Big Changes in Kentucky Football Schedule Include Mostly Usual Suspects

The debate raged on, and on, and on. “Who will be our rival? Will it be fair? Can they keep playing Louisville? You gotta keep Tennessee on the schedule.”

In 2021 the biggest story to ever hit SEC Media Days turned the ballroom at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover upside down. Texas and Oklahoma were ready to join the SEC. Before anyone knew when the Big 12 icons were going to make the move, the great scheduling debate began. Over the last two years there have been dozens and dozens of posts written on Kentucky Sports Radio dot com about the subject. Any sports talk radio slow day was easily filled by scheduling fodder.

Finally, the SEC reached the finish line Wednesday night. For the Big Blue Nation, not much has changed.

Familiar Foes for Kentucky

In 2023 Kentucky will play…

• Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Vandy, South Carolina

In 2024 Kentucky will play…

• Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Vandy, South Carolina

Big changes are coming to the conference, but they will be felt gradually in Lexington. Instead of playing Mississippi State as the Wildcats’ cross-divisional foe, UK will return to the Grove for some much-needed revenge vs. Ole Miss. The only SEC East opponent out of the picture is Missouri. They were essentially replaced by Auburn, who will be a mystery in year two under Hugh Freeze.

In 2024 we will play Auburn, Georgia, South Carolina and Vanderbilt at home in Kroger Field.

We will travel to Florida, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas in 2024.

📰🔗 https://t.co/UEYX3E5JFF pic.twitter.com/7uGM43xD4o

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) June 14, 2023

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One Big Change

When Peter Burns reported Wednesday morning that all 14 current SEC members would face either Oklahoma or Texas in year one of this temporary schedule structure, most assumed Oklahoma was the obvious choice for the Wildcats. Mark Stoops vs. Bob Stoops’ old team at Kroger Field. It’s the one storyline that made sense.

Instead, Kentucky is hitting the road to Austin. The Wildcats will play at Texas Memorial Stadium in just the second ever meeting between the two programs, with Arch Manning likely lining up under center for the Longhorns.

Kentucky is playing at Texas. Let that soak in for a minute.

The Wildcats have always been on a big stage in the SEC. This feels bigger. And it also does not feel like an untenable task. Texas is good, but they aren’t Back™. Thousands of Kentucky fans that make the trip will walk onto the Forty Acres believing they will leave with a win.

Mark Stoops has accomplished quite a bit at the helm of the Kentucky football program. The jury is still out, but this former cellar-dweller will be ready for the momentous move into the greatest college football conference ever created. Kentucky fans are not counting automatic losses entering the 16-team SEC and that might be his greatest achievement as the Cats’ head coach.

The Governor’s Cup Lives

Lost in the shuffle of “permanent rivals” talk is the most important rivalry game for 80% of Kentucky fans, Louisville. For the 40 and under crowd, the Battle for the Governor’s Cup has consistently been the biggest game of the year. There’s a chance that game will go away forever.

Before you say, “Come on, they can’t stop playing that game,” Nebraska and Oklahoma played 80 straight games and it was all ended by conference realignment. No offense, but the Governor’s Cup doesn’t carry the same gravitas as one of Middle America’s oldest rivalries.

Mitch Barnhart, Eli Capilouto and Mark Stoops were able to convince SEC stakeholders to tread lightly into the 16-team SEC era. The Kentucky coalition whipped members into voting for one more season with eight SEC games. After 2024, who knows what will happen. Everything is on the table, including the Battle for the Governor’s Cup. Enjoy this familiar Kentucky football schedule while you can.