2024 NCAAF Cheat Sheet: Kentucky Wildcats Stats Odds

The Kentucky Wildcats finished last year with a 7-6 record thanks to an upset win over Louisville. But overall, in SEC play, Kentucky finished 3-5 and were second-to-last in the SEC East.

Kentucky got solid play from Devin Leary last season. But he’s no longer around. Kentucky will now rely on former Georgia quarterback Brock Vandagriff.

While he’ll likely be the starter, he has some competition behind him. Gavin Wimsatt, the former Rutgers quarterback, transferred in. Beau Allen played at Georgia Southern and transferred to Kentucky.

Those two are fighting for the No. 2 spot but also have enough experience to steal the No. 1 quarterback position if Vandagriff doesn’t work out.

In addition to boosting the quarterback room, Kentucky landed transfer DeaMonte Trayanum. He’s been at Arizona State and Ohio State but will finally get a real opportunity with Kentucky.

• However, he broke his hand in the preseason and could miss the first two games.

This team is full of new college football players, including transfers and many freshmen. It’ll be interesting to see if the team adjusts in time to earn solid wins that could lead them to a college bowl game this year.

Check out the projected 2024 Kentucky Wildcats stats for one of the least exciting SEC teams in the nation.

Kentucky Wildcats At A Glance

Will There Be More Consistency With The Offense?

The Kentucky Wildcats watched Liam Coen enter the NFL and leave his offensive coordinator position at Kentucky.

Therefore, head coach Mark Stoops added Bush Hamdan, who came from Boise State, as the new offensive coordinator after last year’s college football scores were mediocre. 

He won’t have Devin Leary at quarterback and won’t be able to feature Ray Davis at running back. But he’s got a former 5-star quarterback in Vandagriff who can finally showcase his ability in the SEC.

Hamdan will also have an impressive running back in DeaMonte Trayanum, who already rushed for nearly 400 yards last season for Ohio State. However, again, he will likely miss a few NCAAF games with a broken hand.

Kentucky at least used the transfer portal to build the roster in areas in need. But don’t forget, Kentucky is still playing in the SEC. The conference added more challenging opponents, so it won’t be easy for Kentucky to achieve consistent success.

Championship Odds: The SEC Is Hard!

Kentucky was just 3-5 in conference play last NCAAF season. Now they’ve got a bunch of transfers that will need to come together quickly to develop a new winning culture at Kentucky.

There’s a good chance Kentucky will improve from last season. However, several losses earlier in the year would derail their chances of being a dark horse in the College Football Playoff.

Conference Odds: At Least Trayanum Will Be Back!

The Kentucky Wildcats don’t face an SEC team until September 7th. By then, they’ll likely have their running back healthy. Still, Kentucky faces a gauntlet out of the gate in conference play.

They won’t have it easy at home against South Carolina and likely won’t defeat Georgia, even at home. The next SEC game would be Ole Miss.

You’re looking at three losses to SEC competition out of the gate. Those three losses would push them out of contention for the SEC Championship.

Regular Season Wins: Will Baylor Even Make a Bowl Game?

Kentucky should earn wins against Southern Miss, Ohio, Vanderbilt, and Murray State. We could also give Kentucky a win against Louisville.

While Louisville looks better on paper, Kentucky has typically destroyed Louisville in these end-of-the-year rivalry NCAAF games.

But with that, there would only be five wins.

Kentucky would need to beat Auburn at home and potentially knock off Florida on the road to add a couple more wins.

Realistically, we’d have a hard time seeing the Wildcats add wins over South Carolina, Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Texas.

Even if Kentucky knocked off South Carolina, that would still be just six wins and fewer than the 6.5 line.

To Make Playoffs: The Difficult Schedule Won’t Help

The AP preseason rankings are officially out.

At this time, Kentucky will face four college football teams in the top 15 of the preseason rankings. Ultimately, we’re expecting losses to each of these teams.

With four losses, it would be impossible to make the playoffs when looking at the projected 2024 Kentucky Wildcats stats.

Side Bets

If Vandagriff knocks off Georgia at home and beats his old team, his Heisman odds would absolutely explode. The chances of this happening are slim, but he’ll at least know more about the Georgia defense since he faced them a lot in practice a year ago.

• You can pick up Vandagriff to win the Heisman at +15000 odds.

While these aren’t the best Heisman trophy odds on the board, we can’t forget he’s a former five-star prospect with great potential and expectations.

If you’re high on Kentucky this season, consider sprinkling some change on these +15000 odds for Vandagriff to win the Heisman Award.

Kentucky can certainly surprise this season. There are just more unknowns. So feel free to add NCAAF picks and parlays with Kentucky this season. They’ll at least be competitive. 

For NCAAF betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.

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