Kentucky Wildcats vs. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Preview: Almost Must-See TV

Kentucky Wildcats vs. Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, 7 p.m. ET, ESPNNEWS

Just basing it on the football, it might be hard to bring yourself to watch this game. A meeting of Sun Belt against SEC is generally not appointment television, particularly not when the SEC team involved is not expected to be very good this year. And Kentucky is not expected to be very good this year.

But there are still some reasons that this game feels compelling. It marks the return of Bobby Petrino to college football after his brilliant tenure at Arkansas flamed out in spectacular fashion. There is the whole revenge element of Kentucky trying to prove that, as far as it might have to go before becoming respectable, it's still not the same team that lost to the Hilltoppers last year. And, in case you've forgotten, they s'pposed to be SEC.

And I have to admit -- I don't know quite what to expect from this game. I have no idea just how well Petrino's system is going to work during it's first outing at Western Kentucky, nor how well the Air Raid will do in its return to Kentucky. What I think is that Kentucky has enough talent and gets enough of a new coach bump to win this one. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine.

Kentucky 34, Western Kentucky 31