The Northern Illinois Huskies take on the Kentucky Wildcats. Check out our college football odds series for our Northern Illinois Kentucky prediction and pick.

The Kentucky Wildcats have a huge opportunity in front of them. This program played in the Citrus Bowl last season, just as it did a few years earlier (when the bowl game was known as the Capital One Bowl). The Citrus, however, is not a New Year's Six bowl. Those six bowls are the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Fiesta, and Peach. Kentucky has not been to a top-tier New Year's Day bowl game since the 1951 season. The Wildcats, back then, were led by a coach you might have heard of at some point: Bear Bryant. This is a year when Kentucky can realistically dare to dream big. The Wildcats beat Florida on the road in The Swamp. The Wildcats are unbeaten through three games. If they can go 10-2 this season — basically, if they lose to only one non-Georgia opponent — they have a really good chance of making that elusive New Year's Six game. Chances like this don't come along very often in Lexington. Coach Mark Stoops knows that Kentucky is more than just a basketball school. This is his chance to leave a lasting football memory in the Bluegrass and establish Kentucky as an upper-tier football force.

Northern Illinois gets to play an SEC East Division team for the second straight week. The Huskies played Vanderbilt last week. For two and a half quarters, the defending Mid-American Conference champions had everything going their way. They were up 28-14 midway through the third quarter. However, they subsequently lost the plot. NIU was not able to keep pace with Vanderbilt's speed, and when the Huskies allowed 24 straight points, they trailed 38-28. They tried to scramble back, but a late interception thrown deep in Vanderbilt territory ruined their comeback attempt. The Huskies have to dust themselves off and regroup for this game against a Kentucky team which is several leagues better than Vanderbilt.

Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Northern Illinois-Kentucky College Football odds.

College Football Odds: Northern Illinois-Kentucky Odds

Northern Illinois Huskies: +26.5 (-112)

Kentucky Wildcats: -26.5 (-108)

Over: 53.5 (-114)

Under: 53.5 (-106)

Why Northern Illinois Could Cover the Spread

The Huskies were two touchdowns better than Vanderbilt for more than half of last week's game. It's true that Kentucky is a much, much better team than Vanderbilt, but if we are to assume that Kentucky is 35 or 40 points better than Vanderbilt, NIU showed that it could compete on relatively even terms with Vanderbilt and — at one point — had a decent chance of winning before its late implosion. If NIU plays up to its potential — if we see the good version of the Huskies — this team can certainly cover what is a very large spread. Kentucky's offense is not an elite unit. If it doesn't improve, NIU could score a modest amount of points — let's say 17 — and force Kentucky to score in the high 40s in order to cover.

Why Kentucky Could Cover the Spread

Kentucky has such a good, sound defense that it can limit NIU to 10 points or fewer. If that does happen, Kentucky should be able to score 38 points against an NIU team which allowed 38 to Vanderbilt. If NIU can allow 38 to Vandy, it can allow at least that much if not more to Kentucky. The Wildcats will cover if their defense is dominant, and since the physical comparison between these teams is lopsided, it's reasonable to expect UK to overwhelm NIU.

Final Northern Illinois-Kentucky Prediction & Pick

Kentucky is a really good team, and NIU will not be able to keep up over four full quarters. This will be lopsided at the end.

Final Northern Illinois-Kentucky Prediction & Pick: Kentucky -26.5