A win on Saturday against Steve Spurrier's South Carolina Gamecocks would put the Cats in an excellent position to win seven or eight games this season. If they win out, they could even win 9. It sounds crazy at this point, but UK's game with Auburn showed that the Cats are improving and the easier part of the schedule is near. After Saturday's game with South Carolina, the Cats should be favored in each of their remaining five games against Georgia (2-4), Mississippi State, Charleston Southern, Vanderbilt, and Tennessee (2-4). The Cats find themselves at a disappointing 3-3 at the midway point of the season. All of the remaining games are winnable, but realistically, Kentucky should lose a few- especially considering the psychological effect of ending long streaks against Spurrier and Tennessee.
The crushing loss to Auburn at home last week was tough and the Gamecocks won't be any easier to beat this week, but South Carolina is coming off of a very emotionally draining win over #1 Alabama. History tells us that it's very difficult to come off of a big win like that and follow it up with a second straight strong performance on the road in the SEC, even when you're expected to win. Spurrier is calling the Kentucky game, "the biggest in program history". Much of that is "coach speak", but Spurrier recognizes that his team has to continue to perform and not be content with the win over Alabama if he wants to finally take the South Carolina program to the next level. Kentucky fans are also dying to get to that next level and it's not coming as quickly and easily as many fans would like. The South Carolina program under Spurrier, however, is an example of how long it can take for a good program to become elite. It's much easier to go from bad to good, but the next step can be a long process.
What the Cats will need to do is continue to get just a little bit better each year and they'll need to earn a bowl trip outside of the state of Tennessee in the near future to excite an increasingly bored fan base that has grown accustomed to turn attention towards basketball season in October. A warm weather bowl game would also be huge for recruiting. A new SEC bowl lineup will make this a much easier task. Last year, the SEC ended its ties with the Independence Bowl and added a new, bigger bowl to their lineup for this season: the Gator Bowl. The Gator Bowl is rich in tradition and is played on New Years Day. Recently, it has been played between some of the top non-BCS Bowl bound teams out of the Big East and ACC. This year, the Gator Bowl will feature the SEC #6 or 7 team against the Big 10 #4 team.
The crushing loss to Auburn at home last week was tough and the Gamecocks won't be any easier to beat this week, but South Carolina is coming off of a very emotionally draining win over #1 Alabama. History tells us that it's very difficult to come off of a big win like that and follow it up with a second straight strong performance on the road in the SEC, even when you're expected to win. Spurrier is calling the Kentucky game, "the biggest in program history". Much of that is "coach speak", but Spurrier recognizes that his team has to continue to perform and not be content with the win over Alabama if he wants to finally take the South Carolina program to the next level. Kentucky fans are also dying to get to that next level and it's not coming as quickly and easily as many fans would like. The South Carolina program under Spurrier, however, is an example of how long it can take for a good program to become elite. It's much easier to go from bad to good, but the next step can be a long process.
What the Cats will need to do is continue to get just a little bit better each year and they'll need to earn a bowl trip outside of the state of Tennessee in the near future to excite an increasingly bored fan base that has grown accustomed to turn attention towards basketball season in October. A warm weather bowl game would also be huge for recruiting. A new SEC bowl lineup will make this a much easier task. Last year, the SEC ended its ties with the Independence Bowl and added a new, bigger bowl to their lineup for this season: the Gator Bowl. The Gator Bowl is rich in tradition and is played on New Years Day. Recently, it has been played between some of the top non-BCS Bowl bound teams out of the Big East and ACC. This year, the Gator Bowl will feature the SEC #6 or 7 team against the Big 10 #4 team.
In the new SEC bowl pecking order, the Gator Bowl will be slated behind the BCS, Capital One, Cotton, Outback, and Chick-fil-a Bowls. Yep, that's right- a major New Years Day Bowl Game will now be slated at the exact same position that the Music City Bowl has been previously been granted in the SEC bowl pecking order (the MCB now has the 7th or 8th pick behind the Gator, depending on the BCS picture). The Music City Bowl, of course, has been the Cats' destination in three of the last four seasons. If the Cats can repeat what they have done in three of the last four years in winning seven regular season games, or if they can match last year's 4-1 finish in the remaining five games...then they should be destined for Jacksonville instead of Nashville and will have the chance to continue the SEC's dominance over the Big 10, likely against a team such as Wisconsin or Michigan. Is that enough for Kentucky football fans to be a little more excited for the stretch run?
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