Kentucky football's remaining schedule is still really, really tough

After Kentucky’s upcoming home game against Eastern Michigan this Saturday, life is going to get even more difficult for Mark Stoops‘ Wildcats.

Back in the preseason, Kentucky’s strength of schedule was projected to be among the toughest in the entire country. Nothing has changed through two weeks of college football action to indicate that won’t still be the case. Kelley Ford, who puts together weekly power ratings, recently updated his schedule difficulty projections ahead of Week 3’s slate. Kentucky’s schedule checked in at fifth-hardest in the country.

Ford bases his ratings on the number of expected wins for the No. 12 power-rated team against a given team’s schedule. So if the No. 12 power-rated team in Ford’s system had to deal with Kentucky’s schedule, they would be projected to win only 7.4 games on average, which would be considered the fifth-fewest among all 136 Division I schedules, trailing only Arkansas (6.9), Florida (7.0), Wisconsin (7.3), and Mississippi State (7.4). Six of the seven teams with the hardest schedules left are from the SEC.

Updated Schedule Difficulty

The No. 12 power-rated team would be expected to win:

-6.9 games against Arkansas’ schedule
-11.5 games against Liberty’s schedule pic.twitter.com/eKX0JvTcSr

— Kelley Ford (@KFordRatings) September 9, 2025

This updated information won’t come as much of a shock to the Big Blue Nation. The 2025 schedule was always expected to be tough. Kentucky snuck past Toledo, the preseason favorite to win the MAC, in the opener, and will only have two more “cupcakes” the rest of the way (Eastern Michigan this weekend and Tennessee Tech in mid-November). ESPN‘s Football Power Index (FPI) ranks Kentucky’s remaining schedule as the 11th toughest in the country, while TeamRankings slots it as the 12th toughest.

Kentucky has already played and lost to one ranked SEC team (last weekend’s 30-23 defeat to Ole Miss). After the Eastern Michigan game this weekend, the ‘Cats will take a week off before going up against six straight SEC foes, five of them currently ranked in the AP Poll.

• Sept. 27 @ No. 11 South Carolina
• Oct. 4 @ No. 6 Georgia
• Oct. 18 vs. No. 7 Texas
• Oct. 25 vs. No. 15 Tennessee
• Nov. 1 @ No. 24 Auburn
• Nov. 8 vs. Florida

Kentucky will close out the season against Vanderbilt on the road and Louisville at home. Neither team is currently ranked in the top 25, but both are receiving votes in the national poll. The pathway to five or six wins this season will require an upset or two for the ‘Cats.