Five games into the Will Stein era, Kentucky has already given its fans plenty to cling to.
There was the opening blowout of Youngstown State, the stunner at Texas A&M, the second-half takeover against South Alabama and Saturday’s wild comeback at South Carolina, when the Wildcats erased a 17-point deficit and won in overtime. Even the loss to Alabama had a moment that will live a while at Kroger Field: an early pick-six that turned the building up loud.
A 4-1 start does not decide a season. But it does change the conversation. Big Blue Nation can look past the bowl-game baseline now and start imagining something bigger.
The road ahead is still rough, though. Kentucky’s seven remaining opponents all look manageable on some level, and all of them look dangerous enough to make trouble. Here’s a ranking of the Wildcats’ final games, from least difficult to most.
Vanderbilt on Oct. 24 is a game Kentucky cannot treat lightly, even with the Commodores dropping their past two meetings with the Wildcats. Vanderbilt no longer looks like the 10-win team it was in 2025.
It was blasted 38-14 by Georgia on Saturday and is 0-2 in SEC play. One of its three victories came only after N.C.
State fumbled the ball into its own end zone while trying to run out the clock. Five-star freshman quarterback Jared Curtis should keep getting better as the season goes on, but he sat out Saturday’s game because of an injury.
The regular-season finale against Louisville on Nov. 28 has a chance to be one of the most compelling Governor’s Cup games ever on paper. Stein and several of his assistants played at Louisville, and the Cardinals’ roster includes several former UK players who followed former Wildcat recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow to Kentucky’s archrival.
But Louisville’s season has gone off the rails. What started with playoff hopes has become a 2-3 mess after a loss to N.C.
State on Saturday.
Kentucky’s trip to Oklahoma on Oct. 17 once looked like a long shot, but the direction of the two programs has flipped early in the season. The Sooners are 2-2 and rank 109th nationally in scoring at 22 points per game.
In their last three outings, they have not topped 14 points. A bye week might help, but Kentucky has been the better offense so far.
Florida comes next on Nov. 14, and while the Gators are not being favored to win any of the remaining games here, this one sits lower on the list because Florida was blown out by Missouri on Saturday for its first loss. The first matchup between Stein and Jon Sumrall should bring plenty of juice to Kroger Field, especially with Sumrall being the former UK player many fans wanted to replace Mark Stoops.
Add in former UK defensive coordinator Brad White now working on Florida’s staff, plus several players who moved from one school to the other, and the atmosphere should be loud. This one could turn into a shootout.
Missouri at Nov. 21 feels like one of the games that could shape the back half of the season. Even after the South Carolina comeback, Missouri seems likely to jump Kentucky in The Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday.
The Tigers were 25th last week, just behind the Wildcats, and earned plenty of attention with a 45-17 win over previously unbeaten Florida. Missouri did look vulnerable in a loss to Mississippi State a week ago, but it also has three teams currently ranked in the top 10 left on its schedule before it sees Kentucky.
The timing works for the Wildcats, though, because Missouri will come in after back-to-back games against No. 1 Texas and No.
2 Georgia.
Tennessee on Nov. 7 brings its own kind of stress. The Volunteers were respectable in a 20-17 loss to Texas, then less impressive in a 24-14 win over Auburn.
Their quarterback situation could look very different by the time they meet Kentucky. Coach Josh Heupel benched freshman Faizon Brandon against Auburn, and backup George MacIntyre finished 8 of 10 for 86 yards in relief.
Kentucky’s long history of frustration in this matchup hangs over it all, and Stein will have to show that doesn’t matter.
At the top of the list sits LSU on Oct. 10, and for good reason. South Carolina’s loss set up a huge week in Kentucky football: homecoming, Lane Kiffin coming to town and, almost certainly, the unveiling of UK’s “Power K” throwback uniforms.
LSU is the most talented team left on the schedule. If Kentucky finds a way to beat the Tigers, then the playoff conversation stops being a joke and starts sounding real.
In Other News...
Kentuckys 2027 Recruiting Footprint Already Stands Out In The SEC
The early shape of the 2027 recruiting cycle is already giving SEC programs a clear geographic identity, and Kentucky is part of that conversation in a notable way. With 11 of the leagues 16 teams sitting inside the national top 25, the conference is again recruiting at a level that forces everyone to think beyond their own borders, but the Wildcats have still managed to carve out a footprint that stands out when compared with the rest of the leagues spread of classes and commit distances.
For Kentucky, the story is less about one splashy number than the broader trend of where the staff is landing players and how that fits into the SEC landscape. The Wildcats class is being measured against schools that are leaning heavily on nearby talent, others that are casting wider nets, and a handful that already have key commits shaping their direction, leaving Kentucky in an interesting middle ground as the 2027 board continues to take shape. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Got One Huge SEC Sign After That South Carolina Comeback
The SEC handed out its Week 5 football honors after a busy stretch of league play, and Kentuckys trip to South Carolina also ended up producing a notable recognition on the Wildcats side of the ledger. Along with offensive, defensive and special teams awards that went to players from around the conference, Kentucky landed one of the weeks position-specific honors tied to the line of scrimmage.
Lance Heard was the Wildcat singled out, a fitting nod after a game in which Kentucky needed steadiness up front to survive the road. His performance stood out well beyond the final score, with the kind of consistency and physicality that can swing an overtime game, and it gave Kentucky a timely SEC reminder that the work in the trenches still gets noticed when the league starts handing out awards. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Fans Face An Early Rupp Ticket Crunch
Kentucky fans looking to lock in seats for the 2026-27 season wont have to wait long to start planning. Single-game tickets for the first 10 home dates at Rupp Arena, including three exhibitions and several regular-season matchups, are set to hit Ticketmaster for the general public Tuesday at 5 p.m. EST, giving Big Blue Nation an early crack at what should be a busy home schedule.
The one caveat is that the most in-demand SEC home games will be handled later, depending on availability, so the first wave is only part of the picture. Theres also a separate path for the CBS Sports Classic meeting with North Carolina at Madison Square Garden, which comes with its own presale and general sale window, leaving Kentucky supporters to juggle a few different ticket clocks if they want to follow the team from Rupp to New York. [Read more 🡒]