Kentucky @ Missouri preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 9, 2013 ) Missouri 48, Kentucky 17

With the make-or-break month of November upon them, the Missouri Tigers still are in the mix in the SEC East title race. The Tigers can't afford a slip-up Saturday, though, when they host upstart Kentucky. Missouri rolled over Kentucky 48-17 last year in Lexington en route to the SEC East crown, but the Wildcats are off to their best start since 2008 and one win away from becoming bowl-eligible for the first time in four years.

Missouri needs some help to repeat as SEC East champion - the Tigers and Georgia are the only teams in the division with just one conference loss, but the Bulldogs hold the head-to-head tiebreaker - but it also needs to take care of its end of the equation. "This is the most important time," Missouri center Evan Boehm told reporters. "(Coach Gary Pinkel) has this saying that 'those who win in November will be remembered,' and that's what we're going to live by here at Mizzou." Kentucky put up a strong challenge against visiting Mississippi State last week before falling 45-31 to the top-ranked Bulldogs, but it hasn't won a true road game since its victory at Louisville in 2010 and doesn't have an SEC road win since 2009 at Georgia.

TV: 4 p.m. ET, SEC Network. LINE: Missouri -6.5.

ABOUT KENTUCKY (5-3, 2-3 SEC): The Wildcats have lost two straight following a 5-1 start, but the offense bounced back from a disastrous performance in a 41-3 loss at LSU to put together a strong showing against Mississippi State. Patrick Towles had a huge game against the Bulldogs with career highs in passing (390) and rushing yards (76) while throwing for two TDs and adding two more on the ground. The defense has been strong against the pass but ranks 13th among 14 SEC teams versus the run, allowing 192.6 yards per game.

ABOUT MISSOURI (6-2, 3-1): Maty Mauk threw five touchdown passes against the Wildcats last season, but the sophomore has struggled in recent games and now has to face a Kentucky defense that has recorded an interception in five straight contests and ranks fifth nationally with 13 this season. The Tigers got the offense going a bit in last week's 24-14 win over Vanderbilt thanks to a strong running attack led by Marcus Murphy and Russell Hansbrough, and they're likely to lean on the tailbacks again. A defensive or special-teams score wouldn't hurt, and the Tigers have produced plenty of them - they have returned one interception, two fumbles, one punt and two kickoffs for TDs this season.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Missouri is 21-7 in November since 2007.

2. With four games remaining, Kentucky's 253 points already are more than it has scored in any of the previous three seasons.

3. Murphy's 4,356 all-purpose yards rank third in Missouri history behind Jeremy Maclin (5,609) and Brad Smith (4,419), and he is the program's all-time leader in combined return yardage (2,631).

PREDICTION: Missouri 23, Kentucky 20