The Eastern Michigan Eagles and the Kentucky Wildcats meet Saturday in college football action from Kroger Field. Here’s a Kentucky vs Eastern Michigan prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Kentucky vs Eastern Michigan pick.
Eastern Michigan Eagles Betting Preview
The Eagles’ season kicked off with a tricky road matchup versus Texas State. Eastern Michigan was within a touchdown 24-17 by the end of the first half, but ended up surrendering double-digit points in all four quarters during a 52-27 defeat. QB Noah Kim was 23-of-34 for 248 yards and a touchdown. Dontae McMillan led the rush with nine carries for 78 yards in the losing effort, while both Joey Mattord (five carries; 38 yards) and Tavierre Dunlap (10 carries; 33 yards) each had a touchdown rushing. Topping the receivers was Terry Lockett with five catches for 62 yards. Joshua Long caught the touchdown among his three grabs for 31 yards.
The Eagles played LIU in their second game of the season. In that one Eastern Michigan suffered another rough outing. After going into the fourth quarter down 14-10, the Eagles gave up another two scores for a 28-23 defeat. Kim was 18-of-29 for 189 yards and two touchdowns this time, and McMillan had eight carries for 58 yards and a touchdown. Lockett was the top receiver for the Eagles this time, with 78 yards on eight catches. McMillan also had a 33-yard receiving score that put him in second place among the pass-catchers.
Kentucky Wildcats Betting Preview
Over on the Kentucky side, they were up on Toledo 10-2 by the end of the third quarter during their opening game this year. The Wildcats plowed through an active 14-14 fourth on the way to a 24-16 win that was a bit too close for comfort. In any case, Zach Calzada had a rough day passing with a 10-of-23 line for just 85 yards and an interception—but did post a rushing score. Dante Dowdell put up 14 carries for 129 yards and a score, while Seth McGowan rushed 18 times for 78 yards and a TD of his own. Leading the charge among the receivers was Josh Kattus with three catches for 43 yards. Willie Rodriguez added two grabs for 31 yards as well.
Matched up against Ole Miss in game two last Saturday, the Wildcats had an early lead before surrendering 17 points in the second quarter. Kentucky scored another 10 points from there but still fell 30-23 in a tough result. Calzada was 15-of-30 for 149 yards this time, and McGowan rushed 15 times for 93 yards and two touchdowns. Ja’Mori Maclin caught two balls for 56 yards, and Hardley Gilmore had two catches for 54 yards.
Eastern Michigan Eagles @ Kentucky Wildcats Betting Trends: Week 3
Kentucky Wildcats Player Prop Facts
- Heading into Week 3, Ty Bryant ranks T2nd amongst FBS players for interceptions (2) this season.
Eastern Michigan Eagles Player Prop Facts
- Heading into Week 3, Ben Prosper ranks T1st amongst qualified players for catch rate (100.0%) this season.
Matchup/League Facts
- Kentucky ranks T1st among FBS teams for Q1 opponent points per game this season (0.0).
- Kentucky ranks T7th among FBS teams for interceptions this season (3).
- Eastern Michigan ranks T1st among FBS teams for red zone percentage this season (100.0).
- Eastern Michigan ranks 135th among FBS teams for rushing yards allowed per game this season (311.5).
Kentucky vs Eastern Michigan Prediction
I’ll lean toward Kentucky but it’s probably not worth messing with. The Wildcats posted two takeaways and held Ole Miss to just 3-of-13 on third-down tries last weekend, but the 455 total yards (220 rushing) and 6.3 yards per play really stuck out. The offense was nothing special themselves, with a tepid 187 pass yards and a 5-of-16 success rate on third downs. It was a pretty uninspired performance.
As for Eastern Michigan, they played a pretty lousy game against a surprising LIU squad last weekend. The Eagles mustered 311 yards (189 passing) with 5.8 yards per play, zero penalties and zero turnovers, so you would think the scoreboard would look a little better. The trouble for the offense came on third downs (5-of-12) and lack of ball control (22:07 in time of possession. On the other side, EMU allowed 11-of-17 on third downs, 479 yards overall (231 rushing) and 6.9 yards per play. Things aren’t going to get easier this weekend, that’s for sure.