Wildcats still in thick of East Division race
The Southeastern Conference East Division race took on a slightly different look while Kentucky enjoyed last weekend’s open date with Georgia losing for the first time and Florida extending its winning streak to five games with its comeback win over Vanderbilt.
The No. 14 Wildcats (5-1, 3-1 SEC), who moved up four spots in this week’s rankings, are one of three East teams with a single loss in conference play.
Florida and Georgia are each 4-1 in the conference. The Wildcats have a win over the Gators and a date with the Bulldogs coming up on Nov. 3.
But coach Mark Stoops is telling his players not to look at the East standings as they prepare for Saturday’s home game against Vanderbilt (3-4 0-3 SEC).
“With the bye being at the sixth week, right in the middle of the season we’re going to be one week at a time. You know that I’ve said that all year,” Stoops said. “We’re going to try and go 1-0.
“We’re gonna try to win this week and put ourselves in a position to win this week. We have six one-week seasons left.”
Such an approach hardly breaks new ground among coaches, but it helps that the Wildcats have veterans to carry it out.
“It is important. It is very important,” Stoops said. “Our guys have been around. They have experience. They have been through this. They understand what is in front of them and not to look too far ahead.”
With no game to prepare for last weekend, the Wildcats spent some time last week getting a jump on Vanderbilt. The Commodores have lost four of their last five games after opening the season with wins over Middle Tennessee and Nevada.
The only win for the Commodores since then was a 31-27 decision over Tennessee State … they have lost to Georgia 41-13 and Florida 37-27 in their last two outings.
“We have had some work on Vandy,” Stoops said. “We did some good against good last week as well.”
The Wildcats are looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season, 20-14 in overtime at Texas A&M. The offense was inconsistent with running back Benny Snell rushing for a season-low 60 yards and quarterback Terry Wilson passing for only 108. Kentucky’s second touchdown came on safety Darius West’s 40-yard return of a recovered fumble.
“He will learn from it,” Stoops said of Wilson’s off night. “He will grow. He will get better.”