Northwestern favored by Vegas in the Music City Bowl against Kentucky

The Northwestern Wildcats (9-3, 7-2 B1G) are favored by at least a touchdown over the Kentucky Wildcats (7-5, 4-4 SEC) on the opening lines for the Music City Bowl on December 29th.

Northwestern opened as an 8.5-point favorite at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino. According to OddsShark, the line quickly dropped to 6.5 points, but Northwestern is still a sizable favorite in this matchup.

The purple Wildcats are definitely the hotter team, riding a seven-game win streak into Nashville with wins over Michigan State, Iowa, and Purdue. Kentucky lost three of its last four games and went 4-4 in conference. The season started out promisingly enough, but ugly losses at home to Ole Miss, at Georgia (fair), and at home for Louisville have dented Kentucky’s pride. Mark Stoops finished his fifth season in charge at 7-5 overall.

The over/under for the game is at 51 points. SB Nation’s Bill Connelly’s S&P system has the projected score as 31.9-22.7 in favor of Northwestern.