Monday Headlines: Big Blue Madness & Vanderbilt Week

NCAA Football: Kentucky at Vanderbilt — Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

This is a huge week for Kentucky basketball & football.

It’s homecoming week in Lexington and along with that comes one of UK Athletics’ marquee events of the year — Big Blue Madness. With new basketball head coach Mark Pope set to enter his first season, there’s a buzz around the program that hasn’t been felt in quite some time.

Friday’s festivities are set to be revamped and exciting, including a new ASB light-up and interactive floor in effort to set a new standard for college athletics events — including one as historical and monumental as BBM.

Tickets sold out in just 24 minutes, so there will no doubt be a packed crowd supporting the Wildcats. For those watching at home, you can tune in via the SEC Network. It’s a tradition like any other, scheduled to get underway right at 7 PM ET.

On Saturday, the UK football team will come out of their bye week to host the Vanderbilt Commodores. After knocking off No. 6 Ole Miss before their bye week, Kentucky would probably have bet they’d have all of the momentum ahead of this matchup.

However, Vanderbilt shocked the world of college football this past weekend by hanging 40 points on No. 1 Alabama in upset fashion.

Despite the Commodores playing incredible football on Saturday, ESPN has the Wildcats as a nearly a two-touchdown favorite (13.5 points) and their Football Power Index is giving Kentucky a 68.2% chance to win.

Kentucky will look to extend their winning streak to three games and keep their record above .500. Saturday night’s game will also be broadcast on the SEC Network with a start time of 7:45 PM ET.