Kentucky Wildcats Football: A Bluegrass Miracle Season?

When media, coaches, and players assembled in Birmingham, Alabama for the 2015 SEC Media Days, the media predicted the winner of the SEC Championship as well as divisional winners. The top five finishers in both the SEC East and West have been covered so far in this series.

Georgia (166), Auburn (108) and Alabama (92) ran away with the first place division votes. Tennessee (36) was far behind, but also fairly well ahead of most of the other teams in the SEC. The next closest team was Missouri (20). After Missouri, no team received more than 10 first place division votes (LSU).

Arkansas (6) leads the rest of the SEC teams, though none of them are viewed as serious threats to win their division by the media. While Ole Miss (3) received less first place votes than Texas A&M (4), more voters still predicted the Rebels would finish ahead of the Aggies. South Carolina (1) leads the bottom four of the SEC East, though three teams each received only one first place vote. Florida is a part of the group that received one first place vote in the SEC. Overall they finished behind South Carolina and ahead of Kentucky (1).

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Kentucky is in its normal spot ahead of the 2015 football season. They are expected to beat Vanderbilt and win some out of conference games. Anything else will be an added bonus to most. But can Kentucky challenge not only for a bowl game, but for an SEC East Division Title?

What would need to need to happen for Kentucky win the SEC Eas tand make the trip to Atlanta? What could knock the Wildcats off course to the point they miss bowl season again in 2015?

What Needs to go Right . . .

No offense to Wildcat fans, but Kentucky is not going to Atlanta this year. The answer to the question of what needs to go right for Kentucky to win the SEC East is more simple than you might think: everything. Everything would have to go right for Kentucky to make it to Atlanta in 2015. Yes, that does include monumental collapses by nearly every team in the SEC East. Kentucky is and should only be favored ahead of Vanderbilt at this point. 2015 is not hopeless

Nov 29, 2014; Louisville, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Patrick Towles (14) looks to pass against the Louisville Cardinals during the second half at Papa John

for the Kentucky Wildcats, though. Kentucky should be playing to make it to a bowl game, not trying to make it to the SEC Championship. The Wildcats got a favorable draw when they drew 4 straight home games, 3 against SEC foes (Florida, Mizzou, Auburn). Kentucky will not be favored in any of those games, but stealing one would make their path to a bowl much more likely. They can win their nonconference games, though Louisville will be a tough out, and should beat Vanderbilt. Home field advantage is huge in college football and that stretch of home games could aid Kentucky in a huge way. If they steal just one, they could very well be bowl bound.

What Could go Wrong . . .

Kentucky started 2014 5-1 but still failed to make a bowl game. If Kentucky gets off to that same start, Vanderbilt and Charlotte are still on the schedule. They would make a bowl. But they are not going to jump to a 5-1 start. Kentucky will likely be clawing out of a hole searching for a bowl berth all of the 2015 season. If Kentucky were to get off to a slow start after losing 6 in a row to end 2014, fans and players could become discouraged. The team becoming discouraged and playing without heart would likely be the nail in the coffin of Kentucky’s bowl hopes. Mark Stoops must find a way to prevent this from happening, or he could go the way of the Wildcat’s bowl dreams in this scenario.

Worth Considering . . .

While Kentucky fans should not be conjuring up ideas of winning the SEC East in 2015, Mark Stoops has improved the Wildcat program. The rest of the SEC has been getting better too, however, and that could stunt Kentucky’s growth in the win column.

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Fans will likely start to get disgruntled if Mark Stoops does not guide their Wildcats to a bowl in 2015. Even if he does not, Stoops should remain on board. He has been building a program and has a shot at doing something special, by Kentucky standards, in 2016. If he were to establish Kentucky as a perennial bowl team, he will have succeeded at Kentucky. Once he establishes that as the floor of the program, the ceiling will begin to rise as well.

As far as their predicted finish, 6^th is spot on. Unless a team or two ahead of them absolutely falls apart, Kentucky does not have as much talent as the programs ahead of them. The good news is they are also well ahead of Vanderbilt. A team or two could slip and Kentucky could finish fifth or even fourth. If I am laying money down, however, Kentucky finishing 6^th is about as safe a bet as one could make.

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