Vanderbilt Visits No. 12 Kentucky Trying to End Skid

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Vanderbilt heads to Kroger Field on Saturday night needing a turnaround, and the Commodores could hardly have picked a tougher spot to look for one. They face No. 12 Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. Central, 7:30 p.m. Eastern, with the game on SEC Network.

The Commodores are 3-4 overall and 0-4 in Southeastern Conference play, the only team still winless in league games. Their four-game slide began with lopsided losses of 38-14 at Georgia and 52-17 against Ole Miss, followed by last week’s 31-21 home defeat to Arkansas.

Kentucky, meanwhile, is 6-1 and 4-1 in the SEC under first-year coach Will Stein, tied with Georgia for first place in the conference. Stein is the first Wildcats coach since 1913 to open his debut season 6-1, with wins over Texas A&M, LSU and Oklahoma. The Wildcats beat Oklahoma 21-13 on the road last weekend.

Recent history gives Vanderbilt some hope. The Commodores have taken the last two meetings and three of the last four, and they won on each of their last two visits to Lexington, 20-13 in 2024 and 24-21 in 2022. Last season they routed Kentucky 45-17 in Nashville. This is the 99th meeting overall, and Kentucky holds a 49-45-4 edge in the all-time series.

Against Arkansas, freshman quarterback Jared Curtis passed for 274 yards with one touchdown, though the Razorbacks picked him off twice. On the year, he has 1,242 passing yards, six touchdown passes and seven interceptions.

Nashville native Junior Sherrill remains the steadiest weapon in the passing game. His 628 receiving yards rank 11th in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and he has caught at least one pass in 44 consecutive games, the longest active run in FBS. He had eight receptions for 115 yards and a score in last season’s win.

Kentucky safety Jordan Castell will be a key matchup for Curtis. He leads the SEC with four interceptions, including two last weekend, and he took one of them back 41 yards for a score. On the other side, linebacker CJ Heard leads Vanderbilt with 52 tackles.

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