How to Watch, Listen: No. 8 Kentucky-Northern Illinois
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The No. 8 Kentucky Wildcats will welcome the Northern Illinois Huskies to Kroger Field on Saturday night, as the Cats look to improve to 4-0 on the season. Following a 31-0 shutout of Youngstown State, head coach Mark Stoops and his staff are looking for a much more complete performance on the offensive side of the ball. If you won't make it to the late-night showdown between the Cats and Huskies, we have you covered on how you can watch and listen to the game.
How to Watch
Kentucky and NIU will be the third game of the day on ESPN2, filling in the 7 p.m. EST primetime slot. You can watch gamely access and other highlights leading into the game and after the game on UK Sports Network.
How to Listen
If you won't be able to tune in on the television, then you can always listen to the game. UK Sports Network typically offers a live feed for listeners that can be accessed on the website by clicking the previous link. Elsewhere, the game can be heard on WLAP 630 AM, which can be found on iHeart Radio, Tunein and Radio Station USA.
Below is our team preview of the Northern Illinois Huskies:
Last Meeting
Like Youngstown State, the 2022 season will be the first time that the Huskies will take on Kentucky. Like Miami (Ohio), whom the Cats will open the season against on Sept. 3, NIU has been selected to win its division of the MAC, and received the most votes (nine) to repeat as conference champions by the media in the preseason poll.
Offensive Player Spotlight
It all starts with Michigan State transfer Rocky Lombardi at quarterback. His main strength comes on the feet, as he drove his way to nine scores on the ground last year, piling up 472 yards. In the backfield, the Huskies will be without last season's leading rusher Jay Ducker, who transferred to Memphis. Harrison Waylee will takeover the top running back duties. NIU finished fourth in the nation averaging 241 yards per game on the ground, and while it likely won't match that number this season, it'll still do most of its offensive damage on the feet.
Note: Lombardi is highly questionable for Saturday night's game. Click here for more info on NIU's QB situation
Defensive Player Spotlight
It's hard to get worse than the Husky defense a year ago. Allowing 34 points per game, there was no stopping opposing teams through the air or on the ground. The main reason for this was the youth of the defense. 15 of the top 20 tacklers were freshman, and overall inexperience plagued that side of the ball for head coach Thomas Hammock. Like Kentucky, the linebacker core will be key to the defense seeing any improvement from a year ago. Between Wisconsin transfer Izayah Green-May and EIGHTH-year player Kyle Pugh, there is no lack of talent and experience in the middle of the field.
Click here for Kentucky's latest hype video ahead of Saturday's game.
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