Mark Stoops on 9-game SEC slate: "Put somebody in front of me and we'll play 'em."

With Texas and Oklahoma moving to the SEC in 2024, the conference is weighing its scheduling options regarding an eight- or nine-game slate. The former would pave way for one permanent opponent and seven rotating teams while the latter would be three permanent opponents and six rotating teams. Nine games is the anticipated model, with the three permanent SEC foes being tossed around for each team.

Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger predicts Kentucky‘s three permanent opponents will be Georgia, Mississippi State and South Carolina. But those aren’t official, only projections — albeit from one of the most credible college football insiders in the game. Certainly something to keep an eye on.

Who is Mark Stoops rooting for, assuming the nine-game (3-6) model comes to fruition? Frankly, it doesn’t matter. They’re all tough and the SEC schedule is going to be a grind regardless.

“As far as the three, you might as well throw it all in a hat, mix them up and draw three names out. They’re all gonna be tough, right? You know what I mean?” Stoops said in an appearance on KSR this morning. “Some tougher than others, obviously, but they’re gonna be tough.”

If you’re looking for specifics, the Kentucky head coach feels pretty confident the Wildcats get one or two of the top dogs (Dawgs?) in the SEC — Georgia or Alabama. They’ll get both opponents this season as a trial run, an opportunity Stoops is clearly thrilled about.

“Chances are we’re gonna get one of the teams that is arguably — right now and in the next three, four, five, six years — is one of the best teams in the country in Georgia or Alabama. It’s gonna happen,” he said. “They’re both neck and neck and really, Georgia has been the past two years. So, you know — heck this year, we get the pleasure of playing both anyway. We get the opportunity to play ’em both this year.”

And that doesn’t mean the rest of the league is a cakewalk either, obviously. Stoops can argue the pros and cons of each individual school until he’s blue in the face, but Kentucky’s schedule will still be a doozy no matter how the realignment unfolds. Then replace one non-conference opponent with an added SEC foe? The toughest league in college football gets even tougher.

“The rest of the SEC is not going anywhere. It’s brutal top to bottom, so it is what it is,” Stoops told KSR. “I gotta be careful because I say a few things on here just in conversation, and everybody takes it as the end-all, be-all where that’s my stance on everything. There are just a lot of things to look at, let’s just leave it at that. … Top to bottom, it’s just brutal, it’s tough. Then you add on nine (games), you’re guaranteeing 50% of our league will have one more loss. You’ve just guaranteed it.

“And you’ve got to look at the physicality of it, the toll that it takes on our players. We are the highest league for injuries because of who the hell we play against, the brutality of it. I mean, it’s just brutal. You know what I mean? If you look at injury reports, we’re higher than anybody.”

So what do you do with the Louisville Cardinals, Kentucky’s biggest non-conference rival? Do you cut that game from the schedule in favor of a cupcake — well, more than it’s been with UofL in recent years, especially now with Jeff Brohm roaming the sidelines?

“You want to keep Louisville, right? We all want to keep Louisville. So now you’re lined up with a team with Coach Brohm and what they’ve done,” he said. “When I walked in here, they were a top-five team and Coach Brohm will do a great job. So now all of a sudden you’re playing 10 (games) like that? I mean, you’re asking a lot of our players. You’re asking a lot.”

But if that’s what the league decides, Stoops and the Kentucky program are ready for the challenge. Lace ’em up and throw the shoulder pads on.

“I’ve done it before. Listen, I’m from Youngstown. Put somebody in front of me and we’ll play ’em.”