No. 10 LSU plays its first road game in three weeks on Saturday night at Kentucky, with kickoff set for 7 p.m. ET at Kroger Field in Lexington on ESPN. The Tigers are 4-1 and 1-1 in the SEC under Lane Kiffin. Kentucky, 4-1 and 2-1 in league play under first-year head coach Will Stein, is playing its homecoming game. The Wildcats rallied from a 17-0 deficit to beat South Carolina 35-34 in overtime last week, then dropped from No. 24 out of the AP poll and now sit first among unranked teams receiving votes, Field Level Media reported.
LSU's biggest question is the health of quarterback Sam Leavitt. He hurt his hamstring in the 35-6 win over Texas A&M two weeks ago and played through it in last week's 63-14 win over McNeese, staying in the pocket and sitting out the second half, according to Field Level Media and Saturday Down South. "I'll be 100% by Saturday. It was a super light hamstring thing," Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. When healthy, his legs are a weapon: he has run 45 times for 220 yards and six touchdowns, though he has also been intercepted seven times in five games, Sports Illustrated noted. LSU leads the SEC in total defense at 220.6 yards allowed per game and in total offense at 547.8, but it will again be without linebacker Whit Weeks and tight end Trey'Dez Green, both sidelined indefinitely. LSU's only loss came 32-24 at Ole Miss on Sept. 19, its most recent road trip.
Kentucky has shown it can win away from home, beating then-No. 9 Texas A&M 31-21 in College Station on Sept. 19 after opening SEC play with a home loss to Alabama. Quarterback Kenny Minchey averages 229.6 passing yards per game, sixth in the SEC and one spot behind Leavitt. The Wildcats' defense is depleted, though. Defensive tackle Kalen Edwards was downgraded to out on the final injury report, joining linebackers Alex Afari, Tavion Wallace and Antwan Smith and defensive backs Jaden Smith and Grant Grayton, according to A Sea of Blue. Afari is healthy but is being held out over an eligibility dispute following a Kentucky Court of Appeals decision, 247Sports reported. "(Winning) is crazy hard in the SEC," Stein said this week.
Sportsbooks have LSU as a clear favorite, with Kentucky a 9.5-point underdog at home, according to Sports Illustrated. Prediction markets agree. On Kalshi, Kentucky's contract to win traded near 26 cents on Saturday afternoon, about a 26% chance, leaving LSU near 74%. That is roughly a one-in-four chance for a home team that has already won at Texas A&M this season.
This is LSU's first trip to Lexington since 2021, when then-No. 16 Kentucky won 42-21. Before that, the Tigers had not played at Kentucky since their 2007 national championship season, when the Wildcats beat No. 1 LSU 43-37 in triple overtime, according to LSU athletics. A Kentucky win would move the Wildcats to 3-1 in SEC play and, as Field Level Media put it, give them a compelling case to return to the Top 25. An LSU win would lift the Tigers to 2-1 in the conference. The final is expected late Saturday night Eastern time.
