In 2019, Mark Stoops’ troops are out to prove that the 2018 season wasn’t a fluke. Last season, Kentucky snapped The Streak against Florida, achieved double-digit wins and capped off a year to remember with a Citrus Bowl win over Penn State. But, with Benny Snell and Josh Allen gone, some analysts no longer expect UK to compete in the SEC East. ESPN analyst Greg McElroy had a different, interesting take on the future UK football program. He sees Kentucky becoming the SEC’s version of Michigan State.

“I think Kentucky is the Michigan State of the SEC at this point,” McElroy said on the SEC Network, per 247Sports. “Michigan State has obviously achieved a lot more than Kentucky. They’ve been to College Football Playoffs. They’ve reeled off 11-win seasons. They’ve won their league. I think that is the ceiling for what Kentucky can maybe become if they hit on some big-time players.”

As McElroy touched on, the similarities are there. Kentucky and Michigan State aren’t the programs you regularly hear being talked about much by the national media on National Signing Day (or during the early signing period). While they don’t necessarily sign a roster full of 4- and 5-star talents, both coaching staffs find players who fit their schemes and coach them up. The success of Allen and Snell shows that Stoops’ staff can develop under-the-radar recruits. And, as McElroy implies, it’s no longer far-fetched to see Kentucky as a potential College Football Playoff team. The Wildcats were in the mix for a New Year’s Six bowl game last season. The Citrus Bowl to the CFP is certainly not an unheard-of leap.

And there are the Nick Saban connections. Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio is a former Saban assistant. Stoops is the former assistant of a former Saban assistant, having coached under Jimbo Fisher at FSU.