Staff Predictions: Kentucky-Florida
There’s a quick pivot from basketball to football at Cats Illustrated. On Saturday night the Wildcats play host to the Florida Gators. For Mark Stoops and the ’25 Cats its a chance to build the program’s first real momentum in a long time after the win at Auburn last week.
Florida opened as a 4.5-point favorite and the line has moved to UF -3.5. While the Gators and DJ Lagway cruised against Kentucky last year this is a series that Mark Stoops has navigated better than anyone before him in a long time.
Cats Illustrated writers Jeff Drummond and Justin Rowland share their takes on the game.
What are the main reasons for Kentucky fans to be optimistic about the matchup?
Jeff Drummond: The Cats enter this matchup with some good momentum for the first time in a long time, coming off the hard-fought road win at Auburn. The offense did not light up the scoreboard in that victory, but it continues to show signs of improvement with Cutter Boley at quarterback and some playmakers starting to emerge in the receiver corps. The defense has been up and down, but last week was a fantastic showing, and the Cats have generally done well against opponents like Florida that don’t score a ton of points. The Gators has scored 16, 10, 7, 17, and 20 in their five losses. One also has to ponder how much Florida has left in the tank after playing a gauntlet of a schedule that ultimately led to head coach Billy Napier getting fired.
Justin Rowland: Florida is 3-5 on the season, its head coach is gone, and Kentucky has fared well in the series over the past decade. Nobody would be surprised if Kentucky beats Florida. That means there isn’t a track record of any kind of difficult mental hurdle to clear. It’s just going to be about the matchup and protecting home field. Really, these teams have been pretty similar this year. They don’t play the same way but in terms of overall results there’s a lot that’s comparable. This looks like a true 50/50 game to me.
What are the main reasons for Kentucky fans to be concerned?
Drummond: The supporting cast played tremendously tonight. There were so many guys who had great moments. Collin Chandler is showing he can be a major difference maker as early as this year, at least some nights. Denzel Aberdeen got to the line and had an extremely efficient game. Go right down the list and when you have an offensive game like Kentucky did it was about way more than one or two guys playing at a high level. This was a team that came in focused and unselfish.
Rowland: Florida is a 3.5-point road favorite which means they would probably be favored by almost or roughly a touchdown on a neutral field. That means there’s a widespread belief that the Gators are indeed a better team than Kentucky. Cutter Boley has done enough over the last month that fans can reasonably hope that he can lead them to victory in a game like this. And what Kentucky’s defense did last week against Auburn definitely inspires some confidence on that side of the ball.
What’s your game prediction and who will be Kentucky’s MVP?
Drummond: Kentucky 23, Florida 19 — The Cats have won four of the last seven in a series once thoroughly dominated by the Gators. I see another W in the works for UK. Willie Rodriguez catches a pair of TD passes from Cutter Boley to earn MVP honors.
Rowland: Florida 23, Kentucky 20. I could definitely see this going either way but think the Gators have been a little better when you look at the entire body of work. I don’t put too much into what DJ Lagway did last year because he hasn’t done that this season, but the Gators nearly beat Georgia last week while Kentucky had a close one against Auburn.
