Kentucky has not had a season with five losses or fewer since 1984. Matt Brown at Sports on Earth thinks this could be the year that changes.

Brown named the Wildcats one of his breakout team candidates in an article published Thursday. He stopped by “The Paul Finebum Show” to talk about why UK could be a factor in its division.

“The SEC East is still so wide open, Brown told Finebaum. “There is a chance to win maybe eight or nine games, which would be substantial improvement for Kentucky. They started so poorly last year. The first couple games, their defense was a mess, but they figured some things out. Their running game ended up being very, very good. Boom Williams is gone, but they still have Benny Snell back at tailback. Stephen Johnson showed some things last year. I think their defense is going to be improved.”

In addition to the improvement seen toward the end of last season, Brown cited Kentucky’s scheduled, which includes many of the team’s biggest games at home and a manageable SEC West draw.

“There are winnable games,” Brown said, “Florida, Tennessee [and] Louisville all come to Lexington this year. They get Mississippi State and Ole Miss, who should be down a little bit, out of the SEC West. The schedule isn’t bad.”

Brown thinks the Wildcats could even be ranked at some point this fall.

“The running game is good. Their defense is a little bit better. Mark Stoops has recruited pretty well,” he said. “I think Kentucky has a chance to maybe get into the top three of the SEC East and win eight games and maybe even threaten to make it into the top 25.”

Brown’s article can be found here.