Kentucky erased some of the bad taste leftover from the 2-5 start during a three-game winning streak. The Wildcats were playing good football and looked like a different team. That all went out the window on Saturday afternoon in Nashville.
Vanderbilt showed why they are playing for a playoff bid in the final week of the season. Kentucky showed why they have a losing record in 2026. That creates a situation where the Wildcats find themselves needing a win over Louisville in the final game to get to a bowl game. This same situation arrived in 2014 and 2015.