Tailgating will take place in the Kroger Field parking lots in 15 weeks when Kentucky opens the 2025 college football season against Toledo. The offseason is inching closer to its end date. Mark Stoops and his program will be looking for a bounce-back season.
The Cats will be dogs quite often this fall.
ESPN’s first offseason edition of the SP+ rankings were updated in February and give us a power rating for each team in the FBS. Using those power ratings — and awarding two points for home field advantage — we can come up with projected spreads for every non-FCS game. The Cats sit at No. 40 overall.
There are many teams ranked higher than No. 40 on the schedule.
Kentucky’s projected spreads
| Game | Spread |
| Toledo at Kentucky (Aug. 30) | UK (-10.5) |
| Ole Miss at Kentucky (Sept. 6) | UK (+12) |
| Eastern Michigan at Kentucky (Sept. 13) | UK (-22) |
| Kentucky at South Carolina (Sept. 27) | UK (+13) |
| Kentucky at Georgia (Oct. 4) | UK (+20) |
| Texas at Kentucky (Oct. 18) | UK (+13.5) |
| Tennessee at Kentucky (Oct. 25) | UK (+13) |
| Kentucky at Auburn (Nov. 1) | UK (+7.5) |
| Florida at Kentucky (Nov. 8) | UK (+6) |
| Tennessee Tech at Kentucky (Nov. 15) | N/A |
| Kentucky at Vanderbilt (Nov. 22) | UK (-2.5) |
| Kentucky at Louisville (Nov. 29) | UK (+8) |
UK is only projected to be a favorite once in nine power conference games and that is a true 50-50 matchup on the road against Vanderbilt. The Cats are a near touchdown dog three times against Auburn, Florida, and Louisville. Each of those toss-up games will occur in November. The best chance for wins will come after Halloween.
From Week 2 through Week 9, UK will use both bye weeks and have five games as a projected double-digit SEC underdog. Finding a victory could be difficult to begin SEC play and could extend that long home losing streak. Georgia and Texas are once again preseason national title contenders while South Carolina and Tennessee will have playoff expectations. Shane Beamer and Josh Heupel own a combined 7-1 record against UK since joining the SEC in 2021.
UK’s season win total currently sits at 4.5. That makes sense when you dig into the schedule. The Wildcats will need to overachieve to get back to a bowl game.
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