Ask Mark Anything: Why is Kentucky football still playing FCS teams?
Questions for this week’s “Ask Mark Anything” include queries on Kentucky football scheduling philosophy, Kentucky men’s hoops freshman guard Mason Williams, top UK men’s basketball wins of the 21st Century, NCAA eligibility requirements and the highly successful UK rifle program.
Let’s get to it.
Question one comes from Tom Atkinson on Facebook: “Kentucky football is opening with Youngstown State. ... Why isn’t Kentucky playing at least someone in a stronger conference?”
Mark’s reply: From the time Kentucky quit playing Indiana annually after the 2005 season, the Cats’ out-of-conference scheduling has always followed the same format: Intrastate rival Louisville, two teams from “lower tier” FBS conferences and one FCS foe.
When the Southeastern Conference chose to go from eight to nine league games starting in 2026, it meant UK would have to give up one of its non-league opponents.
Originally, Kentucky’s non-conference games for 2026 were Youngstown State (FCS), South Alabama (Sun Belt) and Kent State (MAC), plus U of L (ACC).
To accommodate the additional SEC game in 2026, UK exercised a clause in its game contract with Kent State and moved the Golden Flashes to the 2030 Wildcats’ schedule.
One reason UK likely chose to keep FCS Youngstown State instead of FBS Kent State is cost. Kentucky is paying YSU $575,000 to play at Kroger Field; UK had agreed to pay Kent State $1.6 million.
In holding onto an FCS opponent for 2026, Kentucky mirrored what the majority of the other SEC teams did.
Below are the FCS opponents on the 2026 schedules of each SEC team:
• Alabama: Chattanooga
• Arkansas: North Alabama
• Auburn: Samford
• Florida: Campbell
• Georgia: Tennessee State
• Kentucky: Youngstown State
• LSU: McNeese
• Mississippi State: Tennessee Tech
• Missouri: Arkansas-Pine Bluff
• Oklahoma: None
• Ole Miss: Wofford
• South Carolina: Towson
• Tennessee: Furman
• Texas: None
• Texas A&M: None
• Vanderbilt: Austin Peay
Question two comes from David Robinson on X: “Getting any vibes yet that Mason Williams may become PG1 for UK down the road?”
Mark’s reply: I don’t see practices, so what I’ve heard about Mason Williams, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound freshman, is scuttlebutt.
However, Kentucky junior guard Zoom Diallo sees Williams, the son of new UK assistant coach and former, longtime NBA guard Mo Williams, in UK’s summer practices. When Diallo met with reporters recently, the Washington transfer gave Mason Williams an enthusiastic endorsement:
“I feel like he’s a sleeper,” Diallo said. “He’s a worker. He’s been surrounded by his dad, being around high-level basketball. Humble kid. I feel like no matter what situation he is in, I feel like he is going to be able to work and apply (his work).
“He’s surprised me. Everybody may say ‘He wasn’t a highly-touted guy.’ I feel like those guys are the most dangerous because they have a chip on their shoulder. And I see that on the court (from Williams) every day.”
Question three comes from Paul E. Moore on Facebook: “What are your favorite (UK men’s) basketball wins on teams that did not make the Final Four since 2000?”
Mark’s reply: The parameters of your question eliminate any games from the 2010-11, 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2014–15 seasons — UK’s only Final Four years so far in the 21st Century.
So my favorite Kentucky wins since 2000 by non-Final Four Wildcats teams are:
• No. 6 Kentucky 70, No. 1 Florida 55, 2002-03. In what was the Gators’ first-ever-game as an AP No. 1 team, Keith Bogans and UK blitzed Florida in one of the most-raucous Rupp Arena environments ever.
• No. 9 Kentucky 60, No. 13 Louisville 58, 2004-05. Rick Pitino had beaten his old team twice in a row, and his Cardinals had a 32-16 halftime lead going for a third straight. However, Patrick Sparks led an epic UK road comeback that flipped the rivalry back in favor of Tubby Smith and the Big Blue.
• No. 6 Kentucky 103, No. 7 North Carolina 100, 2016-17: Malik Monk rifled in 47 points to lead UK to victory in what was likely the most entertaining Cats game of the 21st Century to date.
• No. 19 Kentucky 77, No. 6 Duke 72, 2024-25: Otega Oweh, Andrew Carr and Co. got the Mark Pope era off to a rollicking start with a comeback victory that was only UK’s third win over the Dookies in the previous 12 meetings.
Question four comes Clay Mason on Facebook: “What does UK have to do to reclaim the NCAA team rifle championship? And what is a ‘smallbore’?”
Mark’s reply: College rifle features two disciplines.
Air rifle is a 60-shot, standing-only event using a .177-caliber compressed-air rifle at 10 meters.
Smallbore is a three-position event (prone, standing, kneeling) using a .22-caliber gunpowder rifle at 50 feet.
Kentucky entered this past season’s NCAA Championships seeded No. 1, but finished third in air rifle, fifth in smallbore and fourth overall.
Coach Harry Mullins’ Cats will return three of the five competitors who shot in the 2026 NCAA Championships. So there are grounds for optimism that Kentucky can close out its season better in 2027.
Question five comes from Ken Trivette via email: “What are the academic requirements for incoming (NCAA Division I) freshman scholarship athletes? What are the semester and yearly academic eligibility requirements for scholarship athletes? What are eligibility academic requirements for transfer athletes?”
Mark’s reply: There seems to be a lot of curiosity about academic standards in the NIL era.
Using the NCAA Website to answer the above questions:
• Incoming freshmen: To be immediately eligible in NCAA Division I, one must have completed 16 specific, NCAA-approved core courses in high school and have maintained at least a 2.3 GPA. One must complete 10 core courses (at least seven of which must include English, science and/or math) before one’s senior year of high school.
• Athletes in college: To maintain eligibility, one must attain at least six credit hours a term and maintain a minimum GPA standard necessary for graduation-eligibility at your school.
To stay eligible, one must complete 40% of the required courses to attain a degree by the end of one’s second year in school; 60% by the end of year three; and 80% by the end of year four.
• Transfers: Must leave their previous school while academically eligible and in good standing and meet progress-toward-degree requirements at their new school before competing.
Graduate transfers must have a degree from their prior school, leave while academically eligible and be enrolled as a full-time, post-graduate student at their new school.
