UK Football Over/Unders: SEC Wins
The Cats squared off with the Georgia Bulldogs last season at Kroger Field. (Jeff Drummond/Cats Illustrated)
Jeff Drummond • CatsIllustrated
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@JDrumUK
In the fourth volume of our UK Football Over/Unders feature, the Cats Illustrated staff is tackling one of the most difficult questions going into almost every season: SEC wins for the Cats. We're setting the over/under at 4.5...
JUSTIN ROWLAND:
That's a really tough call, but I'm going to say UNDER by a hair because I've got Kentucky finishing 4-4 in the SEC and 8-4 overall. Of course, I could definitely see a path to 5-3, which would likely put them in New Year's Six consideration. But they will probably be underdogs in five SEC games simply because the South Carolina and Mississippi State games are on the road with three other tough matchups against Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. While I predicted Kentucky to break the losing streak to SEC West road teams and knock off the Bulldogs in Starkville, I did pick them to lose in Columbia, not so much because I view South Carolina as a superior team but because it comes during an extremely difficult grind in the schedule.
TRAVIS GRAF:
I’ve got Kentucky going 5-3 in SEC play for the OVER. I think the Cats could win up to six games in the conference, but have definite losses to UGA and a swing game. I could also see them going 4-4, so I’m playing in the middle. Kentucky starts off 2-0 with wins over Vanderbilt and Florida before they drop the road game against Georgia. The rest of Kentucky’s schedule will be filled with four swing games -- Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi State, and South Carolina -- as well as a matchup with Alabama. I’ll predict that Kentucky loses two of those four swing games, and if I had to be specific, Tennessee and Mississippi State. This is the year for Kentucky to upset Alabama, and I’ll shockingly predict them to do so in a year where the Crimson Tide has many more question marks than normal.
JEFF DRUMMOND:
Historically, going over this number is a significant challenge for Kentucky. During my lifetime (1971-) the Cats have reached five SEC victories on only four occasions: 1976, 1977, 2018, and 2021. An optimist would suggest two of those four have come in the last five years, so Mark Stoops has clearly proven he's up to the task. I would not be surprised at all if he did it again, especially if there's a sense he's being doubted by the masses. Kentucky may have its most balanced roster during the Stoops era, but the Cats may also be facing one of their tougher SEC schedules with both Alabama and Georgia on the slate. The presence of those two national title contenders means UK would likely have to go 5-1 in the other six league games to hit this over. That's a tall task since two of the toss-ups are at Starkville and Columbia. I think they'll beat Vandy, Florida, Missouri, and Tennessee while falling to Georgia, Mississippi State, Alabama, and South Carolina to finish just slightly UNDER.
