Mark Story, Lexington Herald-Leader

LEXINGTON, Ky. — When Toledo visits Kroger Field on Saturday, Mark Stoops will be coaching his 13th season opener as Kentucky football head man. The well-regarded Rockets will provide, perhaps, the “trickiest” debut game Stoops has yet faced as top Cat.

When the Wildcats and Rockets square off, one of the teams will enter the game:

— As preseason favorite to win its conference;

— Rated 36th in the country by voters in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll;

— Being touted as a potential College Football Playoff entrant.

Alas, the other team in the contest is Kentucky of the Southeastern Conference.

Toledo will come to Lexington — and enter 2025 — riding a wave of positive national buzz.

Writing in The Sporting News, Billy Heyen proclaimed Coa

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