Why the SEC's supreme depth in 2024 is best illustrated by ... the Kentucky Wildcats?

ESPN’s Bill Connelly released his post-portal, preseason updated SP+ rankings earlier this week, and my immediate takeaway was mercy, the SEC is loaded in 2024. 

With the latest round of conference realignment, two of the four Power Conferences (SEC and Big Ten) have more firepower at the top, while the Big 12 might be the most entertainingly wide-open league this fall. 

Of course, then there’s the ACC, which is now a bi-coastal league with a team also in downtown Dallas and two of its most successful members actively suing to leave the conference. 

Alas, back to the original point: The SEC, which has long been the top conference in college football, isn’t just a top-heavy league with a bunch of filler teams in the middle. It isn’t a so-so conference with maybe one or two College Football Playoff contenders, either.

It’s the deepest conference in the sport, and while the additions of Texas and Oklahoma absolutely factor into that equation in 2024, the two schools only represent a partial snapshot of the league’s ridiculous quality this fall. 

This isn’t SEC bias. It’s facts.

Georgia, Texas and Alabama are all legitimate national title contenders. 

Ole Miss and Missouri have pushed their chips to go all-in in 2024. 

Tennessee is a CFP hopeful. Same for LSU. 

Texas A&M and Oklahoma have rosters capable of beating most any teams in the country on any given Saturday.

Then there’s Kentucky, which checked in at No. 25 in the updated SP+ rankings, catching my eye and sparking this entire thought exercise. 

You won’t find Kentucky in any recent post-spring Top 25 Power Rankings or preseason poll, but could the Wildcats —  which, rules are rules, is now a football school since Mark Stoops outlasted John Calipari — best illustrate the league’s supreme depth in 2024?

I think so.

Why Kentucky exemplifies the SEC’s sheer depth in 2024

In my 2024 post-spring, post-portal SEC Power Rankings released this week, Wildcats fans pushed back on their ranking at No. 11. By my quick math, Connelly’s projections have the ‘Cats at 10th in the SEC, but 25th overall in the country. So their positioning seems fair. 

Despite Brock Vandagriff’s inexperience at quarterback, the ‘Cats are No. 1 in the conference in returning production, and all three units (offense, defense, special teams) are among the Top 40 nationally in SP+ — something only UGA, Texas, Alabama and Ole Miss can claim the same, among SEC schools. 

And yet, Kentucky’s preseason win-total is set at 6.5. That’s the same as schools like Maryland (44th in SP+) and Rutgers (49th).

That’s how tough it is to rack up Ws in the SEC in 2024. 

Kentucky might have the best interior defensive lineman (Deone Walker) in the conference, a solid set of playmakers led by Barion Brown and Dane Key and impact transfer additions headlined by All-SEC linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson. The Wildcats have a veteran, experienced head coach in Stoops, and staff changes on the offense side of the ball should boost the unit’s productivity. They’re invested financially and continued to supplement the roster with quality depth additions over the spring. 

And despite all that, UK will be favored in maybe three (South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Auburn) SEC games this fall. 

With a schedule that includes games at Ole Miss, at Tennessee, at Texas and versus Georgia, Kentucky’s ceiling is like 8-4. 

Put these 2024 Wildcats, again ranked 25th nationally in the updated analytics, in any other conference and they’re anywhere between the 5th-7th best team in that league. 

In the SEC they’re maybe the 10th best team. In the SEC, there’s at least the possibility UK could struggle to make a bowl game this year. 

The league’s quality has never been higher. 

It’s exactly why I’m skeptical that Auburn will make a huge leap in Year 2 under Hugh Freeze. It’s not that the Tigers don’t have a good football team. It’s where the Tigers currently sit in the hierarchy compared to the rest of the conference. 

Same for Florida. 

Why are Billy Napier, Sam Pittman, Shane Beamer and Clark Lea — in varying degrees — all seen as potential hot-seat candidates in 2024? Because it’s going to be so damn hard for their teams to win games this year.

Kentucky finished 7-6 the last two seasons, and the ‘Cats are likely in store for a similar finish this fall. The metrics would say they’re probably better than that, but such is the life in the SEC in 2024.