Kentucky enters SEC East conversation with win over South Carolina
Following South Carolina's close win over Vanderbilt two weeks ago, Steve Spurrier offered a warning.
"I told the guys, 'It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing the way we play.' And I'm the head coach of this embarrassing group of guys," Spurrier said after the 48-34 win. " ... We're not a very good team, but we're 3-1 somehow."
Since that speech, the Gamecocks have lost two straight SEC East games to Missouri and, more surprisingly, Kentucky. Spurrier's group fell on the road to Kentucky on Saturday night 45-38, failing to slow down a Wildcats offense that showed a variety of looks, including a successful "Wildcat" formation with sophomore Jojo Kemp. It was just the second time in 22 meetings a Spurrier-coached team lost to Kentucky, but other than the press conference fodder perhaps this was more of a sign that coach Mark Stoops's Kentucky program is not that far removed from the top part of the SEC's lesser division.
By almost any measure, Kentucky is rolling.
By Kentucky standards, the program is soaring.
The Wildcats are a triple-overtime loss to Florida from being a perfect 5-0. They cruised through a lackluster non-conference slate and saw Florida narrowly escape in The Swamp before snapping their SEC losing streak against Vanderbilt last weekend. And now, Stoops & Co. have what definitively qualifies as a signature victory, regardless of Spurrier's barbed self-criticism.
"It was one of the most special atmospheres I've been in, because of what it means for this program," Stoops said.
Last season, Stoops's first in Lexington, Kentucky managed just two wins: Miami (Ohio) and Alabama State. It lost all but two conference games by 10 or more points -- one of them being a road matchup against South Carolina -- and generally looked like one of the worst Power 5 conference teams nationally. That has all changed in 2014.
Kentucky is 4-1 with a strong chance of going 5-1 (facing Louisiana-Monroe next weekend) before entering a formidable four-game stretch against ranked opponents: LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri and Georgia. Four of the program's final six games come on the road against either SEC opponents or in-state rival Louisville. All of a sudden, though, the Wildcats do not look like the typical pushover, scheduled-on-your-homecoming type of team, meaning it's not a guarantee that the likes of, say, LSU or Missouri or Tennessee can walk away unscathed.
Even though Stoops came to the program after leading Florida State's defense, this offense is something to reckon with. The Wildcats were efficient against the Gamecocks, as quarterback Patrick Towles hit on 20 of his 29 attempts for 208 yards while Kemp headed a three-man rushing attack that accounted for 239 yards and four scores. Kentucky managed more points against South Carolina's defense than Georgia and East Carolina and nearly matched Alabama's output against Florida's defense. Defense may be Stoops's calling card, but an offense averaging 34.2 points per game certainly helps.
And just take a look at the SEC East standings to see how much things have changed since last year. Vanderbilt is 0-4 and, for all practical reasons, out of the division race. Tennessee is also 0-2 in the conference while South Carolina -- a program that had won 11 games in three straight seasons -- has already taken three SEC losses. Kentucky is tied with Georgia and Florida at 2-1 while Missouri, technically, leads the division, although the Tigers have played only one conference game and have not looked overly impressive.
Kentucky is in the thick of the race after six weeks. That's something that hasn't been said in quite some time.
South Carolina's issues will deservedly grab some headlines. Spurrier has built a consistent winner in Columbia and when that consistency goes out the window there are questions to answer -- often in entertaining fashion, although Spurrier didn't throw out too many shots in a short postgame news conference.
"I'm not gonna yell and scream. Everybody saw what happened. They scored more points than we did," Spurrier said. "They got a deflection, they got a touchdown, they beat us. Simple as that."
Kentucky's rise should not be ignored here, though.
With two conference wins now under their belt, the Kentucky Wildcats added their own chapter to an historically chaotic day of college football. There's a chance -- no matter how much of an outside chance it might be -- for Stoops to put his signature all over the 2014 season. The SEC East doesn't look to feature a single juggernaut, and if everything is there for the taking Kentucky might be demanding a seat at the table.
