Desmond Howard names vulnerable SEC team for Week 2 of college football

On the 7:00 AM ET hour of SportsCenter ahead of College GameDay in Norman, Oklahoma, a fired-up Desmond Howard joined the program live from the GameDay set to discuss his M-V-P combination for Week 2 college football Saturday.

That means Howard's Matchup of the week, a team he believes is Vulnerable, and his big time Player of the week. MVP!! So when Howard hopped on SportsCenter, the hosts were very curious about his pick of one vulnerable team to look out for in Week 2. This time around, Howard went with one SEC matchup that produced a season-altering upset one year ago.

"The vulnerable team — now bare with me — Ole Miss is going on the road, right, they're going to play Kentucky," Howard began. "Ole Miss is an 8.5-point favorite, but Ole Miss was a favorite by 17.5 points last year and Kentucky went to Oxford and upset them."

That result changed the entire College Football Playoff picture, as the Rebels immediately flopped to the outside of the projections and never jumped back in after falling against a Kentucky squad that won just four games, the only one against a power conference foe being at Ole Miss. That's just a pitiful loss for Lane Kiffin and a program that should have been in the playoff otherwise.

But with so much on the line for the Rebels in terms of redemption, plus an improved club for Mark Stoops that's now playing behind their home crowd, Howard sees Saturday's contest as a tricky one for the visiting side.

"The reason I think they may be vulnerable is because the emotions of the loss may play into this game," Howard explained. "They may win, but 8.5 may be a lot."

According to Desmond Howard, take Kentucky against the spread. If you really like the Wildcats, you can take them with plenty of juice on the money line. But even if the Rebels prevail, given the history of the series, this game appears likely to stick within one-possession territory.

After all, the last six Kentucky and Ole Miss matchups have ended in a one-possession margin, while neither side has won by two scores or more since 2006. In the last two matchups between the programs, both in Oxford in 2022 and 2024, the Rebels and Cats split them with three-point victories in each direction totaling 41 and then 37 points.

Based on recent history, expect a close low-scoring duel played more at Kentucky's tempo than at Ole Miss.'