Monday Huddle: Another huge stretch has arrived for Kentucky football

Leaving the field after a home loss to Tennessee, the Kentucky Wildcats were 2-5 and without a win against a power conference opponent. Things were bleak for this program and tt felt like the end was near. UK entered a critical two-game stretch needing wins. They left that stretch with consecutive victories over Auburn and Florida. Now this program has some momentum.

UK enters Week 13 riding a three-game winning streak and back to .500 at 5-5 overall. The Cats have already won more games this last season and now are just one victory away from getting back to a bowl game in what felt like a lost season for the program. Things can change quickly in college football.

Now another critical two-game stretch has arrived.

Kentucky will hit the road to face ranked Vanderbilt in its SEC finale before closing out season with an away game against Louisville. UK will be an underdog in each outing. An upset will be needed to continue the positive momentum built in November.

Another huge two-week stretch has arrived for the program. What happens in these next two games could determine the direction of the program after the season. These are not boring times in Big Blue Land. Kentucky has been out of playoff contention for two months now, but the Wildcats are playing in some games that matter with stakes to close out the season.

The next opportunity has arrived. What will Kentucky do with it? KSR’s Monday Huddle is back to start another football week.

Still writing our script … ✍️ pic.twitter.com/lsotSJ9aMe

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) November 17, 2025

First Down: Kentucky will need Cutter Boley’s first strong road performance on Saturday

How did Kentucky turn this season around? Look no further than the play at quarterback. Cutter Boley took over as QB1 in Week 3 and had one strong home performance against Eastern Michigan before everything went wrong against South Carolina. UK made a scheme tweak the next week in a 35-14 loss to Georgia before entering the second bye week.

We’ve seen the young quarterback take off since then.

Boley has reached a 74 percent completion rate in 4 of 5 starts since the second bye week. The quarterback went for 330 yards and five touchdowns against Tennessee and only has eight incompletions over his last two games. At Kroger Field, the quarterback is completing 74.6 percent of hiss passes on 8.9 yards per attempt with 173 non-sack rushing yards (6.6 yards per rush) and 12 total touchdowns. The redshirt freshman has been excellent at home.

Now Kentucky needs to see that production travel.

In three career road starts, Boley owns a 59.6 percent completion rate on 5.7 yards per attempt with three total touchdowns and five interceptions. The quarterback has accumulated just 15 non-sack rushing yards in those starts. We have not seen Kroger Field Boley on the road — yet.

The young quarterback is seemingly growing with confidence every week and arguably played the two best defenses on Kentucky’s schedule away from home. That will not be the case on Saturday. UK needs the road game cold streak to end this weekend.

Vanderbilt has allowed consecutive SEC offenses to score 30-plus points. Auburn and Texas each rank below UK in offensive success rate. The Cats rank above or near each in yards per play and EPA/play. These three offenses have some similarities. That is good news for the road team entering this week.

Vandy is sub-90 in points per drive, four of the last six opposing offenses on their schedule have reached 30 points, and the Commodores rank sub-100 in EPA/dropback and passing success rate allowed. This sets up for Boley and the Kentucky passing game to have a strong performance.

The biggest weakness on the Vanderbilt team is pass defense. Kentucky has to make them pay on Saturday. That means the first big game for Cutter Boley on the road.

Second Down: Vanderbilt’s offense is the real deal

The Heisman Trophy race is still wide open. Do not be surprised if Diego Pavia steals it with a big close to the end of the season. This former junior college and New Mexico State quarterback has hit another level in year two at Vanderbilt and year four in offensive coordinator Tim Beck‘s spread option offense.

Pavia (70% completion rate, 8.9 yards per attempt, 2,440 passing yards, 676 non-sack rushing yards, 28 total touchdowns) is leading the way for one of the best offenses in college football. The Commodores currently rank No. 1 in points per drive, No. 2 in red zone touchdown percentage, No. 3 in success rate, No. 4 in yards per play, and No. 5 in third down conversion percentage. Only Alabama and Missouri have held this group under 30 points. This offense dictates the pace, makes defenses defend the mesh, and finishes drives in the paint.

The veteran quarterback is the maestro and he distributes the football to a plethora of running backs, wide receivers, and tight ends. Vanderbilt creates some formational problems that will constantly challenge the defense’s pre-snap process. They are one of the rare offenses that switches guards and tackles based on where the football is aligned.

This team will be a challenge to slow down. Meanwhile, Kentucky’s defense is extremely banged up at the moment and will be without multiple starters on Saturday afternoon. That makes a hard challenge even more difficult.

Vanderbilt is going to move the football and score points on Saturday. Kentucky just has to make sure that they do not lose every high-leverage moment in this football game. The Commodores are going to do what they do but just a few stops could be what it takes to win this game.

This is a team that still wants to play a methodical brand of football with ball control being a huge part of their winning blueprint. The same is true of Kentucky. We can expect a possession-shortened game. That means any mistakes will be magnified. A turnover or red zone stop could count for two on Saturday afternoon in Nashville.

Kentucky’s defense was lit up by Tennessee’s spread vertical passing game. However, this unit has shutdown everyone else since the second bye week. Vanderbilt will not throw the 50-yard bombs that gave UK problems against the Vols, but they will test some other weaknesses. The Commodores will make this defense tackle in space and create a ton of third-and-short situations. If the Cats struggle in either of these areas, it could be a very long day.

Three consecutive opponents have scored one offensive touchdown or less against Kentucky. That streak is ending this week. UK will need their offense to take advantage of an advantageous matchup, and the defense will have to come up big in situational football.

Pavia is a Heisman Trophy candidate for a reason.

Third Down: This is a road underdog series

Kentucky and Vanderbilt will meet on the gridiron for the 98th time on Saturday afternoon. The Cats hold a 49-44-4 lead in the series. After Vanderbilt went 16-0-1 in the first 17 meetings from 1896-1938, the Wildcats have held a 49-28-3 advantage. Mark Stoops is 8-4 against the Commodores. Clark Lea is 2-2 against the Wildcats.

This has been an underdog series.

Vanderbilt is 10-4 against the spread (ATS) against UK with most of the covers occurring as an underdog. The Cats won outright as a dog in 2017 with a 44-21 win in Nashville. Over the last 10 meetings, the underdog is 6-4 ATS with three outright upsets. UK won as a small dog in 2017. Vanderbilt won as a double-digit dog in 2022 and 2024. All of those upset wins have occurred on the road. That is something to keep in mind this week.

Vandy has not beaten Kentucky in Nashville since 2015. The Cats have won four consecutive games at FirstBank Stadium and are averaging 40.2 points per game in those wins having scored at least 34 points in each game. When the Cats have had to make a trip to Nashville, they’ve played well since the awful loss to the Commodores in 2015.

This has been an underdog and road team series. Vanderbilt has been the one to capitalize with huge wins in 2022 and 2024. The tables have been turned in 2025. Can Kentucky return the favor?

The week ahead at KSR

Game week is here, and KSR will provide the Big Blue Nation with in-depth pregame content from now until kickoff arrives on Saturday afternoon in the Music City. The penultimate game of Kentucky’s 2025 regular season has arrived.

Can the Cats play spoiler against Vanderbilt?

We will have full coverage of Mark Stoops’ press conference on Monday. From there, practice reports and daily podcasts will take over as Saturday quickly approaches. On Wednesday, the first availability report of the week will be released. Seeing the status of Kentucky’s defense will be something watch closely throughout these next few days.

Kentucky is rolling and playing with a lot of confidence entering the final two-week stretch of the season. Can the Cats now cash in on this big opportunity? We will find out over the next two games before we get to a potentially crazy offseason on Thanksgiving weekend.