The Athletic ranks Kentucky No. 18, Mark Stoops a Tier 2 coach

The Athletic has ranked every college football team in the nation, Nos. 1 through 131. It starts at the very top with Alabama, unsurprisingly, with UMass closing things out at the very bottom of the list.

Where are the Kentucky Wildcats listed? Firmly in the top 25, coming in at No. 18 overall and fourth in the SEC, behind only Alabama, Georgia (No. 3) and Texas A&M (No. 8). Behind Kentucky, Arkansas (No. 23) and Tennessee (No. 24) round out conference foes in the top 25.

“Will Kentucky be the second-best team in the SEC East? Quarterback Will Levis has NFL hype, but he has a new offensive coordinator,” The Athletic’s Chris Vannini said of the Wildcats in the in-depth feature.

1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Georgia
4. Clemson
5. Utah
6. Michigan
7. Notre Dame
8. Texas A&M
9. Baylor
10. Oklahoma
11. Oklahoma State
12. Oregon
13. NC State
14. USC
15. Michigan State
16. Wisconsin
17. Miami
18. Kentucky
19. Cincinnati
20. Houston
21. BYU
22. Pittsburgh
23. Arkansas
24. Tennessee
25. Fresno State

Taking a look at Kentucky’s schedule, the Wildcats will open the season against No. 95 Miami (OH) on Sept. 3, followed by a trip to Gainesville to take on No. 36 Florida on Sept. 10. Then, UK will take on Youngstown State (FCS) on Sept. 17, No. 78 Northern Illinois on Sept. 24, No. 28 Ole Miss on Oct. 1, No. 51 South Carolina on Oct. 8, No. 37 Mississippi State on Oct. 15, No. 24 Tennessee on Oct. 29, No. 54 Missouri on Nov. 5, No. 88 Vanderbilt on Nov. 12, No. 3 Georgia on Nov. 19 and No. 64 Louisville to close out the regular season on Nov. 26.

Five top-50 opponents on UK’s schedule, The Athletic says.

National CFB Preseason Rankings

We know what The Athletic thinks, but what about the rest of the college football media world?

Associated Press Top 25

• No. 20 overall

USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll

• No. 21 overall

Sports Illustrated

• No. 22 overall
• “Speaking of quarterbacks who intrigue the league: Will Levis fits that bill as well. The task for Levis this season will be showing he can light up the best opponents and not just the weak spots on the Kentucky schedule—his 2021 efficiency rating was 90 points higher against non–Power 5 opponents than those in the P5. The Wildcats historically are never ranked preseason but have earned a new level of respect (from everyone but the school’s men’s basketball coach).”

CBS Sports

• No. 23 overall

ESPN

• SP+ Final 2022 Preseason Projections
  • No. 11 overall
  • Projected wins: 8.1 (4.6 conference wins)
• FPI
  • No. 18 overall (FPI 12.0)
  • Projected W/L: 8.2-3.9
  • Six wins: 97.6%
  • Win SEC East: 5.5%
  • College Football Playoff: 1.1%
  • Win National Championship: 0.1%
• “Ranking all 131 college football teams in tiers for the 2022 season”
  • Tier 5 – “The (kind of) basketball schools”
  • Grouped with Baylor, Houston, Michigan State, Oklahoma State and Wake Forest
  • “Sure, there’s a better chance this tier sends multiple teams to the Final Four than the College Football Playoff in their coming seasons, but don’t dare call them basketball schools. Every one of these teams won at least 10 games last season, and four played for league titles. Indeed, this group finished with a better winning percentage in football (.829) than in men’s basketball (.715), and not a single one of them lost a bowl game to St. Peter’s.”

CollegeFootballNews.com

• No. 29 overall
• 2022 Preseason Prediction: 7-5

Mark Stoops is a Tier 2 (“proven goods”) head coach

Speaking of The Athletic and tier rankings, the outlet also put together a list of college football coaching tiers, separating all FBS coaches into five different tiers.

Where is Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops ranked? He sits firmly in Tier 2, otherwise known as the “proven goods” tier. Only ten coaches are in tiers ahead of Stoops, highlighted by Alabama head coach Nick Saban in a tier (1A) by himself.

Here are the outlet’s Tiers 1A, 1B and 2:

Tier 1A

• Nick Saban (Alabama)

Tier 1B

• Ryan Day (Ohio State)
• Luke Fickell (Cincinnati)
• Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M)
• Jim Harbaugh (Michigan)
• Brian Kelly (LSU)
• Lincoln Riley (USC)
• Kirby Smart (Georgia)
• Dabo Swinney (Clemson)
• Kyle Whittingham (Utah)

Tier 2

• Mack Brown (North Carolina)
• Troy Calhoun (Air Force)
• Matt Campbell (Iowa State)
• Paul Chryst (Wisconsin)
• Dave Clawson (Wake Forest)
• Mario Cristobal (Miami)
• Kirk Ferentz (Iowa)
• Pat Fitzgerald (Northwestern)
• P.J. Fleck (Minnesota)
• James Franklin (Penn State)
• Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State)
• Dana Holgorsen (Houston)
• Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss)
• Mike Leach (Mississippi State)
• Gus Malzahn (UCF)
• Jeff Monken (Army)
• Billy Napier (Florida)
• Pat Narduzzi (Pitt)
• Ken Niumatalolo (Navy)
• Greg Schiano (Rutgers)
• David Shaw (Stanford)
• Kalani Sitake (BYU)
• Mark Stoops (Kentucky)

“Mark Stoops is the most underrated coach in the SEC,” an anonymous athletic director told The Athletic. “He built a program that is not known for being good at football into a pretty good program in the toughest conference in America. He did this without the benefit of having a great in-state recruiting bed like a state of Texas, Florida, Georgia, California. He has a defensive-minded approach but also is smart enough to be able to alter his offensive scheme like he did two years ago bringing in an NFL OC.”

You can find The Athletic’s other tiers and in-depth analysis here.

What do you think, BBN? Do you agree with Kentucky at No. 18? What about Stoops in Tier Two?