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Kirk Herbstreit doesn’t think Kentucky will drop off in 2019
By Andrew Olson
Published:
With Benny Snell Jr. and Josh Allen now in the NFL, some college football fans are expecting Kentucky to drop off in 2019 after a 10-win 2018 campaign to remember. At SEC Media Days, Kentucky was predicted to finish No. 6 in the SEC East. ESPN’s Football Power Index metric rates UK No. 29 in the FBS, which is good for No. 11 in the SEC. Analyst Kirk Herbstreit, however, isn’t expecting the Wildcats to drop off in 2019.
“Kentucky wins 10 games last year and everything you hear about is they’re going to struggle again this year,” Herbstreit said in his recent preseason special, per 247Sports. “I think they’re another team, you talk about angry players? This is going to be another angry team with an angry coach.”
Using doubters’ fuel as motivation seemed to boost Mark Stoops’ squad last season. If the Wildcats can tap into that energy again in 2019, they may be able to prove Herbstreit right.
One thing in UK’s favor: the 2019 schedule appears to be manageable. While the FPI isn’t high on Kentucky (as referenced above), it ranks the team’s remaining strength of schedule at No. 33, which is the lowest in the SEC.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
