turned the ball over four times and perhaps more memorably, hit a defender in coverage squarely in the back on a fourth-down attempt.

From there, he has seemingly grown increasingly comfortable, making plays outside the pocket and growing more adept as a passer, checking down to second and third options on his relatively infrequent pass attempts.

The biggest question for a Kentucky team that has pounded opponents into submission is what will happen when games rely on Wilson completing passes?

Two weeks ago, after Kentucky knocked off Mississippi State, Stoops alluded to “knocking down doors” in his postgame press conference. Indeed, in September, Kentucky had to overcome a 31-year losing streak to Florida, a historic inability to stop running quarterbacks, and in the month’s last week, the possibility of continuing to play well after success.

October could be either a continuation of a historically strong season or a completely different story for the Wildcats. But the next door to knock down appears to be the one that suggests that Kentucky can’t win a pivotal SEC game on Terry Wilson’s arm. If Kentucky breaks down that one, the no respect door can’t be far behind.