Tennessee-Kentucky on Nov. 7 Gets 6:15 p.m. Kickoff on ESPN at Neyland

Tennessee will host Kentucky under the lights on Nov. 7, with kickoff scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Eastern Time at Neyland Stadium and ESPN carrying the broadcast. The Southeastern Conference announced the start time and television assignment on Monday as part of its full schedule for that week, resolving a game that had previously sat in the league's night window.

Both teams will come in rested. No. 16 Tennessee is 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the SEC, while No. 9 Kentucky is 7-1 and 5-1 in league play, and each side is off this week. The Vols are trying to move past a 27-24 loss at South Carolina on Saturday, whereas the Wildcats beat Vanderbilt to move into first place in the conference standings, making this meeting considerably more consequential than a routine November date.

Kentucky's start has come under first-year head coach Will Stein, the former Oregon offensive coordinator hired to succeed Mark Stoops. Stein, a Louisville native who played quarterback at Louisville, previously worked at UTSA, Texas and Lake Travis High School in Texas before his rise in Eugene, and he has quickly put his own stamp on the Wildcats in his opening season.

The series itself remains one of Tennessee's oldest and most familiar. The schools have met 121 times since 1893, more than any other opponent on the Vols' schedule, and Tennessee holds an 85-26-9 advantage, including five straight wins and 12 victories in the last 14 meetings. Kentucky is also one of the three traditional rivals Tennessee will face every season under the new nine-game SEC format, alongside Alabama and Vanderbilt.

After Kentucky, only three regular-season games will remain for the Vols: a trip to Texas A&M on Nov. 14, a home game against LSU on Nov. 21, and the finale at Vanderbilt on Nov. 28. That closing stretch leaves little margin for error, and a night game at home against a team ahead of them in the standings is exactly the kind of opportunity Tennessee needs to take.