Voted towards the bottom of the pack within their own conference just a few weeks ago, Kentucky is now voted outside the top twenty-five for the entire country. In the first official AP Poll of the 2024 season, Kentucky comes in at 40th overall, only receiving 3 votes to be put in the top-25.

Losing your starting quarterback and your program-leading touchdown scorer to the NFL Draft can cause some uncertainty around an offense, that’s for sure. Not saying I disagree with Kentucky’s spot on the AP Poll, but I definitely think this will be another year of not being backed by the voters until they have no choice but to go out and prove their worth — nothing new for this program — to their viewers.

As they have gained an even harder schedule than set in place on annual basis by just existing in the SEC, the conference added two preseason top twenty-five opponents in Texas and Oklahoma this summer, with the Longhorns being a road opponent for the Cats this year. Looking at the rest of the SEC, it received 8 top-25 bids, inserting its dominance more than ever before. Currently they sit at Georgia (1), Texas (4), Alabama (5), Ole Miss (6), LSU (13), Tennessee (15), Oklahoma (16), and Texas A&M (20) as the conference opponents starting the year ranked.

While Kentucky will face a non-conference opponent in Southern Miss in week one, they’ll go on to face South Carolina (unranked), Georgia (preseason No. 1), and Ole Miss (preseason No. 6) all within the first six weeks. They’ll have to make some noise early to capture the national attention they’re poised to have.