If the hacks’ predictions come true, this will finally be the year Kentucky football ends Tennessee’s 25-year reign.

The media contingent at Southeastern Conference Media Days in Hoover, Ala., unveilved their preseason football all-conference selections and order of finish for the 2010-11 season on Friday, which you can find a full details of on our home page.

The biggest news from a UK standpoint  was the predicted order of finish in the SEC East. While the Cats couldn’t escape what seems like an annual rite of low expectations from everyone outside of Lexington, they have at least gained a little more respect than in year’s past.

UK was picked to finish fourth this season above Vanderbilt and — gasp! — Tennessee. For those of you that don’t follow UK football too closely, that’s significant for a couple of reasons.

According to Brett Dawson from the Courier-Journal, it is the first time UK has been picked ahead of Tennessee in the preseason media ballot since the SEC split into two divisions in 1992.

Now, if UK can stick true to those predictions and actually finish ahead of the Volunteers, surely that would mean the Cats would have a pretty good chance of toppling Rocky Top, right? If so, it would be the first time the Kentucky football has defeated Tennessee since 1984.

For those of you keeping score at home, UT has a 25-game winning streak over UK, the longest active winning streak of one opponent over another in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Is this the year the streak finally comes to a close? The media, at least on paper, believe so.