Cats fumble away opportunity, again.

It was another impressive night from a numbers perspective for Mike Hartline and the Kentucky passing offense. The running game looks to have a solid future but certainly missed not having Derrick Locke. The defense also was not great, but at the end of the day- all Kentucky had to do was hold on to the football and they would have likely escaped with another victory and stay in the SEC East race. For the second time this year, they simply gave away a victory. You simply can't expect to turn the ball over and give up a short field in the SEC. Good teams take advantage of that and even mediocre SEC teams will usually not let you get away with it. First at Ole Miss, and now at home against Georgia...if the Cats had not fumbled themselves out of these two games, they'd be atop the SEC East standings with a 6-2 overall record and a 3-2 conference record.

Once again, an opportunity to make that next step forward in the SEC ended in disappointment. Things don't get any easier next week in Starkville, either. Dan Mullen's 6-2 Bulldogs are for real. They've already knocked off Georgia and Florida and they have a major New Year's Day Bowl within their grasp. The Cats can still position themselves for bowl season nicely with winning these last three games(and honestly, who would be disappointed with ending the season with a win in Knoxville?). But hopefully the Cats bounce back resiliently again this week and play spoiler to the great season MSU is having in a similar way that the Bulldogs did to the Cats in 2007.

And good news...Tuesday night is the Blue/White basketball scrimmage! Cheer up, Kentucky! Thanks to allkyhoops.com for this photo of Wall and Bledsoe going at it in last year's scrimmage.

SEC East Showdown: Georgia vs. Kentucky

Suddenly, the Cats find themselves miraculously right in the middle of an SEC Championship race. After losing their first two conference games in ugly fashions, they put up a terrific effort against Auburn but fell short again to fall to 0-3. Last week, the Cats finally held on to beat #10 South Carolina. That win combined with a Florida loss to Mississippi State, puts the Cats just a game within first place. If Vandy beats South Carolina tonight, then Vandy will occupy first place in the East. It's anybody's game. One more loss from South Carolina and one more loss from Florida is all that the Cats need to rely on. If the Gamecocks beat Florida, and Florida losses to Arkansas or Georgia (the most probable of scenarios), then the Cats can control their own destiny with a favorable schedule the rest of the way.

Both teams fighting tonight at Commonwealth Stadium have as good of a chance as anyone. Both teams, Georgia and Kentucky, will have to win out to have a chance. Neither team can have a chance if they don't escape Commonwealth with a win tonight. It's often a cliche when coaches call one particular game the biggest ever in program history (as Spurrier did a week ago); however, the championship implications of this game is something that hasn't been experienced at this stage of the season in Kentucky in maybe over a half century. In 2006, the Georgia win was what sparked the turn-around of Kentucky football. Last year's win on the road "between the hedges" sparked confidence from a young team trying to climb the SEC ladder. This year's affair with the Bulldogs could get the Cats' to that next level in SEC supremacy. The LSU win could have been bigger, but this one will be more meaningful tonight.

New Years Day Bowl still in reach for Cats?

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.

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?

Upcoming Weekend's SEC Matchups

Coming off an all around weak performance around the conference in Week 1 against less competitive teams, the SEC will be greatly tested this week and will give Kentucky fans a better look at how the Cats can stack up. The UK/WKU game won't say much at all about how Kentucky will fair this season (unless they pull an Ole Miss), but these other games will as teams begin to play significant games within the conference as well as outside of it.

Thursday:

Auburn (1-0) @Mississippi State (1-0): A look at two future opponents down the road for the Cats.

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Saturday:


Georgia (1-0) @South Carolina (1-0): Another preview of two UK divisional opponents in what will be a crucial month of October. The winner of this game sets themselves up to have an early lead in the SEC East standings.

South Florida (1-0) @Florida (1-0): Before the season, this game looked like a blowout. However, after Miami of Ohio gave the Gators a somewhat competitive game, this one could be even closer if Florida doesn't get their act together.

LSU (1-0) @Vanderbilt (0-1): LSU comes off a non-impressive win over a North Carolina team hit hard with suspensions just days before the matchup with the Tigers in Atlanta. Vanderbilt comes off a close loss at home and a decent showing against Northwestern, another "smart school" that is coming off of an Outback Bowl appearance a year ago. If only UK played in the Big 10 last year...

Penn State (1-0) @Alabama (1-0): The #1 team and defending National Champs will be severely tested in Week 2 and maybe without last year's Heisman winning RB, Mark Ingram. As far as the Cats are concerned, the only chance they'll see the Tide is in the SEC Championship Game.

Arkansas (1-0) vs LA-Monroe (0-0) (Neutral Location): No significance at all for UK, but the Razorbacks look to be one of the best teams in the Western Division right behind Alabama this season. Bobby Petrino's recruiting is starting to take effect in Fayetteville and the Hogs should win this one, big.

Oregon (1-0) @Tennessee (1-0): These two teams beat their Week 1 cupcakes by a combined score of 122-0. This should serve as the real opening kickoff for both teams and a big test for first year coach Derek Dooley's Volunteers.

Western Kentucky (0-1) @Kentucky (1-0): Cats need to get a very big early lead and never look back. Should be an opportunity for Cobb to get some different looks early on and a chance for Morgan Newton and/or Ryan Mossakowski to get some snaps as well.

Ole Miss (0-1) @Tulane (1-0): Another game that looked like a blowout before the season began, but if Ole Miss can lose to 1-AA Jacksonville State, they could also lose to Tulane. As another future opponent of the Cats, this should be an interesting game to look at. Was last week's loss just a huge fluke? Can the Rebs' bounce back and have a good season in a similar way that Michigan was able to back bounce from their debacle with App. State to eventually beat Florida in the Capital One Bowl?

For the entire 2010 SEC Football Schedule, click here. And to see how well my readers are actually reading, the first person to comment below and find an inaccuracy in that schedule will receive a prize! I'm serious.

Check back tomorrow and I may talk about Enes Kanter, but right now: "It's FOOTBALL TIME in the Bluegrass!" I'm looking forward to reading "Brown's Picks".

UK Football Fan Day Photos

Hi everyone! I'm Laura Donnell, I'll be adding photos from time to time on Wildcat Wrap. If you like what you see, more of the photos can be viewed at www.topsinlex.com and also purchased.

I may even be filling in as a writer (sometimes) so be looking for my stuff!

And, as always, GO CATS!

Cardinal Killin' Weekend

On Friday morning, I'll be heading to St. Louis to watch the Reds face the Cardinals. When I purchased the tickets about a month ago, I had hoped that the Reds would simply still be in the race for the N.L Central Division crown and that these would be meaningful games. It turns out the Reds have an 8 game lead. I had faith that the Reds could have the lead at this point, but I never in my wildest dreams thought that they'd be in control as they are now to be cruising into the playoffs like this.

This series isn't as important as I thought it would be when I planned the trip, but it feels even better with a large lead and the chance to bury the Cardinals even further. Especially after the big brawl that happened at Great American Ballpark a few weeks ago, it's going to be bittersweet walking into Busch Stadium with an 8 game lead over the Cardinals, whether they win or not....at this point it doesn't look like it really matters, and will be a fun trip regardless.

I will NOT be attending the Saturday afternoon Reds/Cards game because I'll be in my hotel room watching the Cats beat up on those other Cardinals in Louisville. I will not; however, have a computer with me. I'm hoping to have someone else break down the game for you and the rest of this weekend's college football action, either a previous contributor of Wildcat Wrap (like Mike Brown), or perhaps a newcomer, maybe even a little female perspective will be provided on this Saturday's game? Either way, I'll be back by Labor Day to give you my insight on the Governor's Cup as well as my baseball trip to St. Louis.

When I get back, I'll also explain to you why the Reds have a better chance at winning the World Series (not just the NL Pennant), than Ohio State does of beating Alabama or any SEC school in the BCS National Championship game. It's not rocket science, but many Ohioans don't understand. I'll also make the case for October (playoff baseball, college football, start of Big Blue Madness) to be the greatest month in sports, perhaps even better than March. October is just one month away, folks.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend, everybody!

Calipari: Not the only UK coach doing a tremendous job recruiting.

Matthew Mitchell's performance as UK Women's Basketball coach so far has been possibly more impressive than the job that Calipari has done at UK. Both have done remarkable jobs, but Mitchell has done it without the spotlight and publicity that Cal gets with the Men's team. Both hoops' teams made it to last year's Elite 8 and both have very high ranked recruiting classes coming in.

Calipari's is #1, and Mitchell's incoming class is ranked #13 by ESPN (unheard of and unparallelled for the UK Women's program), one spot ahead Pat Summit's Lady Vols!

Joker Phillips is also recruiting at a level that has never been done with the UK football program. Although it's early and a lot can change, his 2011 class is ranked Top 20 in the country, which is also simply unheard of for Kentucky football. UK has been competing with the best of the SEC for four years now with less talent on the field. Now that they are recruiting at a "middle of the pack" level in the nation's best conference, they will get closer to FINISHING at the middle or even top of the conference sooner than you may think. "Operation Win" is not about competing and being relevent anymore, it's about winning and being at a top level in the SEC in all aspects.

Expect Mitchell and Phillips both to continue to build on their respective programs for years to come in Lexington.

2010 ESPN Women's BBall Recruiting Rankings

2011 ESPN Football Recruiting Rankings

P.S.- Check out Kentucky Sports Radio TONIGHT for the start of the blogger contest entries, and possibly my entry on Brandon Knight.