Kentucky Football Rises in Updated 2022 SP+ Rankings

Week zero of the 2022 college football season is less than 100 days away. As the post-spring practice transfer portal movements slow to a crawl, Billy Connelly has updated ESPN’s SP+ rankings and the Wildcats are moving in the right direction.

Kentucky is now the No. 20 team in the country according to SP+, moving up from No. 21 in the pre-spring practice rankings. The Wildcats’ defense ranks 18th, while the offense comes in at No. 32 overall.

Created by Bill Connelly, SP+ is a forward-thinking metric that projects how a team will perform, rather than simply crunching numbers from past games. It’s calculated based on three primary factors: returning production, recent recruiting and recent history. It’s much more complicated than that; this will explain exactly how the rankings are calculated.

The Wildcats are one of nine SEC teams in the SP+ Top 25. Take a look at where each of UK’s 2022 opponents fall in the updated rankings.

• Miami (Oh.), #84
• Florida, #23
• Youngstown State, N/A (FCS)
• Northern Illinois, #91
• Ole Miss, #17
• South Carolina, #46
• Mississippi State, #15
• Tennessee, #9
• Missouri, #52
• Vanderbilt, #115
• Georgia, #3
• Louisville, #30

Even though it’s a forward-thinking metric, preseason SP+ rankings heavily factor in returning production. Despite returning a starting quarterback, it does not benefit Kentucky’s offense following the departures of Wan’Dale Robinson and Josh Ali. The Wildcats rank No. 46 in returning production. It also explains why Louisville is ranked 30th; Malik Cunningham led the Cards in rushing and passing in 2021.

From a big picture standpoint, these rankings make one thing abundantly clear: Kentucky’s record against Tennessee and the Mississippi schools will ultimately determine the difference between a “good” and a “great” season for Mark Stoops’ squad.