Kentucky sits at No. 20 in preseason FPI

Easter weekend typically serves as the end of spring football with an assortment of teams hosting spring games on both Friday and Saturday. That means talking season has officially arrived for the 2022 year.

However, content is needed to create storylines. This week, ESPN released its preseason Football Power Index (FPI) which is “a predictive rating system that uses advanced analytics to evaluate team strength”. Kentucky has found a home inside the top-25.

The computer ranking has the Wildcats coming in at No. 20 overall trailing Baylor and being one spot ahead of Wisconsin. FPI has predicted an 8.0-4.0 record for the Big Blue and gives the program a 4.7 percent chance to win the SEC East. Kentucky’s strength of schedule checks in at No. 36. Let’s take a look at Kentucky’s opponents and their FPI rankings for 2022.

• Georgia (3)
• Ole Miss (17)
• Mississippi State (24)
• Florida (25)
• Tennessee (28)
• Louisville (36)
• South Carolina (45)
• Missouri (55)
• Miami, Ohio (98)
• Vanderbilt (103)
• Northern Illinois (110)
• Youngstown State (N/A)

The SEC is set to be another gauntlet this fall, but the schedule does Kentucky some favors. The Wildcats get Georgia at home. However, there are three tricky road games with three top-30 games — Florida (Sept. 10), Ole Miss (Oct. 1), Tennessee (Oct. 29) — away from Kroger Field. However, the home slate is very manageable as UGA is the only team in the top-20 that Kentucky will face in their own backyard.

Finishing with a 2-2 record in road games seems achievable and should be the goal for the team in 2022. Avoiding a big upset at home would then open up the door to a 9-3 record and a 10-2 campaign if the Wildcats could finally knock off Georgia.

After debuting at No. 21 in SP+, the algorithms have Kentucky set up for a good season in 2022. The humans should follow suit by putting the Wildcats in the preseason AP top 25 for the first time since 1978.