Formula To Win The East

[UPSCat4080]

Tgis breakdown was posted over a month ago on KSR, but with the talk of Patrick's comments I wanted to post to discuss the realism of this scenario. Personally I might would trade out the win against the Vols for the Gamecocks, but every bit of this depends on two factors:

1) We beat UGA
2) UT beats UGA

Here it is:

Week 2
"Kentucky loses at South Carolina"
Georgia wins at Vanderbilt

Week 3
"Kentucky beats Florida"
Georgia beats South Carolina

Week 4
"Kentucky beats Missouri"
Florida beats Tennessee
Ole Miss beats Vanderbilt

Week 5
Ole Miss wins at Florida
Alabama wins at Georgia
Missouri beats South Carolina
Tennessee beats Arkansas

Week 6
Missouri beats Florida
LSU wins at South Carolina
Tennessee beats Georgia

Week 7
"Auburn wins at Kentucky"
Georgia beats Missouri
LSU beats Florida
South Carolina beats Vanderbilt

Week 8
"Mississippi State beat Kentucky"
Alabama beats Tennessee
Vanderbilt beats Missouri

Week 9
"Kentucky beats Tennessee"
Texas A&M beats South Carolina
Georgia beats Florida

Week 10
"Kentucky wins at Georgia"
Missouri beats Mississippi State
Florida beats Vanderbilt
South Carolina wins at Tennessee

Week 11
"Kentucky wins at Vanderbilt"
Auburn beats Georgia
South Carolina beats Florida

Week 12
Missouri beats Tennessee
Texas A&M wins at Vanderbilt

Week 13
Arkansas beats Missouri
Tennessee beats Vanderbilt

FINAL SEC EAST STANDINGS
Kentucky: 5-3
Georgia: 4-4
Missouri: 4-4
South Carolina: 4-4
Tennessee: 3-5
Florida: 2-6
Vanderbilt: 1-7

A lot of things would have to happen and/or we would have to have a 100% improvement on defense, but it could happen.

Go CATS!

 

[jnewc2]

With the SEC East being as wide open as it is this year I wouldn't throw any scenario out the window really. I know most in the media want to say 'well, it's unlikely because Kentucky hasn't done such and such since so-and-so" but at the same time Kentucky hasn't had this caliber of player either, and the East division has rarely ever lacked a dominant team like this year's. There is no team in this division like those Florida and Tennessee teams from the past or the Urban Meyer Florida teams. There are a lot of solid teams, but no teams that we can't beat. It's going to be a free for all in the division this year, and I think our team is as hungry to win it as anyone. If we can get our defense to step up who knows what's possible..last year's team gave me a lot of hope..and with this year's team being significantly improved (according to Stoops) I think we're absolutely a dark-horse to win the East. We just need to get more consistent with the flashes of great play that we saw last year. Like Towles said, we have the players and the coaches and the depth to win now. Of course we'll be even better a couple years down the road (a team's depth is always in a building phase) but at the same time we have the players to win SEC games right now.

 

[prospectcat]

Mississippi St is more winnable than UT or GA Imo

 

[UPSCat4080]

Mississippi St is more winnable than UT or GA Imo

That may be true, but in order to win the East we have to beat either one of UGA or UT and have the one we beat beat the other. If that makes sense lol.

 

[jnewc2]

Mississippi St is more winnable than UT or GA Imo

I think Tennessee at home is more winnable than State on the road..they lost a lot but still have a whole lot of talent on that team..far from sold on Tennessee unless we're handing out trophies for recruiting rankings, then they'd be a top-5 team every year. Plus we get Tennessee at home where we generally play at an entirely different level. Tennessee hasn't shown us they can take that next step..they played worse than us for most of last season and minus a collapse at South Carolina would've had the exact same record as us. Far from an impressive coaching job considering the recruits they've brought in over the last 5 years. Last year was supposed to be the year they beat Mizzou and Florida and Oklahoma and Georgia (because of their good recruits), yet they couldn't beat any of them.

 

[meteordealer]

I think Tennessee at home is more winnable than State on the road..they lost a lot but still have a whole lot of talent on that team..far from sold on Tennessee unless we're handing out trophies for recruiting rankings, then they'd be a top-5 team every year. Plus we get Tennessee at home where we generally play at an entirely different level. Tennessee hasn't shown us they can take that next step..they played worse than us for most of last season and minus a collapse at South Carolina would've had the exact same record as us. Far from an impressive coaching job considering the recruits they've brought in over the last 5 years. Last year was supposed to be the year they beat Mizzou and Florida and Oklahoma and Georgia (because of their good recruits), yet they couldn't beat any of them.

They still beat us 50-16.

Granted we had a total collapse halfway through the season, but i wouldn't say UT is more winnable than MSU.

 

[UKWinsAgainYep]

Tgis breakdown was posted over a month ago on KSR, but with the talk of Patrick's comments I wanted to post to discuss the realism of this scenario. Personally I might would trade out the win against the Vols for the Gamecocks, but every bit of this depends on two factors:

1) We beat UGA
2) UT beats UGA

Here it is:

Week 2
"Kentucky loses at South Carolina"
Georgia wins at Vanderbilt

Week 3
"Kentucky beats Florida"
Georgia beats South Carolina

Week 4
"Kentucky beats Missouri"
Florida beats Tennessee
Ole Miss beats Vanderbilt

Week 5
Ole Miss wins at Florida
Alabama wins at Georgia
Missouri beats South Carolina
Tennessee beats Arkansas

Week 6
Missouri beats Florida
LSU wins at South Carolina
Tennessee beats Georgia

Week 7
"Auburn wins at Kentucky"
Georgia beats Missouri
LSU beats Florida
South Carolina beats Vanderbilt

Week 8
"Mississippi State beat Kentucky"
Alabama beats Tennessee
Vanderbilt beats Missouri

Week 9
"Kentucky beats Tennessee"
Texas A&M beats South Carolina
Georgia beats Florida

Week 10
"Kentucky wins at Georgia"
Missouri beats Mississippi State
Florida beats Vanderbilt
South Carolina wins at Tennessee

Week 11
"Kentucky wins at Vanderbilt"
Auburn beats Georgia
South Carolina beats Florida

Week 12
Missouri beats Tennessee
Texas A&M wins at Vanderbilt

Week 13
Arkansas beats Missouri
Tennessee beats Vanderbilt

FINAL SEC EAST STANDINGS
Kentucky: 5-3
Georgia: 4-4
Missouri: 4-4
South Carolina: 4-4
Tennessee: 3-5
Florida: 2-6
Vanderbilt: 1-7

A lot of things would have to happen and/or we would have to have a 100% improvement on defense, but it could happen.

Go CATS!

It won't happen. We don't have the defensive depth or O-Line depth yet.

 

[Blue Decade]

It's good to see Kentucky football fans talking about winning the east division. The actual path to accomplishing that will become more evident as the season moves into October and November, but winning every SEC home game would be a must.

 

[CatDaddy4daWin]

No way Georgia is going 4-4 in the SEC unless they absolutely implode or have a ton of injuries. We gotta go 6-2 if we're gonna win the East and one of those needs to be against GA or UT. I don't think 5-3 is gonna cut but I guess you never know.

I would love to see us win the East but we may still be a year away to truly compete for that.

 

[southindycat]

That may be true, but in order to win the East we have to beat either one of UGA or UT and have the one we beat beat the other. If that makes sense lol.

Or, we just beat them and everyone else on the schedule... that is the seed CMS is planting. That is why we are about to have a good season, regardless of whether it actually happens.

 

[Blue Decade]

No way Georgia is going 4-4 in the SEC unless they absolutely implode or have a ton of injuries. We gotta go 6-2 if we're gonna win the East and one of those needs to be against GA or UT. I don't think 5-3 is gonna cut but I guess you never know.

I would love to see us win the East but we may still be a year away to truly compete for that.

Agree, 5-3 will not win the east. Most years, 6-2 will not win the east. Georgia's schedule sets up well for a big season. The Bulldogs draw Auburn, Tennessee, and Vandy on the road. Aside from Auburn, all their other defining SEC games will be at home where they are very tough. If we go 3-0 in our September SEC games, then we can start talking seriously about winning the east. But we would still have to beat Mississippi State in Starkville,Tennessee in Lexington, and Vandy in Nashville to stay in the east race. Then we would probably have to handle Auburn in Lexington to win it. I tend to be an optimist, but I don't see us beating this Georgia team in Athens. If we don't beat Georgia, then we lose the tie breaker with them.

 

[Deeeefense]

If the team is truly targeting the East championship this year then, IMO I would be devoting some practice time now to Georgia becasue beating the Dawgs will be the key to winning the East. In all likelihood under ideal circumstances UK would have an SEC record equal to Georgia which mean to get past them we would have to beat them.

The only other way I see of winning the East would be to wind up in a three way tie with UT & Georgia with identical 5-3 or more likely 6-2 records and each of the three teams have a 1-1 record against the other two, but Kentucky winning the tie break on having a better record in the East.

Kentucky has the horses to play with everyone on their schedule this year and enough depth to go box to wire, so I think it is reasonable to assume we could compete for the East, but we are obviously not a dominate team that is going to crush the competition either - but the good news is, neither are any other teams in the East

 

[UPSCat4080]

No way Georgia is going 4-4 in the SEC unless they absolutely implode or have a ton of injuries. We gotta go 6-2 if we're gonna win the East and one of those needs to be against GA or UT. I don't think 5-3 is gonna cut but I guess you never know.

I would love to see us win the East but we may still be a year away to truly compete for that.

UGA will lose to Bama and Auburn whether it be on the road, home or neutral. That means one more game dropped leaves them at 5-3 at best.

 

[gobigblue812]

Vandy isn't beating Mizzou

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

UGA will lose to Bama and Auburn whether it be on the road, home or neutral. That means one more game dropped leaves them at 5-3 at best.

We could easliy lose to Bama, no question about it, but we will beat AU, Pruitt has Gus's offfense figured out, AU has scored 7 points in 6 quarters against his defense, zero the last 3 and a half. Gus's entire scheme relies on you having to have S help to slow the dive man down, of course he might alter it some this year without much of a threat at QB, but regardless of who is qb is, it relies on you having to bring a S in the box to stop his dive play.

 

[Rhavicc]

It won't happen. We don't have the defensive depth or O-Line depth yet.

Didn't Dawson say that UK goes 2 deep across the board on offense? Pretty sure he did. Meanwhile, Tennessee loses their starting OT for the season.

 

[WildCard]

I don't think 5-3 will win it but 6-2 may well do it. Throw out Vandy and you are left with an expected heavy favorite (GA) and 5 other "middling" teams (no other Top 20 preseason teams). The SECE will probably be a rodeo due to more parity among SC, TN, FL, MO and UK than we have ever seen. Can one of those 5 rise above the other 4 to challenge GA?

GA: Clear favorite but toughest draw from the west with AL (home) and Auburn (away). I don't think they are worse than 6-2.

MO: Along with TN, the "second highest" SECE team in preseason polls. Must play at GA and AR but hosts SC, FL and TN. Not the favorite but a real contender. Would likely have to beat GA to pull it off.

TN: Rebuilding for sure and dark horse contender. Must play @AL but gets GA and AR on Rocky Top. Away games with FL, UK and MO. Unless they are all the way back it is easy to see 3 losses.

FL: Hard to think of FL as "middling" but that's where they stand right now. Must play @LSU and MS from the west. Away games with UK, MO, and SC plus the cocktail party. Easy to see 3 losses.

SC: Cocks look more like last years 7-6 team than the 11 win teams of 2011-2013. At GA and LSU at home. Two home and 2 away against the other 5 plus a trip to wild and wooly College Station. I can see 4, maybe 5 losses here.

UK: Wins against AU in Lexington and GA in Athens just seem like too much to expect. SECE success will be determined by the collective outcome of the SC, FL, MO, MSU and TN games; 3 of which are at home. Could be best SEC record in years but still a long shot for a divisional title.

JMO.

Peace

 

[Blue Decade]

UGA will lose to Bama and Auburn whether it be on the road, home or neutral. That means one more game dropped leaves them at 5-3 at best.

You may turn out to be right, but I wouldn't bet real money on it. I think Georgia will hang tough in both of those games. The outcomes aren't the locks that you make them out to be.

 

[STUCKNBIG10]

I don't think 5-3 will win it but 6-2 may well do it. Throw out Vandy and you are left with an expected heavy favorite (GA) and 5 other "middling" teams (no other Top 20 preseason teams). The SECE will probably be a rodeo due to more parity among SC, TN, FL, MO and UK than we have ever seen. Can one of those 5 rise above the other 4 to challenge GA?

GA: Clear favorite but toughest draw from the west with AL (home) and Auburn (away). I don't think they are worse than 6-2.

MO: Along with TN, the "second highest" SECE team in preseason polls. Must play at GA and AR but hosts SC, FL and TN. Not the favorite but a real contender. Would likely have to beat GA to pull it off.

TN: Rebuilding for sure and dark horse contender. Must play @AL but gets GA and AR on Rocky Top. Away games with FL, UK and MO. Unless they are all the way back it is easy to see 3 losses.

FL: Hard to think of FL as "middling" but that's where they stand right now. Must play @LSU and MS from the west. Away games with UK, MO, and SC plus the cocktail party. Easy to see 3 losses.

SC: Cocks look more like last years 7-6 team than the 11 win teams of 2011-2013. At GA and LSU at home. Two home and 2 away against the other 5 plus a trip to wild and wooly College Station. I can see 4, maybe 5 losses here.

UK: Wins against AU in Lexington and GA in Athens just seem like too much to expect. SECE success will be determined by the collective outcome of the SC, FL, MO, MSU and TN games; 3 of which are at home. Could be best SEC record in years but still a long shot for a divisional title.

JMO.

Peace

I agree with most of this analysis except for the UGA part. I think it's easy to see them with 3 losses. They gack away 1-2 games that they should win each and every year, plus as you mentioned, they have a very tough cross-divisional draw. Even with a split of Auburn / Bama games, they always have a toughie with FLA in the cocktail party and they have to play UT in knoxville the week after a huge home tilt with bama. I think the eastern winner will have 3 losses.

 

[fuzz77]

Formula to win the East.
Win every game you play.

Pretty simple and it works every time.

 

[Tskware]

I recently read that Kentucky has NEVER won more than two games against SEC East opponents in the same season since SEC went to two divisions. I haven't checked all the way back to 1992 or whenever it was, but I sure cannot think of a season we beat three SEC East foes.

So . . . lets hold this thread until we can win at least three games in our own division.

 

[SanAntonioCat]

I agree with Wildcard. We have an above average chance to win at SC and MSU. UF win would be historic. UM is a winnable though tough game. UT, UGA and AU look difficult. UofL is a tossup. LL, Eastern and Charlotte are wins.

Still say 6-6, 7-5

 

[kats23]

Let's worry about winning 6 games total before winning 6 games in the SEC. Talk about putting the cart before the horse.

 

[Deeeefense]

Let's worry about winning 6 games total before winning 6 games in the SEC. Talk about putting the cart before the horse.

The team goals have been made public. The first goal is to get to 6 wins as quickly as possible, the second goal is to win the East.

If you are a Kentucky fan, support the team and it's goals, if you can't go somewhere else.

 

[UPSCat4080]

The team goals have been made public. The first goal is to get to 6 wins as quickly as possible, the second goal is to win the East.

If you are a Kentucky fan, support the team and it's goals, if you can't go somewhere else.

Ditto.

 

[LordEgg]

will beat...ULL, EKU, UNCC, VU

can beat...SC, FL, MSt, Mizzou, UofL

unlikely...UGA, UT, AU

but come out of the gate strong and we could be 5-0 going into Auburn game which changes the complexion a bit and puts us more on course for 8 or 9 wins.

wish they were all home games...

 

[UKWildcats#8]

The team goals have been made public. The first goal is to get to 6 wins as quickly as possible, the second goal is to win the East.

If you are a Kentucky fan, support the team and it's goals, if you can't go somewhere else.

Everyone supports the team and the goals put forth. That does not mean it is going to happen. The other poster just struck me as a realist who knows college football. I'm not sure what your issue is with him just thinking they won't win the SEC East this year.

 

[kats23]

The team goals have been made public. The first goal is to get to 6 wins as quickly as possible, the second goal is to win the East.

If you are a Kentucky fan, support the team and it's goals, if you can't go somewhere else.

Who says I'm not supporting the team? It's great for the team to have goals but the fans need to pump the brakes a bit. UK won 5 games last year, was dominated in the SEC in the 2nd half of the season, and is still very young. I hope like hell they do it but I'm not going to blindly go into with what is unrealistic expectations for fans to have.

I'm a Season ticket holder, will be at every game, every Cat Walk cheering hard for 4q for UK. A bowl game is the next realistic step, not winning or even competing in the East. If those happen, great, but it shouldn't be a fan's expectations this year.

 

[Anthony B]

I'll be pleasantly surprised if UK even finishes in the top 3. Stoops still hasn't even proven he can coach yet so yea, lets absolutely pump the brakes here on our expectations. That doesn't mean I'm not supporting them, but winning in the SEC is really freakin hard to do. Yes, we have more depth this year but I think some of you may be underestimating how far behind we still are in the depth department. I think Stoops has made strides to address it, but imo we still have a ways to go. I expect the same ole song and verse. UK beats up on a few mid majors to start the season and some of the starving UK fans will convince themselves we might have a team that can contend only to be faced with the harsh reality that we are STILL badly outmatched playing in the best conference in the country. I hope to God I'm wrong. But I doubt it. Either way, I'll still be watching and cheering them on.

 

[UKWinsAgainYep]

If the team is truly targeting the East championship this year then, IMO I would be devoting some practice time now to Georgia becasue beating the Dawgs will be the key to winning the East. In all likelihood under ideal circumstances UK would have an SEC record equal to Georgia which mean to get past them we would have to beat them.

The only other way I see of winning the East would be to wind up in a three way tie with UT & Georgia with identical 5-3 or more likely 6-2 records and each of the three teams have a 1-1 record against the other two, but Kentucky winning the tie break on having a better record in the East.

Kentucky has the horses to play with everyone on their schedule this year and enough depth to go box to wire, so I think it is reasonable to assume we could compete for the East, but we are obviously not a dominate team that is going to crush the competition either - but the good news is, neither are any other teams in the East

I would argue we don't have the depth you mention at O-Line, DE or LB to do that yet....1-2 more years are needed to mature the program.

 

[footballfanatic77]

Tgis breakdown was posted over a month ago on KSR, but with the talk of Patrick's comments I wanted to post to discuss the realism of this scenario. Personally I might would trade out the win against the Vols for the Gamecocks, but every bit of this depends on two factors:

1) We beat UGA
2) UT beats UGA

Here it is:

Week 2
"Kentucky loses at South Carolina"
Georgia wins at Vanderbilt

Week 3
"Kentucky beats Florida"
Georgia beats South Carolina

Week 4
"Kentucky beats Missouri"
Florida beats Tennessee
Ole Miss beats Vanderbilt

Week 5
Ole Miss wins at Florida
Alabama wins at Georgia
Missouri beats South Carolina
Tennessee beats Arkansas

Week 6
Missouri beats Florida
LSU wins at South Carolina
Tennessee beats Georgia

Week 7
"Auburn wins at Kentucky"
Georgia beats Missouri
LSU beats Florida
South Carolina beats Vanderbilt

Week 8
"Mississippi State beat Kentucky"
Alabama beats Tennessee
Vanderbilt beats Missouri

Week 9
"Kentucky beats Tennessee"
Texas A&M beats South Carolina
Georgia beats Florida

Week 10
"Kentucky wins at Georgia"
Missouri beats Mississippi State
Florida beats Vanderbilt
South Carolina wins at Tennessee

Week 11
"Kentucky wins at Vanderbilt"
Auburn beats Georgia
South Carolina beats Florida

Week 12
Missouri beats Tennessee
Texas A&M wins at Vanderbilt

Week 13
Arkansas beats Missouri
Tennessee beats Vanderbilt

FINAL SEC EAST STANDINGS
Kentucky: 5-3
Georgia: 4-4
Missouri: 4-4
South Carolina: 4-4
Tennessee: 3-5
Florida: 2-6
Vanderbilt: 1-7

A lot of things would have to happen and/or we would have to have a 100% improvement on defense, but it could happen.

Go CATS!

Formula to win the East: 1 more good year of recruiting, add a dash of good luck and beat all SEC teams.

 

[footballfanatic77]

I think Tennessee at home is more winnable than State on the road..they lost a lot but still have a whole lot of talent on that team..far from sold on Tennessee unless we're handing out trophies for recruiting rankings, then they'd be a top-5 team every year. Plus we get Tennessee at home where we generally play at an entirely different level. Tennessee hasn't shown us they can take that next step..they played worse than us for most of last season and minus a collapse at South Carolina would've had the exact same record as us. Far from an impressive coaching job considering the recruits they've brought in over the last 5 years. Last year was supposed to be the year they beat Mizzou and Florida and Oklahoma and Georgia (because of their good recruits), yet they couldn't beat any of them.

I would argue that's not true. Tennessee played about equal to Kentucky for the first half of the season and better than UK the second half. Butch Jones has done quite an impressive job there. Tennessee was supposed to go 5-7 in all preseason predictions I saw against an incredibly tough schedule. Tennessee was only favored to win the game against Florida and had the offense been clicking like it was late in the season they would have won it. I think State is more winnable than Tennessee.

 

[footballfanatic77]

Didn't Dawson say that UK goes 2 deep across the board on offense? Pretty sure he did. Meanwhile, Tennessee loses their starting OT for the season.

No. UK is pretty thin on both sides of the line of scrimmage still.