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The start of college football season brought back ESPN College GameDay and that led to a discussion of who might be the surprise team in the Southeastern Conference this year.
Pat McAfee went with Tennessee, which is coming off a big year, while Desmond Howard believes it will be Texas A&M.
But Kirk Herbstreit had no hesitation when he picked Kentucky. Herbstreit has been a Mark Stoops fan since he arrived at Kentucky and likes the pieces he has put together for this season.
“I’m not letting go of Kentucky,” Herbstreit said on College GameDay. “Old Mark Stoops, here they go. Now remember, they’ve got Devin Leary coming over from North Carolina State. You lose Will Levis but you have a talented, experienced quarterback. New offensive coordinator Liam Coen.
“This team, again, Mark Stoops has a team every year that is going to be physical, they’re going to bring a chip on their shoulder. Now they’ve got a quarterback, I think.
“Will Levis, his hype, he didn’t have a great year offensively. This year I think they can be better with Coen there, with Leary coming in. Look out for ole UK.”
2 Responses
Putting aside the O-line concerns which seem to be improving, I can’t think of any weakness in this Kentucky team. To the contrary you see elite talent at QB, WR, D-line, DBs and a wealth of good players and depth everywhere. Add to that elite OC and DC and new ST coordinator Boulware who is highly accomplished. Oh yea, a new kicker from the portal that is virtually automatic from 45 in and a extremely reliable snapper.
Mike Farrell picks us to be the No. 2 team in the SEC East. He must think that our O-line problems from last year have been solved. Dreary and the run game will help with that fix. This would call for a win over Tennessee, but has Georgia as a 3Peat National Champion.