One of us. Tom Hart believes Kentucky can make the SEC Championship Game

Is the Big Blue Nation maybe a little too excited that Kentucky is ranked in both preseason polls for the first time ever? Not all all. Should Drew Franklin have waited to book his hotel room in Atlanta. Of course not, and SEC Network analyst Tom Hart agrees… kind of.

The captain that steers the ship on the SEC Network’s Saturday Night Special is gearing up for another college football season. Before the madness begins on the network with Ball State traveling to Knoxville next Thursday, Tom Hart previewed the season with The Tennessean. Alabama and Georgia are once again the favorites in each respective division, projected for an SEC Championship Game rematch this fall. If there’s one team that will wreck that party, Hart believes it’s Mark Stoops’ Kentucky Wildcats.

The caveat is, will Chris Rodriguez’s absence for Kentucky last long enough to cost them a game? I don’t know the answer to that. Will they need Chris Rodriguez to beat Florida? Will he be in that game? Can they win without him? I think they probably can win without him.

So, the only one I think would really have a chance to reach Atlanta other than Alabama or Georgia would be Kentucky, and right behind them, Tennessee. But that’s going way out on a limb.

The Tennessean

There are plenty of teams that can upset Alabama or Georgia, but to make it to Atlanta, a team must take care of business throughout the rest of the season. Tom Hart can see a scenario where the Wildcats not only knock off Georgia, but win enough games to hold all of the tiebreakers to punch a ticket to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The Wildcats are a dark horse candidate to win the SEC East and it’s not just what Kentucky football fans believe. Tom Hart is hopping on the Big Blue Bandwagon in 2022.