A sense of optimism surrounds the Kentucky Wildcats football team as it prepares for the upcoming season.
Coach Mark Stoops and his players feel a bit disrespected when it comes to the national preseason polls and they’re heading into the campaign with a chip on their shoulder. The team appears poised to better last year’s 7-6 record that ended on a disappointing note in the Music City Bowl, where the Cats fell to Iowa 21-0.
Quarterback Devin Leary, the NC State transfer, has been impressive in camp according to all reports, and the offensive line, which struggled mightily a year ago, is much-improved. Leary has a reputation of being an extremely accurate passer and has plenty of weapons at his disposal, including receivers Barion Brown and Dane Key, to go with a solid ground game.
The UK defense comes into the season with high expectations, led by 6-foot-6, 348-lb. sophomore Deone Walker. Reports out of Lexington last week were that Stoops had to sit Walker because he was so dominant and disruptive against the offense in practice. Another key performer to watch on the defensive side of the ball is senior linebacker J.J. Weaver.
Kentucky is not ranked in the Top 25 but they will have ample opportunities to prove they belong with the challenging schedule ahead.
Not so much with the first four games on the slate perhaps, but when Week 5 rolls around, the Wildcats will be facing a Florida team that is in a similar situation, that is, not getting much love from the so-called experts and college football pundits.
But first things first.
UK should be going into the home game against the Gators on September 30 with a 4-0 record. They open the season one week from today, when they host Ball State at Kroger Field – my preference will always be Commonwealth Stadium – at noon on the SEC Network.
The Cardinals (5-7 last year) should not present a major threat, but the Cats have struggled in the past against Mid-American Conference foes. The early line favors the home team by 26.5 points, but if I were a betting man, I would take Ball State and the points, but just barely.
PICK: UK 38-13
The Wildcats will play their next two games in Lexington as well, when they host Eastern Kentucky and Akron.
EKU, an FCS school and a member of the ASUN Conference, is 0-3 against UK in their prior meetings, but you may recall the Colonels taking the Cats to overtime
in 2015 before falling 34-27. The most recent meeting was in 2017, a 27-16 Kentucky victory.
EKU went 7-5 last season and they open their season at Cincinnati next Saturday.
PICK: UK 31-10
Akron struggled to a 2-10 mark a year ago, and the Zips, another MAC school, should not pose much of a threat. Akron’s big game last year was at Tennessee, and the Zips were obliterated 63-6.
PICK: UK 44-3
In Week 4, the Cats play their first Southeastern Conference game in Nashville against Vanderbilt, a team that finished 5-7 a year ago.
An interesting footnote will be seeing Vandy transfer Ray Davis in the Kentucky backfield in his return to FirstBank Stadium. Look for Davis to have a big game, and for the Cats to avenge last year’s embarrassing 24-21 loss to the Commodores in Lexington.
PICK: UK 31-13
The aforementioned Florida matchup comes next.
The Gators enter the 2023 season a bit of a mystery, with last year’s quarterback, Anthony Richardson, expected to be the starting QB for the Indianapolis Colts. The Cats gave Richardson fits in last year’s game in Gainesville, a 26-16 UK win. He was just 14-35 with 143 yards passing and a pair of interceptions.
Florida will be depending on a lot of young players, and attempting to rebound from last year’s disappointing 6-7 season that ended with a 30-3 loss to Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl.
Says here that the Kentucky defense will come through and give the Cats a 5-0 record heading into the gargantuan challenge awaiting the squad in Athens on October 7.
PICK: UK 27-17
It is highly unlikely UK can pull off the upset against the powerful Georgia Bulldogs, but don’t expect a major blowout either. Kentucky lost a defensive struggle to the Dawgs in Lexington last year 16-6.
The defending national champions finished 15-0 last season after their 65-7 demolition of TCU in the title game, and they’re looking to reload this year.
PICK: UGA 31-17
Week 6 will see the Wildcats hosting a foe that always seems to play tight games against Kentucky, the Missouri Tigers. In last year’s game at Missouri, the Cats used a late touchdown pass from Will Levis to Dane Key to pull out a 21-17 win in Columbia. Mizzou finished 6-7 last year after losing 27-17 to Wake Forest in the Gasparilla Bowl.
PICK: UK 26-20
Kentucky will enjoy a bye week following that game and prepare for the Tennessee Volunteers, who invade Commonwealth on October 28. It was not pretty a year ago in Knoxville, when the Cats fell to the Vols 44-6, and UT went on to an 11-2 season after disposing of Clemson in the Orange Bowl 31-14.
Look for Kentucky to put up a fight before dropping another one to the team in orange.
PICK: UT 31-21
The Wildcats head to Starkville on November 4 to face Mississippi State, a team that always gives the Men in Blue fits, despite a 27-17 win by UK at home last year. The Bulldogs wrapped up a 9-4 season last year with a 19-10 win over Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl, formerly known as the Outback Bowl.
This one is a tossup, but the Cats prevail in a game that goes down to the final minutes.
PICK: UK 23-17
An extremely tall order awaits Kentucky in its next matchup, when they meet Alabama at home on November 11.
The series has been dominated by the Crimson Tide 38-2-1, which comes as no surprise. The most recent meeting resulted in a 63-3 Alabama blowout win on November 21, 2020, and the last time UK knocked off Bama was the memorable 40-34 victory on October 4, 1997, when Tim
Couch completed a 26-yard TD pass to Craig Yeast in the overtime session.
Last year, the Tide went 11-2 and rolled over Kansas State 45-20 in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Even with quarterback Bryce Young (who threw for 321 yards and five scores in the bowl game) now in the NFL, it’s probably too much to ask for a repeat of the 1997 upset from the home team.
PICK: TIDE 30-20
Next on the schedule is a visit to South Carolina to face a team that appears to be on its way up. The Gamecocks finished 8-5 last year after dropping a 45-38 shootout to Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl.
South Carolina defeated the Cats last year 24-14 in a lackluster performance from UK in Lexington. Kentucky would love nothing more than to exact revenge in Columbia on November 18, but it won’t be an easy task. This one appears to be another tossup.
PICK: SC 20-17
The regular season finale will be played on November 25 at what some used to call the “big pizza box,” otherwise known as Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in Louisville. After dropping the pizza franchise’s name and being called Cardinal Stadium, the new name is L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium, also known as L&N Stadium.
As usual, this one will be interesting affair. Both teams will likely be jockeying for bowl position, with the outcome riding on just where each team will play its postseason contest.
Louisville finished 8-5 last year and defeated Cincinnati 24-7 in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl after head coach Scott Satterfield announced he accepted the head coaching position at UC.
The Cats cruised past the Cards last year in Lexington 26-13, but you can bet Louisville will be fired up for a revenge matchup with new head coach Jeff Brohm leading his alma mater against its hated rival.
This may be the most difficult game to predict on Kentucky’s schedule, and as usual, a lot will depend on the overall health of both teams coming in.
PICK: UK 27-24
That would give UK an 8-4 record, and a possible trip to Tampa to play in the ReliaQuest Bowl on New Year’s Day.
My advice to readers would be not to bet on any picks I make, and have fun enjoying another college football season, whoever you’re rooting for.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY WISHES – To an old friend, Bob Clift, despite him being a fan of the Florida Gators. Have a good one, Robert!
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“When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.” – Samuel Langhorne Clemens
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“Lads, you’re not to miss practice unless your parents died or you died.” – Frank Leahy, who compiled a record of 87-11-9 and won four national championships as the head football coach at Notre Dame
