Kentucky vs. Ole Miss: Prediction and preview

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops makes his first trip to Ole Miss this week as the Wildcats and Rebels look to establish themselves as teams to watch in the SEC. This is a showdown of 4-0 teams, as the Wildcats are ranked No. 7 in the AP Top 25 poll, and the Rebels are ranked 14th.

Ole Miss has won 2 straight in the series, and leads the all-time mark 28-14-1. The teams haven’t played in Oxford since 2010 when Joker Phillips and Houston Nutt coached in the game.

It’s also a historic game in other ways. UK’s No. 7 ranking is the highest the Cats have climbed in the AP Top 25 poll since 1977. What’s more, it’s the first meeting between a ranked Kentucky team and a ranked Ole Miss team since 1958.

Kentucky vs. Ole Miss: Prediction and preview

One key storyline is that Kentucky gets star running back Chris Rodriguez back from a 4-game absence following a May DUI arrest. Ole Miss, however, has a 3-pronged approach running the ball that impresses Stoops.

Ole Miss leads the SEC and ranks No. 4 in FBS with 280.8 rushing yards per game.

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“I think they’re very aggressive. Their tempo definitely puts pressure on you,” Stoops said. “It’s a credit to (Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin) because you can see how the way they are adjusting and how creative they are in their run game this year because they have very talented running backs. They are very complex and creative with the way they’re creating space, and then the play action off of it.”

While Kentucky is 4-0, there have been questions about the vaunted “Big Blue Wall” offensive line, which has left something to be desired this season. That’s perhaps one reason why the Cats have averaged just 81.5 yards on the ground, 123rd out of 131 FBS programs.

Enter Rodriguez, who rushed for 1,379 yards in 2021 and is currently sixth on the Cats all-time list with 2,740 yards.

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“For Chris, he just needs to be himself,” Stoops said at his weekly press conference. “He doesn’t need to come in and be our savior or anything like that or save our run game – any of that. We don’t need him to worry about that, we just need him to be him. And, we need the people around him, the other guys around him that are playing, to do their job and to strain and to do things better in certain moments.”

Added Kiffin, “Obviously that’s huge for them,” said Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin of Rodriguez during the SEC coaches teleconference Wednesday. “Getting a guy fresh who has played that position a lot. … It’s very challenging. We’re going to have to play the run a lot better than we did last week.”

Prediction: Ole Miss 28, Kentucky 21