Kentucky Football Scheduled Loaded with Top 25 SP+ Teams

Kentucky CB Terhyon Nichols makes a tackle vs. Tennessee, via Mont Dawson, KSR

We are officially 100 days away from the first game of the 2025 Kentucky football season. The Wildcats will get to tiptoe into the water. Mark Stoops opens his 13th season in Lexington as a 12.5-point favorite over Toledo. After that, things get much, much trickier.

Bill Connelly updated his SP+ rankings for ESPN ahead of the summer talking season. SP+ is a forward-thinking efficiency ranking that is weighted by returning production, recent recruiting, and recent history. The latest number crunch creates a bleak forecast for Kentucky football fans.

The Wildcats fell three spots from the initial spring rankings to No. 43 overall. SP+ ranks the Kentucky offense No. 79, the defense No. 31, and the special teams No. 14.

There are a variety of ways you can use these numbers, but at its simplest, it’s a tool of comparison. Only two SEC teams are ranked lower than Kentucky, Vanderbilt (55) and Mississippi State (71). Unfortunately, only one of those teams is on this year’s schedule, a road trip to Nashville on Nov. 22.

To find most of the teams on Kentucky’s football schedule, you need to look at the top of the rankings. The Cats will play five of the Top 15 teams in America. Eight teams in the SP+ Top 25 are on the schedule, which ranks as the eighth-most difficult in college football.

Get the Daily On3 Newsletter in your inbox every morning

By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.

Big Blue Nation grew weary of Mark Stoops’ complaints throughout last season. Many were NIL related, but he never hesitated to talk about the quality of opponents and the difficulty of the schedule. While those started to sound more and more like excuses, it is a reality this Kentucky football team faced last fall and will experience once again in 2025. If you want to see the best teams in college football, most of them are playing Kentucky.

Kentucky Football Opponents in the SP+ Rankings

4. Georgia
5. Texas
11. Ole Miss
13. Tennessee
14. Florida
17. South Carolina
24. Louisville
25. Auburn
55. Vanderbilt
72. Toledo
113. EMU

Want more coverage of the Cats? Join KSR+

KSR has been delivering UK Sports news in the most ridiculous manner for almost two decades. Now, you can get even more coverage of the Cats with KSR+. Ahead of a busy summer for the Kentucky football program, now is the perfect time to join our online community. Subscribe now for premium articles, in-depth scouting reports, inside intel, bonus recruiting coverage, and access to KSBoard, our message board featuring thousands of Kentucky fans around the globe. Come join the club.