I do not see Vandy, Mizzou or USCe having any shot at an East title mid way through the season.
Four teams will have a shot, and given Georgia’s consistent recruiting in the Top 3 the last few years, they have to be favored. Georgia gets a tough draw from the West, against Bama in Tuscaloosa in ‘20. They get their permanent West opponent, Auburn, at home. They have to travel to Lexington, and Jacksonville for the game most Dawg fans consider a road game, and get UT at home. Given that they travel to Lexington, “to” Jacksonville, and to Tuscaloosa, theirs might be the toughest slate in the East. If they lose to Bama, and stumble in either Lexington or Jacksonville, the door will open for others. And while recruiting has been on an elite level, Georgia has had some real “head-scratchers” under Smart, losing at home to USCe being the biggest, from last season.
Georgia is an enigma to me. They have had frequent spells of elite recruiting, had perhaps the greatest football player of all time in Herschel Walker, have dominated Kentucky in the total series, but have a mediocre Natty count compared to UT and Florida (and Bama, LSU, and Auburn). And while Florida and UT racked up ridiculous winning steaks against Kentucky from the 80’s until recently, many games being blowouts, Kentucky managed to beat Georgia a smattering of times during those 30 plus years, and played pretty competitively in most of the losses.
The heat will be on Smart to convert several years of ridiculously successful recruiting into a run at a Natty this season, or rational folk will question whether it can be done in Athens, with Smart and his staff.
Most Cat fans (and many others in the SEC) would object to my inclusion of UT in the hunt for the East, but they finished one of the more bizarre seasons in NCAA history last year very impressively. Edging Kentucky in Lexington and IU in their bowl game, and improving their poor play against USCe and Vandy, allowed them to rescue a season that was marred by early home losses to Georgia State and BYU, finishing 5-3 in conference. One of those SEC losses was a very competitive road loss at Bama.
UT has a stingy defense, but lost a lot of production at WR, and did not demonstrate an ability to run the ball with the power that Georgia and UK have mustered the last few seasons (and in UGA’s case, the last few decades). I think UT must rely more upon the run this season, given their WR losses.
UT gets Bama, Florida, and Kentucky at home and Georgia on the road. If they can win 2/3 of their toughest home games, they will be in the running for the East late into the season.
Florida must be considered the second likeliest to win the East, because they have only one potentially daunting true road game, at UT. Otherwise, they play LSU, and Kentucky in Gainesville, and Georgia in Jacksonville. Their other West opponent is Ole Miss on the road.
Their return of Trask is worrisome. I rewatched our loss, and he was a machine after their starter went down last year. But should TTW re-emerge, he might just re-create perhaps his best total game performance from two years ago.
Our early game in Gainesville will set the table for the presumptive challenger to Georgia for the East, but even a win might leave UK fans wishing our second West draw was to Ole Miss rather than to Auburn. Given that we travel to Gainesville and UF gets a rebuilding LSU at home, and a pillow cushion against Lane Kiffin’s first bite in ‘20, compared to our road trip to the Plains, Florida has the clear scheduling advantage. Obviously, the keys to our hopes are beating them, and hoping that LSU didn’t lose all their mojo to their record setting NFL draft.
For Kentucky to have a good shot at the East in 2020, they must be Road Warriors. Three of our presumably toughest games will be on the road: at UF, UT, and Auburn. I doubt our late season tilt against UGA at home could have the same “winner-take-all” implications as in 2018, unless we take at least two-out-of-three against these teams (and win at Mizzou). Fortunately, since 2016, Kentucky has shown it’s greatest sustained competitiveness on the road since the Bear Bryant era, going 9-10, with a couple of lost opportunities last year at State and USCe due to QB injuries. I don’t think 5-3 can win the East in 2020, but 6-2 could do it, if we win key heads-up matches, and if Bama and LSU do us favors in sweeping their Eastern opponents, and Auburn splits (losing to us at home and beating Georgia on the road).
My prediction on final Eastern standings:
(1) Georgia;
(2) Florida;
(3) Kentucky;
(4) UT;
(5) USCe;
(6) Vandy;
(7) Mizzou.
I think UK goes 5-3 in conference, 9-3, overall, and gets it’s second Ten win season in three years. I’d love to expect more, but with a road trip to Auburn (instead of a soft opponent like Arky or Ole Miss), and with road trips to UT and UF, our schedule does not compare favorably to Georgia’s and UF’s.
Four teams will have a shot, and given Georgia’s consistent recruiting in the Top 3 the last few years, they have to be favored. Georgia gets a tough draw from the West, against Bama in Tuscaloosa in ‘20. They get their permanent West opponent, Auburn, at home. They have to travel to Lexington, and Jacksonville for the game most Dawg fans consider a road game, and get UT at home. Given that they travel to Lexington, “to” Jacksonville, and to Tuscaloosa, theirs might be the toughest slate in the East. If they lose to Bama, and stumble in either Lexington or Jacksonville, the door will open for others. And while recruiting has been on an elite level, Georgia has had some real “head-scratchers” under Smart, losing at home to USCe being the biggest, from last season.
Georgia is an enigma to me. They have had frequent spells of elite recruiting, had perhaps the greatest football player of all time in Herschel Walker, have dominated Kentucky in the total series, but have a mediocre Natty count compared to UT and Florida (and Bama, LSU, and Auburn). And while Florida and UT racked up ridiculous winning steaks against Kentucky from the 80’s until recently, many games being blowouts, Kentucky managed to beat Georgia a smattering of times during those 30 plus years, and played pretty competitively in most of the losses.
The heat will be on Smart to convert several years of ridiculously successful recruiting into a run at a Natty this season, or rational folk will question whether it can be done in Athens, with Smart and his staff.
Most Cat fans (and many others in the SEC) would object to my inclusion of UT in the hunt for the East, but they finished one of the more bizarre seasons in NCAA history last year very impressively. Edging Kentucky in Lexington and IU in their bowl game, and improving their poor play against USCe and Vandy, allowed them to rescue a season that was marred by early home losses to Georgia State and BYU, finishing 5-3 in conference. One of those SEC losses was a very competitive road loss at Bama.
UT has a stingy defense, but lost a lot of production at WR, and did not demonstrate an ability to run the ball with the power that Georgia and UK have mustered the last few seasons (and in UGA’s case, the last few decades). I think UT must rely more upon the run this season, given their WR losses.
UT gets Bama, Florida, and Kentucky at home and Georgia on the road. If they can win 2/3 of their toughest home games, they will be in the running for the East late into the season.
Florida must be considered the second likeliest to win the East, because they have only one potentially daunting true road game, at UT. Otherwise, they play LSU, and Kentucky in Gainesville, and Georgia in Jacksonville. Their other West opponent is Ole Miss on the road.
Their return of Trask is worrisome. I rewatched our loss, and he was a machine after their starter went down last year. But should TTW re-emerge, he might just re-create perhaps his best total game performance from two years ago.
Our early game in Gainesville will set the table for the presumptive challenger to Georgia for the East, but even a win might leave UK fans wishing our second West draw was to Ole Miss rather than to Auburn. Given that we travel to Gainesville and UF gets a rebuilding LSU at home, and a pillow cushion against Lane Kiffin’s first bite in ‘20, compared to our road trip to the Plains, Florida has the clear scheduling advantage. Obviously, the keys to our hopes are beating them, and hoping that LSU didn’t lose all their mojo to their record setting NFL draft.
For Kentucky to have a good shot at the East in 2020, they must be Road Warriors. Three of our presumably toughest games will be on the road: at UF, UT, and Auburn. I doubt our late season tilt against UGA at home could have the same “winner-take-all” implications as in 2018, unless we take at least two-out-of-three against these teams (and win at Mizzou). Fortunately, since 2016, Kentucky has shown it’s greatest sustained competitiveness on the road since the Bear Bryant era, going 9-10, with a couple of lost opportunities last year at State and USCe due to QB injuries. I don’t think 5-3 can win the East in 2020, but 6-2 could do it, if we win key heads-up matches, and if Bama and LSU do us favors in sweeping their Eastern opponents, and Auburn splits (losing to us at home and beating Georgia on the road).
My prediction on final Eastern standings:
(1) Georgia;
(2) Florida;
(3) Kentucky;
(4) UT;
(5) USCe;
(6) Vandy;
(7) Mizzou.
I think UK goes 5-3 in conference, 9-3, overall, and gets it’s second Ten win season in three years. I’d love to expect more, but with a road trip to Auburn (instead of a soft opponent like Arky or Ole Miss), and with road trips to UT and UF, our schedule does not compare favorably to Georgia’s and UF’s.
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