Kentucky Heading for a Magical Season
By Jamie H. Vaught
KySportsStyle.com Magazine
The SEC has gone really wild this football season. It's a dogfight loaded with stunning upsets as ranked teams beat each other to death.
And believe it or not, Kentucky—a preseason choice by the media to finish No. 14 in the 16-team SEC—is tied with powerhouse Georgia for the conference lead with a 4-1 mark despite a very tough schedule. If things continue to go well for the impressive Wildcats, they may show up for the 12-team College Football Playoff (CFP).
It's not a dream. It's reality. And it's difficult to believe that even with new coach Will Stein—who found success at Oregon as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, compiling a three-year mark of 38-5 with two straight CFP appearances in 2024 and 2025—the Cats ignored the school's past history with first-year coaches.
You'd have to go all the way back to the Paul "Bear" Bryant and Blanton Collier days at Kentucky during the late 1940s and 1950s to find a winning record by a first-year Wildcat coach. Bryant's 1946 team posted a 7-3 mark, while Collier's squad recorded a matching 7-3 mark in 1954.
Since then, a total of 10 Wildcat coaches have failed to field a winning team in their first year of coaching at UK, including two very ugly seasons. Mark Stoops' first-year team posted a 2-10 record in 2013, while Jerry Claiborne's 1982 team had an 0-10-1 worksheet before both coaches found success at Kentucky after rebuilding the program.
Heading into the Vanderbilt game at Kroger Field on Saturday night (SEC Network, 7:30 p.m. ET), the Wildcats have an overall mark of 6-1, including a 4-1 record in the SEC.
Stein needs one more victory to become the first UK boss to have a winning campaign in his first year in over 70 years.
Thanks to the NIL and the transfer portal, Stein and his staff were able to find players to help restart a winning culture in the program after UK's two straight disappointing seasons in 2024 (4-8) and 2025 (5-7).
Now, the No. 12 Wildcats are bowl-eligible and have five more games to finish the regular season. They definitely need to win at least one more to avoid appearing in a lower-tier or so-called "toilet bowl."
As for UK's remaining games, here is my prediction:
Vanderbilt (Home): Unlike the last two games in the series when Vandy defeated the Cats 20-17 at Kroger Field in 2024 and 45-17 in Nashville in 2025, Kentucky should come out on top this time. The Commodores are winless in four SEC games so far. UK by 17.
Tennessee (Knoxville): After an open date on Halloween, the Wildcats will be looking to snap their five-game losing streak to the Vols in the series. UK's last victory (34-7) against Tennessee was during the COVID-19 year of 2020 in Knoxville. The 11th-ranked Vols (6-1 overall, 3-1 SEC) are struggling with their quarterbacks, but their running game is very effective. UT by 7.
Florida (Home): The Gators, led by former Wildcat linebacker and assistant coach Jon Sumrall, are currently ranked No. 20. Florida upset then-No. 7 Texas in Austin after falling behind by 14 points this past weekend. The Wildcats defeated Florida 38-7 in Lexington last season. UK by 3.
Missouri (Columbia): The Tigers could be a tough road matchup for the Cats, but Kentucky has found success in Columbia with three victories in recent years. Missouri (5-2, 2-2) dropped one to Ole Miss 31-3 in Oxford Saturday, but coach Eli Drinkwitz said his team, ranked No. 22, will not give up. UK by 1.
Louisville (Home): Coach Jeff Brohm and his 4-3 Cardinals are currently unranked. Last season saw U of L whip the visiting Cats 41-0. The rivalry game is a toss-up. UK by 1.
As Cats' Pause founder Oscar Combs wrote this past weekend on X (formerly Twitter), the sky is the limit for Coach Stein and his Wildcats.
Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of seven books about UK basketball, including recently published “Unforgettable Journey with the Cats: Inside Kentucky Hoops Madness.” Now a retired college professor who taught at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro, he is the editor and founder of KySportsStyle.com Magazine. You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @KySportsStyle or reach him via email at KySportsStyle44@gmail.com.
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