Kirk Herbstreit labels Kentucky as SEC "dark horse" for 2023 season
College football is back, baby! Well, sort of… We’re still technically seven days away from Kentucky hitting Kroger Field for the season-opener against Ball State, but Week Zero action kicked off on Saturday with a rivalry matchup between No. 13 Notre Dame and Navy in Dublin, Ireland.
Now that we’re officially in-season, ESPN’s College Gameday has returned to our television screens and will consume our Saturday mornings for the next few months. The Gameday crew was already in midseason form to preview Week Zero, but panelist Kirk Herbstreit said something that should have the Big Blue Nation even more excited for next weekend.
Early in the show, each crew member listed off their Southeastern Conference “dark horse team” for the upcoming 2023 season. And who did Herbstreit pick? The Kentucky Wildcats, of course. His fellow panelists went with Tennessee (Pat McAfee) and Texas A&M (Desmond Howard).
This isn’t the first time that Herbstreit has shown the Kentucky football program some love. The former Ohio State starting quarterback turned well-known sportscaster has been riding the Mark Stoops Hype Train for years now. The two both grew up in small Ohio towns and have been friends with each other for some time. UK is even recruiting Herbstreit’s son Chase as a class of 2025 quarterback.
Back in the 2021 season, following Kentucky’s 5-0 start that included a massive win over Florida in Lexington (the first win for the Wildcats at home against the Gators since 1986), Herbstreit listed Stoops as the No. 1 football coach of the week for the victory. Two years prior to that, he said Stoops was an “obvious” choice as a top potential candidate for the Florida State head coaching job, which was open at the time.
Even last season in 2022, Herbstreit was high on Stoops and the Wildcats. He called into Stoops’ radio show early in the season as “Kirk from Ohio” to shower Stoops with praise. It was right after Kentucky had beaten Florida for the second straight year in Week 2. Herbstreit once again labeled Stoops as his top coach of the week, as well.
“I just wanted to congratulate you, man,” Herbstreit said to Stoops last fall. “I love watching your team play, I have since you got there. You’ve just built a culture where you guys were able to go on the road in those kinds of environments — which, anybody who’s an SEC fan knows that’s tough to do. You’ve got a gritty team, man. Those kinds of wins, as you know, early in the year, they can do so much for you. So I just wanted to congratulate you. I know that’s just a small stepping stone to the next game, but congrats.”
Kentucky will begin its quest to prove Herbstreit right next Saturday with a noon EST kickoff against Ball State at Kroger Field.
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