ESPN predicts Kentucky football will finish 2nd in SEC East

With only eight days left until the start of Kentucky’s 2022 football season, the final preseason takes are being let loose. Throughout history, this time of year isn’t too kind to the Wildcats, but there is a different buzz in the Lexington air as we head into the fall.

Over at ESPN, senior writer Mark Schlabach broke down his predictions for all Power 5 conferences this season. He rolled through the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12, and ended with the ever-dominant Southeastern Conference. In his predictions, Schlabach has Kentucky finishing 9-3 overall with a 5-3 conference record, good enough to finish second in the SEC East. He has Georgia going a perfect 12-0 to win the East before falling to Alabama in the conference title game.

Kentucky, a preseason Top 25 team, narrowly finished in second, too. Schlabach has all three of Tennessee, South Carolina, and Florida going 4-4 in conference action. He then has Missouri finishing 2-6 in SEC play and Vanderbilt posting a goose egg at 0-8.

On the flip end in the SEC West, Schlabach also has Alabama going unbeaten on the season and ultimately winning the league. He then has Texas A&M finishing second at 5-3 in the SEC (9-3 overall), Arkansas in third also at 5-3 (8-4 overall), LSU at 4-4, Ole Miss at a semi-surprising 3-5, while Mississippi State and Auburn share the bottom of the West at 2-6 each.

There wasn’t any love for Kentucky on Schlabach’s list of superlatives, with most of that recognition going to the likes of Alabama, Georgia, or Texas A&M. He has ‘Bama QB Bryce Young taking home Offensive Player of the Year honors and fellow teammate LB Will Anderson winning Defensive Player of the Year.

You can read all of Schlabach’s predictions on ESPN through the link here. Do you agree or disagree with where he has the ‘Cats?