Bill Connolly disagrees with Kentucky being a preseason top-25 team

When ESPN released its updated way-too-early top 25 for the 2024 college football season, Kentucky debuted at No. 23 overall. An interesting offseason has already unfolded in Lexington with a ton of turnover occurring inside of the program. Especially on the offensive end with quarterback Brock Vandagriff coming in from Georgia.

If things are going to work for Kentucky this year, Bill Connelly believes the offensive changes will have to be the reason why. Vandagriff will carry expectations with him but who his offensive coordinator will be is a mystery at the moment. Mark Stoops has built up a solid defense but there are holes to plug on offense.

“I think you have to believe the changes they made — that they’re probably making at coordinator, that they did make at quarterback with Brock Vandagriff coming in — you have to believe that’s really going to fix that offense,” Connelly said via The Paul Finebaum Show. “The defense should be good, there’s no question about that. They improved a little bit offensively last year but most of the reasons why are gone.”

Ray Davis was one the best running backs in the SEC last season, going for 1,129 yards and 14 touchdowns on 199 carries. He has since left and will be suiting up for an NFL team in the fall after being selected in the draft. Tayvion Robinson, Kentucky’s second-leading receiver from a season ago, is also heading to the NFL.

Add in a few more departures and Connelly does not see Kentucky improving on results of the last few seasons. Both 2022 and 2023 resulted in a 7-6 record following bowl losses.

Mark Schlabach did the rankings for ESPN, with everything being his opinion at this point of the offseason. If it were Connelly’s way-too-early top 25, he would not include the Wildcats.

“Now, you’re looking at three or four years where you didn’t win more than seven games,” Connelly said. “And for Kentucky, that tells you the bar has been raised significantly but they still haven’t cleared that bar in a while. If I’m putting that list there, I don’t put it down. Mark and I are allowed to disagree.”

We will learn a lot about Kentucky early on, facing SEC opponents Week 2 (South Carolina) and Week 3 (Georgia). Both games will take place at Kroger Field and potentially set up a huge opportunity to start the season with a buzz.

But at this point in the offseason, Connelly is not seeing it. A difference of opinions coming from the two ESPN personalities.