Kentucky Could Be A Legitimate Contender

What kind of world do we live in? Right now, the frontrunners in the SEC are from the state Mississippi, LSU is in sixth place in the SEC West, and Missouri lost to Indiana earlier in the season.

Oh, and Kentucky is tied for first place in the SEC East. Wait, what?

Where am I? Did I fall through a wormhole and wake up in some alternate dimension?

Who in their wildest dreams would have imagined that the SEC Championship Game could feature Kentucky and Ole Miss, two teams who have never even made it to Atlanta before?

Even more shocking in my mind than the sudden emergence of Mississippi State and Ole Miss and championship contenders is the rise of Kentucky from SEC bottom feeder steady competitor in the SEC East.

Halfway through their season, the Wildcats are sitting 5-1, in a tight race with Georgia for first place in the East (a place that many felt would be held by South Carolina at this point in the season). And really, they should be 6-0, but they lost a controversial triple overtime thriller with Florida back in September.

With a great comeback win over South Carolina two weeks ago, and a very winnable game against LSU this Saturday, Kentucky has set themselves up perfectly to make a run for the SEC title game.

Just a few months after finishing the 2-10 last season, no less.

Last season, they scored 20 points a game while giving up 31 per contest. They tallied a modest 341 total yards per game, while giving up a gaudy 427 each week. They converted 30 percent of their third downs, gave up 37 sacks on the year, and lost all eight of their SEC games by an average of 21 points.

This season has been a much different story. They’re scoring 36 points a game, while only giving up 18, and averaging 448 yards on offense and 342 on defense. They’re converting 39 percent of their third downs, and already have two more conference wins than last season.

Patrick Towles has come along nicely as the Wildcats’ quarterback thus far, tossing ten touchdowns against only four interceptions, and the secondary has been flying to the ball all season, picking off 11 passes.

Mark Stoops has the Wildcats headed in the right direction. This team is fast, tough, gritty, and resilient.

They showed it in their slugfest turned shootout with Florida, and then in a fourth quarter comeback win over South Carolina.

Kentucky has a very real, very clear path to Atlanta. But it won’t be easy.

The Wildcats have cleared half of their schedule and their SEC East matchups, but the second half, while filled with winnable games, also holds no guarantees.

Kentucky has four road games on the docket, trips to face LSU, Missouri, Tennessee, and Louisville. And its home games? Visits from top-ranked Mississippi State and tenth-ranked Georgia.

From here, Kentucky could just as easily go 4-2 or 0-6.

No matter what, however, Kentucky has that November 8 matchup with Georgia circled on its calendar.

With a win over Georgia, Kentucky can run the table in the East.

Just in case you didn’t hear me, I said that the Kentucky football team can control its own destiny from this point forward. I know, it’s hard for me to believe too.

But that’s the state of the SEC East this year. And Kentucky is taking full advantage of it.

What Mark Stoops and his team have accomplished this year is nothing short of incredible. Kentucky hasn’t had a winning season since a 7-6 mark in 2009, and has yet to win more than seven regular season games since 1984.

Kentucky has a chance to break that streak this season.

While a ten-win season is looking unlikely with four road games and visit from Mississippi State on the horizon, the Wildcats have a real shot at a special season in an uncharacteristically weak SEC East.

Kentucky chose a great season for a resurgence.

And it starts this weekend in Baton Rouge. Beat LSU, and they’ve got some great momentum to start the second half of the schedule.

Keep an eye on that Georgia-Kentucky matchup three weeks from now. It won’t carry as much as weight as the Iron Bowl or the Egg Bowl, but for the SEC’s lesser division, it could mean everything.

Who would have thought that the road to the SEC East title could run through Lexington, Kentucky?