Kentucky is still not projected to go bowling — and plays the national champion

Do you want the terrible news, horrible news or no-good, very bad news first? On3’s latest bowl projections feature a little bit of everything for Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats — none of it positive as we enter the 2025 season.

College football insider Brett McMurphy is very good at his job. It’s why his decision to join On3 back in June was such a massive deal, taking the national coverage to another level as he sees and hears all. Unfortunately, he’s not seeing or hearing much optimism when it comes to Kentucky’s bowl chances this fall.

In his Week 1 College Football Playoff and bowl projections, the Wildcats did not do enough to participate in the postseason fun. And to make matters worse, nine of Kentucky’s 12 opponents are projected to go bowling — two seen as likely CFP participants. Oh, and one of those Playoff teams is the projected national champion.

Going down the list of matchups, UK is facing a bowl team to open the season, Toledo — the favorite to win the MAC in 2025 — seen as a potential opponent for Dan Mullen in his debut season at UNLV.

From there, seven SEC opponents are projected to play in bowls with No. 1 Texas and No. 5 Georgia considered favorites to go to the CFP. Of those two, McMurphy likes the Bulldogs to win the whole thing, lifting the trophy at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens on Jan. 19.

Only Vanderbilt is projected to miss the bowl cut-off among SEC opponents — No. 21 Ole Miss, No. 13 South Carolina, No. 24 Tennessee, Auburn and No. 15 Florida all joining the Longhorns and Bulldogs. Louisville is on that list, too, participating in the ridiculousness of the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando on Dec. 27, potentially taking on No. 23 Texas Tech.

Can Stoops and the Wildcats prove local and national analysts wrong by returning to postseason action coming off an embarrassing 4-8 campaign in Lexington? The Kentucky head coach is confident this group will make you proud.

“I just like the way they care about each other. I like the way they play. I think you as a fan base — you’re going to love watching them,” he said last week. “I’ve been proud through the years, and I know we fell short time to time. We all want the same thing. We want a passionate group that plays extremely hard, that represents Kentucky the right way, and plays very physical, very tough, very hard, and cares about each other.

“We’re going to do that.”

A convincing win over the projected MAC favorite and bowl participant would go a long way in building confidence and starting the process of proving people wrong.

For the full list of matchups and CFP predictions from Brett McMurphy, make sure you’re subscribed to On3 and click here.