NIU at Kentucky - 9/24/22 College Football Picks and Prediction
The Northern Illinois Huskies and Kentucky Wildcats meet Saturday in week 4 college football action at Kroger Field. The Northern Illinois Huskies look to get back to a .500 record. The Kentucky Wildcats look for back-to-back 4-0 starts.
The Northern Illinois Huskies have split their last 6 road games. Rocky Lombardi is completing 65 percent of his passes for 530 yards, 5 touchdowns and 1 interception. Cole Tucker and Shemar Thornton have combined for 427 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns, while Kacper Rutkiewicz has 6 receptions. The Northern Illinois Huskies ground game is averaging 154.7 yards per contest, and Antario Brown leads the way with 203 yards and 3 touchdowns. Defensively, Northern Illinois is allowing 34.3 points and 432.7 yards per game. Daveren Rayner leads the Northern Illinois Huskies with 32 tackles, Raishein Thomas has 1.5 sacks and Eric Rogers has 2 interceptions.
The Kentucky Wildcats have won 10 of their last 11 home games. Will Levis is completing 67 percent of his passes for 882 yards, 6 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Dane Key and Tayvion Robinson have combined for 428 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns, while Barion Brown has 9 receptions. The Kentucky Wildcats ground game is averaging 87.3 yards per contest, and Kavosiey Smoke leads the way with 178 yards and 1 touchdown. Defensively, Kentucky is allowing 9.7 points and 253.7 yards per game. J.J. Weaver leads the Kentucky Wildcats with 15 tackles, Darrion Henry-Young has 1 sack and Keidron Smith has 1 interception.
The Huskies are 43-19-2 ATS in their last 64 road games and 6-2 ATS vs. a team with a winning record. The Wildcats are 18-7-1 ATS in their last 26 home games and 5-0-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall. The over is 4-0 in Huskies last 4 games overall. The under is 4-0 in Wildcats last 4 games overall.
The Northern Illinois Huskies are below average on both sides of the ball, and now they're going up against their toughest matchup yet. The Kentucky Wildcats do have a bit of a look ahead spot with Ole Miss on deck next week, but they have the talent on both sides of the ball to give NIU some serious issues. Vanderbilt dropped 38 against the Huskies, so I can only imagine with Kentucky could do if it really wanted to. I'll lay the chalk with the home team.
AUTHOR: Randy Chambers

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