Just one month ago nearly everyone had an opinion on how Kentucky football would fare in 2019.
Now a month into the season the 'Cats have two wins and two losses.
Following a late collapse against Florida and a loss in Starkville, should our expectations for the Wildcats change?
Jeff Drummond: My expectations haven't changed too much since we made our preseason forecast. The main difference, however, is the loss of Terry Wilson. While I still believe Sawyer Smith can be a winning quarterback for the Cats, it's tough to fill the shoes of a guy who had led you to 12 wins in 15 starts. I think UK may suffer a third straight loss when it travels to South Carolina this week, but if the team stays focused and the fans don't lose their minds, the schedule gets much more favorable from that point on. The open date, followed by a home game against struggling Arkansas, should be just what the doctor ordered. By that time, I think the Cats will be more settled in with what they want to do offensively, and the young secondary will be a little further along.
Travis Graf: With a third of the season now in the books, my expectations for this team have lowered slightly. During the preseason, I had Kentucky going 9-3, but now I think 8-4 or 7-5 is more likely. I expected the defense to be better than it is and Terry Wilson’s injury set the offense back a bit. I think there’s still a lot of very winnable games left on the schedule, however. In fact, Kentucky will have a chance to win every remaining game outside of Georgia.
Justin Rowland: Before the season I predicted an 8-4 regular season. That is certainly still within a realistic range of possible outcomes for Kentucky. The 'Cats have lost two in a row. They're 0-2 in SEC play. Winless against Power Five competition. They're starting the quarterback who was to be a backup coming into the season. The ground game has not been what it was last year, and the defense seems to have taken a big step back, as we expected. Ball security has been an issue and the place-kicking game has been a problem. Framed like that, the situation appears bleak.
On the other hand, Kentucky has played two of the four toughest games on the schedule, at least on paper (UGA and Missouri being the others). Even if Kentucky loses games against the Bulldogs and Tigers, there are so many winnable games or games that should be wins on the schedule, I'm not ready to radically alter my expectations. I would pick Kentucky in games against Louisville, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and UT-Martin if those games were played tomorrow. I'll probably reassess this as a 7-5 team with a realistic range of 5-7 to 8-4. That means I'm dropping my projected win total by one game and lower both the best and worst case scenarios from preseason by one game apiece also.
