It's on the tip of everyone's tongue. It's been within Vanderbilt's grasp for over a month.
And once again, Kentucky stands in the way of that elusive bowl eligibility.
Redshirt junior center Bradley Vierling welcomes the challenge.
"We're going to have a great opportunity to beat them and get win No. 6," Vierling said.
For the second year in a row, Vanderbilt enters the annual game with the Wildcats with a 5-4 record and needing a victory to attain bowl eligibility. The Commodores have been stuck on five wins since Oct. 4, losing three close ones before getting rocked by Florida last Saturday.
Vanderbilt and Kentucky have a history of close and unusual games.
The two teams played a thriller in Nashville last year, with a last-ditch rally engineered by redshirt junior quarterback Mackenzi Adams coming up short in a 27-20 loss. That knocked the Commodores to a 5-5 record en route to a 5-7 finish. Kentucky has won four in a row against Vanderbilt despite the Commodores out-gaining them every time.
Adams completed a career-high 20 passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns in last year's game, but he doesn't see too much of a parallel between the 2007 and 2008 versions of either squad.
"They're definitely a different team and we're kind of a different team on offense," Adams said. "I have a lot of confidence in the offense around me and we're going to make some big plays."
Lately, big plays have been hard to come by for the Commodores. They've scored 14 points or less in each of their last five games and are ranked 117th out of 119 teams in Division I in total offense with a scant 255.6 yards per game.
They also might be without their starting quarterback on Saturday. Adams suffered a hip pointer against Florida but has practiced this week and could still play. If he isn't ready to go, the Commodores will go with redshirt senior Chris Nickson, who is 5-1 as a starter this year and led two touchdown drives in relief of Adams last week against the Gators.
"I don't think Chris' confidence was lifted or lessened when he was benched for Mackenzi," Vierling said. "He's always been a confident guy. He just played his game and he did what he always has done."
Kentucky has a dual-threat quarterback of its own in Ashton Cobb, a freshman who has stepped up in the starting role. More of a threat with his feet than his arm, Cobb rushed for 82 yards and three touchdowns in a 42-38 loss to Georgia. He has yet to throw for more than 105 yards in a game.
The Commodores, meanwhile, are doing all they can in the meantime to shake off the rocky last month with three crucial games remaining in their schedule.
"You can't do anything about a loss now," Vierling said. "It's all on the next game."
"We don't want to lose another game this season," said redshirt junior safety Ryan Hamilton. "The past four games, we're going to try and forget about them and start fresh."
