NUNN’ S WISE GUY PREDICTIONS
By Jeff Nunn
The Wildcats finished the 2016 regular season winning their last two games and tallying up seven victories with five losses. They then lost to Georgia Tech in the TaxSlayer Bowl.
Kentucky amassed the most rushing yards in school history last season and even though power running back, Boom Williams, will be enjoying life on the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad this year, they still have 2016 freshman All-American Benny Snell in the backfield.
UK returns a total of eight starters on offense and nine on defense. The offensive line will be one of the best in the Southeastern Conference, and dual-threat quarterback Stephen Johnson, who can throw an amazing deep ball, should be even better this year.
WATCH LIST Reggie Bonnafon, senior RB with multi-position skills Stephen Johnson, now the full-time starter at QB and a team leader
CJ Conrad, this TE could be Kentucky’ s top pass catcher for 2017
Josh Allen, a very productive OLB, led the team in sacks with 7 last season
Offensively, Kentucky will look to pound the ball and take a few deep shots this year. The defense has a pretty good linebacking corp led by Jordan Jones. Pass rusher, Denzil Ware, will be a force against opposing QBs. UK gave up 200 rushing yards in nine games last season and allowed just over five yards per carry. If Kentucky can improve their run defense, then this could be a very good year for the Wildcats. I believe UK will beat Southern Miss, EKU, Eastern Michigan, Miss State and Ole Miss. UK has three games that could make or break their season: at South Carolina, at Vanderbilt and at home vs. Missouri.
TOUGHEST GAME
Georgia, Nov. 18 at Georgia. The Wildcats have the advantage of hosting Florida( Sept. 23) and Tennessee( Oct. 28). The SEC East has been down the last two seasons and this season there is no clear leader. A trip to Georgia could tell the tale for their season with Louisville closing out the season in Lexington on Nov. 25.
MY PREDICTION: The Wildcats will go 7-5, winning two of those three make-or-break games. I want to predict eight wins, but I just don’ t have enough faith in this coaching staff to do so. But, don’ t be shocked if they win eight games.
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