Against East Carolina, the Alabama Crimson Tide looked like a team with too much overall talent to worry about a road game in Lexington. What the 2026 version of the Kentucky Wildcats are, is unclear. Notre Dame transfer quarterback Kenny Minchey was impressive in Kentucky's 45-13 win over Youngstown State. He completed nine of his first 10 passes and finished with 301 passing tards and four touchdowns.
However, the Penguins are a bad football team, ranked No. 152 by Bill Connelly, going into the Kentucky game.
After the opener, Kentucky site A Sea of Blue wrote: "The new-look Cats are just that—simply unrecognizable to what we’ve become accustomed to during the Mark Stoops era. They run a tempo offense. They throw the ball a lot, but they also use quick passes at the line of scrimmage over and over again as an extension of the run game."
Enthusiasm among Kentucky fans is at its highest level in many seasons. Wildcat fans have good reason to believe new head coach and former Oregon OC, Will Stein, will greatly improve the Kentucky offense. In anticipation of Alabama, Stein probably showed Kane Wommack little while the Cats beat Youngstown.
Are oddsmakers correct that Alabama will not get an easy win in Lexington? The game will be a tougher test for the Crimson Tide's offensive line. New right tackle Jayvin James performed well in run-blocking against ECU. He had a couple of pass-blocking breakdowns. Alabama might still be in competition mode at left guard with Will Sanders and Mal Waltrip.
Racin Delgatty main Alabama question mark
The main Alabama offensive question mark against the Cats is new center Racin Delgatty. The Cal Poly transfer was effective at calling out protections against ECU, but he was pushed backwards two or three times. Nick Kelly reported that PFF data showed Delgatty allowing three pressures against ECU.
Transfer and FCS All-American Mi’Quise Humphrey-Grace can also threaten from the outside. He is 6'4", 271 lbs. One Crimson Tide advantage is that Kentucky may not have adequate d-line depth to hang with Alabama for 60 minutes.
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