Kentucky Football Finishes 2022 with a Top 5 Defense

The 2022 season has come and gone. Only one college football game remains, Monday night’s National Championship. The numbers have been crunched and it’s now abundantly clear that Mark Stoops and Brad White put together one of the best defenses in America at Kentucky this fall.

The raw numbers were exceptional. Kentucky’s defense ranked in the top 15 in three of the four major statistical categories: scoring defense (11th, 19.2 ppg.) total defense 311.4 (12th, 311.4 ypg.) and passing defense (7th, 170.8 ypg.) The Wildcats also ranked 21st in third down defense (33.3%).

Raw numbers don’t always tell the entire story. We can paint an even clearer picture with efficiency ratings. That’s where ESPN’s SP+ enters the picture. The forward-thinking metric, originally created at Football Outsiders, is a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency.

In 2022 Kentucky finished the season with the No. 3 defense in America, according to SP+. It’s the highest finish ever by a Kentucky defense.

In the overall SP+ rankings the Wildcats come in at No. 28 overall. As was the case all year long, the defense carried the weight for the offense and special teams, who ranked 97th and 83rd, respectively.

According to SP+, Kentucky had the best defense and the worst offense in the SEC. That is how a favorable scheduled turns into a 7-6 season.

What’s even more impressive? Brad White put together a top five defense without a ton of All-SEC production. Keidron Smith earned second team honors from the coaches and Deone Walker picked up second team honors from the AP, but that’s it. Moreover, His two super senior starting inside linebackers, DeAndre Square and Jacquez Jones, missed almost the entirety of the second half of the season.

Brad White has done an excellent job since he took over the defense in 2019. He’s following up his best performance so far by bringing back most of the key pieces to the Kentucky defense in 2023.