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It remains to be seen when or if we’ll see a 2020 college football season. But for now, the folks at 247 Sports decided to poll their vast array of experts before media days for some preseason predictions on how each division in the Power 5 conferences will finish their season.
You won’t like where the Wildcats landed.
Despite a ton of preseason hype and returning multiple impact players on both sides of ball. there was no love shown for Kentucky.
Here is the order that the 247 Sports experts predicted the SEC East would finish:
East Division
T-1. Florida, 84 (7)
T-1. Georgia, 84 (6)
3. Tennessee, 62
4. Kentucky, 48
5. South Carolina, 41
6. Missouri, 32
7. Vanderbilt, 13
At this point, pretty much any Kentucky football fan is used to the occasional shade thrown their way. But Mark Stoops has now proven that he’s getting the job done, and many believe that the Cats are a legitimate threat to challenge either Florida or Georgia for the SEC East crown.
So, choosing UK to finish below Tennessee will not sit well with many when you consider the potential this Wildcat team has next year.
This was the rationale behind listing Kentucky to finish 4th.
“Meanwhile, Kentucky is a distant fourth in the conference but that will be good enough to land the Wildcats in a bowl game again in theMark Stoops era. The Wildcats have won a combined 18 games over the last two seasons, including two bowl games. The 2019 season might have been the most impressive of the Stoops era with eight victories after quarterback Terry Wilson went down with an injury. Receiver Lynn Bowden moved to quarterback and turned into an All-American with 1,468 rushing yards. Even so, the Wildcats do not lose everything. In fact, they return 73 percent of their production on both sides of the ball, which ranks 25th nationally, according to ESPN’s Bill Connelly. Wilson should be the quarterback after returning from his injury last season.”
I guess before anybody gets fired up we should probably pause and cross our fingers that there is even football to be played this fall. It’s been a tough few weeks for college athletics, and uncertainty looms.