Sneak peek: Kentucky
AUBURN | Year two of the Hugh Freeze era gets underway with five consecutive home game before spending the entire month of October on the road.
The schedule includes big home matchups against Oklahoma and Texas A&M, and road contests at Georgia and Alabama.
Today, we continue an early look at Auburn’s 2024 schedule with a third consecutive October road trip.
WHO: Kentucky (7-6 last season, 3-5 SEC)
WHEN: Oct. 26, Night (5-7 p.m. CT)
WHERE: Commonwealth Stadium (61,000)
SERIES: Auburn leads 27-6-1
WHAT’S NEW: Going into his 12th season as head coach, Mark Stoops added three new assistants in the offseason including offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan from Boise State, offensive line coach Eric Wolford from Alabama and wide receivers coach Daikiel Shorts Jr. from Houston. Former Auburn coach Jay Boulware has served as UK’s running back and special teams coach for the past two seasons.
Kentucky added a dozen transfers in the offseason led by two former Georgia players in quarterback Brock Vandagriff and linebacker Jason Dumas-Johnson. Both project as starters. Former Ohio State running back Chip Trayanum and Texas A&M wide receiver Raymond Cottrell Jr. should give the Wildcats more weapons on offense. UK also signed the No. 24 class in 2024 led by 4-star wide receiver Hardley Gilmore and 4-star defensive end Brian Robinson.
WHO TO WATCH, OFFENSE: Kentucky returns its top three receivers from last season including junior Dane Key, who had 42 receptions for 636 yards and six touchdowns in 2023.
WHO TO WATCH, DEFENSE: At 6-foot-6 and 348 pounds, Deone Walker is a beast of a defensive lineman that totaled 55 tackles, 12.5 tackles-for-loss, 7.5 sacks and eight quarterback hurries as a sophomore last season. He projects as a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
OUTLOOK: A lot of Kentucky’s hopes this season are pinned on Vandagriff, who had just 21 pass attempts in three seasons at Georgia. He’s surrounded by some pretty talented and experienced players, so if he’s up to the task, UK should have a solid offense. The defense could be one of the SEC’s best, especially upfront with a talented defensive line. UK had the SEC’s second-best rushing defense last season, which is the first step in being good on that side of the ball.
This game will be tucked between road trips to Florida and Tennessee, which is the toughest stretch on UKs schedule. UK will probably be picked to finish over Auburn in the preseason SEC rankings, but this is certainly a game AU can pull off a so-called road upset. It marks the end of an entire month or the road and if the Tigers can return to Jordan-Hare with six or seven wins, they will have plenty of confidence going into the final three games of the regular season.
MORE SNEAK PEEKS:
Aug. 31 ALABAMA A&M
Sept. 7 CALIFORNIA
Sept. 14 NEW MEXICO
Sept. 21 ARKANSAS
Sept. 28 OKLAHOMA
Oct. 5 at Georgia
Oct. 19 at Missouri