Kentucky football heads into Week 3 with Will Stein taking the Wildcats on the road for the first time as coach, and the assignment is a big one. UK (1-1, 0-1 SEC) visits No.
9 Texas A&M (2-0, 0-0 SEC) on Saturday at Kyle Field, which holds 102,733, with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN.
But for Kentucky fans building a weekend viewing plan, the rest of the slate is loaded with storylines that reach far beyond Lexington.
The most charged game on the board is the one in Oxford. Former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin is headed back to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium as LSU’s head coach, and the reunion figures to be one of the most emotionally raw scenes in college sports history.
Kiffin left the Rebels after the 2025 regular season ended to take the job at bitter rival LSU, even as Ole Miss was preparing for its first College Football Playoff appearance. Mississippi fans have been waiting for this return ever since.
No. 7 LSU at No.
8 Ole Miss is set for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EDT on ABC.
There’s also a showdown of two familiar names trying to climb back toward old heights when North Carolina visits Clemson at noon EDT on ESPN. UNC coach Bill Belichick, a six-time Super Bowl winner in the NFL, will match wits with Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, who has won two college national championships.
Another big national game comes in Tuscaloosa, where Florida State gets a second crack at Alabama after last season’s opener. The Seminoles shocked Alabama 31-17 in the first game of the season a year ago, but that result didn’t carry over; Florida State finished 5-7 while Alabama went 11-4 and reached the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.
The rematch is Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EDT on ABC.
There are also several games involving former Kentucky players and coaches. Jon Sumrall, once a Kentucky linebacker and assistant coach, was linked to Auburn late in the 2025 season before taking the Florida job instead. On Saturday at 7 p.m., he brings Florida (2-0, 0-0 SEC) into Jordan-Hare Stadium to face Auburn and coach Alex Golesh, the hire the Tigers made instead.
Gerad Parker, the former Kentucky wide receiver and graduate assistant, will lead Troy (2-0, 0-0 Sun Belt) into a road test at No. 20 Missouri (2-0, 0-0 SEC) at 7 p.m.
EDT Saturday on ESPN+. The Trojans will be looking for the kind of upset they pulled in 2017 at LSU and in 2018 at Nebraska under Neal Brown.
Brown, another former UK wide receiver and offensive coordinator, has North Texas (1-1, 0-1 American) on the road against Texas State (0-2, 0-0 Pac-12) at noon EDT Saturday, with the game streaming on usanetwork.com.
Among former Cats on the field, Cutter Boley has been rolling for Arizona State. Through two games, the former Kentucky quarterback is averaging 320.5 passing yards per game, completing 68.9% of his throws and throwing eight touchdown passes against two interceptions. The Sun Devils (1-1, 0-0 Big 12) will take that production international when they face Kansas (1-1, 0-0 Big 12) in London, England, on Saturday at noon on FS1.
South Carolina’s Tomiwa Durojaiye, who played in three games for Kentucky in 2022 while redshirting as a freshman before later stops at West Virginia, Florida State and Illinois, has opened strong with seven tackles and a sack in two games. The Gamecocks (2-0, 0-0 SEC) face Mississippi State and quarterback Kamario Taylor on Saturday at 4:15 p.m. EDT on the SEC Network.
Former UK defensive end Darrion Henry-Young is now at Virginia, where he has six tackles in two games. The No.
25 Cavaliers (2-0, 1-0 ACC) meet West Virginia (2-0, 0-0 Big 12) in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EDT on the ACC Network.
Around Kentucky’s other major programs, No. 23 Louisville (1-1, 0-0 ACC) gets a potentially pivotal ACC game at home against No.
16 SMU (2-0, 1-0 ACC) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EDT on ESPN2.
No. 15 Tennessee (2-0, 0-0 SEC) finishes its non-league slate when Kennesaw State (1-1, 0-0 C-USA) comes to Neyland Stadium on Saturday at 7:45 p.m.
EDT on the SEC Network.
Elsewhere among Division I teams from Kentucky, Western Kentucky (0-2, 0-0 C-USA) goes to defending national champion and No. 4 Indiana (2-0, 0-0 Big Ten) on Saturday at 4 p.m. on Peacock after last week’s 70-20 loss at No. 2 Georgia.
Murray State (1-2, 0-0 MVFC) visits Oklahoma State (1-1, 0-0 Big 12) on Saturday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+, and the Racers will receive a $450,000 guarantee for the game. Eastern Kentucky (1-2, 0-0 UAC) hosts Dayton (2-0, 0-0 Pioneer League) at 6 p.m.
EDT Saturday on ESPN+, while Morehead State (1-2, 0-0 Pioneer League) plays at Western Illinois (1-2, 0-0 OVC) at 7 p.m. EDT on ESPN+.
On the small-college side, No. 5 Lindsey Wilson (3-0, 0-0 Mid-South Conference) travels to No.
14 St. Thomas (Florida) (3-0, 0-0 Sun Conference) in a matchup of NAIA powers Saturday at noon EDT on the Sun Digital Network.
The University of Pikeville (2-1, 0-0 Appalachian Athletic Conference) goes to Cumberland University (Tennessee) (1-1, 0-0 MSC) on Saturday at 7 p.m. EDT, and Kentucky State (2-1, 2-0 SIAC) hosts Saginaw Valley State (2-1, 0-0 GLIAC) at 2 p.m. The Kentucky State game will be streamed on the SIAC Network.
In Other News...
Kentucky Just Drew A Clear Line In College Sports Chaos
Amid the churn in college sports, Kentucky is trying to make its position look a lot less messy. At the Champions Blue Board of Governors meeting on Sept. 17, university president Eli Capilouto again backed the Protect College Sports Act and put the emphasis on following Southeastern Conference rules, with athletics director J Batt echoing the same message about federal guidelines carrying more weight than a patchwork of state laws and court rulings.
The timing matters because the SEC has already moved to tighten its own house, recently voting to enforce transfer rules and bar former professional players from competing in the league. For Kentucky, the stance is less about slogans than about drawing a line on how the sport should be governed, even as the wider landscape keeps shifting around it. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Heads Into Texas A&M With One Huge Test Of Its Depth
Kentucky heads to No. 9 Texas A&M this week carrying the kind of availability questions that tend to matter even more in an SEC road game. The Wildcats are working through a list of players who are either ruled out or questionable, and that makes the lineup worth watching as the staff tries to sort out who can help in a tough matchup away from home.
There is at least a little good news on the defensive side, with Terhyon Nichols expected back at cornerback and Alex Afari Jr. available after missing the previous game. Still, the bigger picture is clear enough: Kentucky is a 16.5-point underdog, and Kenny Minchey is set for his first SEC road start at quarterback, which gives this trip to Texas A&M an added layer of pressure and uncertainty. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Gets An Early Warning On Two Defensive Names Vs Texas A&M
The first SEC availability report of the season has already given Kentucky a clearer picture of what Saturday could look like against Texas A&M, even before the Wildcats get to game weeks late updates. Under the leagues new 2024 policy, schools now have to submit official player statuses each Wednesday and keep refining them through kickoff, which means the early read on this matchup matters a little more than it used to.
For Kentucky, the initial list includes several familiar names in different categories, with the most notable defensive concerns landing in the questionable column. Texas A&M has its own injury watch list to manage as well, so both sides are dealing with uncertainty before the teams even get to College Station. The Wildcats will keep tracking the report as the week goes on, but this first snapshot already hints that availability could shape how this SEC opener unfolds. [Read more 🡒]