Blue Preview: Your one-click guide to the Kentucky football game at Missouri
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Game day: Kentucky 34, Tennessee 7
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Tennessee football game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.
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Kentucky at Missouri
When: 4 p.m. (EDT) Saturday.
Where: Faurot Field at Memorial Stadium (normal capacity 62,621 but attendance limited to some 11,700 in 2020 because of the coronavirus).
TV: SEC Network (play-by-play Taylor Zarzour; analysis, Matt Stinchcomb; sideline, Dawn Davenport)
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1.
Satellite Radio: XM Channel 385; Sirius Channel 136
Records: Kentucky 2-2, Missouri 1-2.
Series history: Kentucky leads 7-3 (5-3 since Missouri joined the SEC in 2012) and has won five games in a row.
Last meeting: Kentucky defeated Missouri 29-7 on Oct. 26, 2019, at Kroger Field.
Line: Kentucky is favored by 5.5 points.
The story line
Coming off a streak-busting, 34-7 beat down of border rival Tennessee that snapped a skid of 17 straight UK losses at Neyland Stadium, Kentucky will seek to extend a streak when it goes for its sixth straight victory over Missouri.
The number to watch
Missouri turnovers. So far, the statistic that has most correlated to victory or defeat for Kentucky has been turnovers forced. In UK’s first two games, its defense forced no turnovers and the Wildcats fell to Auburn and Mississippi. Over UK’s two most recent games, the Cats have forced a whopping 10 turnovers — including three interceptions returned for touchdowns — and have won decisively over Mississippi State and Tennessee.
The big threat
Connor Bazelak. TCU transfer Shawn Robinson opened the season as Missouri’s starting quarterback, but after losses to Alabama (38-19) and Tennessee (35-12), new Mizzou Coach Eli Drinkwitz changed course. Redshirt freshman Bazelak, a product of Dayton, Ohio, who Kentucky recruited, got the start two Saturdays ago vs. defending national champion LSU. The 6-foot-3, 220-pounder went nuclear on Ed Orgeron’s Tigers, throwing for 406 yards and four touchdowns in Missouri’s 45-41 upset victory..
On the spot
The Kentucky offense. Presumably, a game will come where the UK defense is not putting touchdowns on the board. Should that happen Saturday, it will be incumbent on the UK offense to fill the void. After six straight flat quarters vs. Mississippi State and Tennessee, the play of quarterback Terry Wilson and the UK attack in the second half at UT — when the Cats scored two TDs and a field goal on their first three drives after intermission — was encouraging.
The mood
Is beyond giddy. Kentucky backers of all ages had waited a lifetime to put a football smack down on Tennessee like the Cats delivered this past Saturday. To do it in Knoxville made it even better. The challenge for Stoops and troops now will be putting the euphoria of crushing the Big Orange behind and getting ready for a Missouri team with multiple reasons to be highly motivated to beat UK.
This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 11:10 AM.
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