Fresh off an incredible last second win against the Tennessee Vols, the No. 20 ranked Florida Gators will hit the road for Lexington where the program will look to snare its 31st straight win against the Kentucky Wildcats. Yes, you read that right. The Florida Gators 30 straight wins currently checks in as the fifth longest streak in college football. This is however the shortest spread in decades, so it’s possible some history is made on Saturday night.
This contest in Week 4 of the regular season will go down Saturday, September 23, 2017, at 7:30 p.m. ET at Commonwealth Stadium. This game will be broadcast live on the SEC Network.
College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
Florida -2.5
Kentucky +2.5
O/U 47
Odds Analysis
There’s been a bit of reverse line movement for this clash with the Gators down to 2-point chalk even though better than 72 percent of the tickets written through Tuesday is backing them as road chalk. Kentucky feels it has as good a shot as ever to finally snap its arduous losing streak to the Gators, so don’t look for much more line movement leading up to kickoff.
Total bettors expect a low scorer to play out in this one with the opening line of 47 bet down to 44. With both squads limited offensively, it hardly comes as a surprise to see a whopping 83.3 percent of the handle riding the under. The last two times these clubs squared off in the Bluegrass State, the final scores combined for an average of just 27.0 points per game. This number will only go lower as the game nears.
Last Meeting
The Gators 30th straight win was an ugly affair for the Wildcats last season. Kentucky entered the fray confident even though it closed as a 14-point underdog, but then went on to get pummeled 45-7 in a game it didn’t hit the scoreboard until four-plus minutes remained in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats were held to a meager 149 total yards of offense, turned the ball over four times, and lost the time of possession battle by nearly 15 minutes. The defeat was a tough one for the Wildcats to swallow after only losing the previous two installments by an average of 5.5 points per game.
Matchup to Watch
The Gators secondary has given up its fair share of yards this season, an average of 238.5 per game to be exact ( No. 79 ), but it’s also been tremendous at forcing turnovers. Through two games, Florida’s secondary has produced more touchdowns than the offense. That speaks volumes about how tough the offense has had it, but it also lets all opposition know just how dangerous it truly is to try and squeeze one home against this stop unit.
Florida picked off Kentucky three times in last year’s runaway victory. It will be up to Stephen Johnson to not let that occur if the Wildcats are to have any shot of finally snapping their three-decade long losing streak. To date, Johnson has only thrown one errant pass, but has also only thrown a pair of touchdowns. He’ll need to be a game manager more than anything else. If he prevents Florida from forcing miscues, his club will have a much better chance to win the game and actually make a run at the SEC East title.
Free ATS Pick
Thirty straight years is a long freaking time to continue losing to the same opponent. It takes a toll on a team’s psyche. Once something goes wrong, it’s going to be tough for the Wildcats to not hang their heads. While this might be a different bunch, I refuse to mess with the streak. Florida is going to find a way to force turnovers. That’s what it does. And Kentucky has shown very little offensively to lead me to believe it will be able to dominate the line of scrimmage. Especially with the Gators already registering six sacks and 16 tackles for loss through two games. All it’s going to take to win this game is for the visitors to snag a lead. Once they do that, the defense should be able to do the rest.
College Football Odds: Gators 19, Wildcats 13
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook!
