ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit thinks Year 4 will be the year Kentucky turns the corner under Mark Stoops.

“I’ll be very surprised if (Stoops) doesn’t have a breakthrough year this year,” Herbstreit said during a Monday fundraiser in Louisville. “Now a breakthrough year for Kentucky isn’t (the same as) a breakthrough year for Florida or Georgia. A breakthrough year for Kentucky – if they were to get to a bowl game and get to seven or eight wins – that would be monumental.”

UK has not been to a bowl game since the 2010 season under former coach Joker Phillips. Herbstreit believes Stoops, a close friend, is taking the steps to compete in college football’s toughest conference.

“When you’re in the SEC, and you’re Vanderbilt or Kentucky and have just decades and decades of struggles (it can be a challenge),” the College GameDay anchor said. “He’s recruiting. His ties to Ohio are paying off. He’s recruiting his butt off in Ohio, and he’s getting kind of that second- or third-tier guy. … They’ve got more skill than they’ve had since (quarterback Drew Barker) has been there around him. The defense looks to be faster.”

Being in Louisville, Herbstreit used the Cardinals as an example of how one big win can have a lasting impact on a program.

“And they need a win like Louisville had over Florida State (in 2002),” Herbstreit said. “Kentucky needs that win over Florida and Georgia and Tennessee. You get those kinds of wins, it changes the perception of your school.”

Stoops Troops’ first shot in 2016 at beating one of the SEC East powers Herbstreit mentioned comes on Sept. 10 (Week 2), when the Wildcats take on the Gators in The Swamp.

[H/T: The Courier-Journal]