The Kentucky Ole Miss winner might be the SEC Dark Horse SEC competitor we’ve all been hoping for.
A pair of unbeaten teams head out in Oxford, where the 14th seed Ole Miss Rebels (4-0) hosts the 7th seed Kentucky Wildcats (4-0) at Vaught-Hemingway on Saturday.
While everyone respects the jobs Mark Stoops and Lane Kiffin have had to change their programming, there’s a reason the Wildcats and Rebels haven’t been to Atlanta before. Kentucky plays in the same class as Georgia, while the Ole Miss has to deal with Alabama every season. Although they beat them before, maybe these two are closer to their levels now?
It’s still very early days, but the winner of this game at Oxford will have the potential to go to their sixth New Year’s Tournament.
Who is the real nominee for this year’s SEC Dark Horse: Kentucky or the Ole Miss?
A year ago, both teams won 10-3, but they had different ways of getting there. Kentucky has lost three midseason games of contention, but has double-digit wins by defeating Stubbs alma mater Iowa in the Citrus Bowl. The Ole Miss went 10-2 during the regular season, but Matt Corral’s injury early in the Sugar Bowl was too much for the Rebels to beat versus Big 12 champion Baylor Bears.
Being a home match for Ole Miss, the Rebels are the favorites for a W. However, they had not played anyone of importance until this point. Ole Miss has not played any SEC game yet, as her four wins have been over Troy, Central Arkansas, Georgia Tech and Tulsa. Not exactly what you would consider a killer’s opponents row. Wild cats are their strongest opponent by far.
As far as Kentucky is concerned, the Wildcats have a solid conference win on the road over Florida. Their other three victories came over non-conference opponents in Miami (Ohio), Youngstown and Northern Illinois. All SEC opponents will be in their next seven games, as the UK finishes off the season with rival Louisville over Thanksgiving weekend. They have been tested a little more.
While Kentucky and Ole Miss wouldn’t ignore this game, playing next-level inferior SEC East teams in South Carolina and Vanderbilt, something in between these two programs has to offer. Kentucky has the most experienced quarterback Will Levis, but the Ole Miss has shown he can navigate a tighter schedule annually more prolific than the UK. This is a great opportunity for everyone…
It might be 11:00 a.m. CT, but neither team will sleepwalk into this one. Not to mention that Kentucky has to play a perfect game to win in Oxford, but it has to be a fairly frequent performer of the Florida game for the UK. The good news for Big Blue Nation is that we’ve seen cats get to this level. Ole Miss’s problem is we haven’t seen them get there yet…
An Ole Miss win would be big, but a Kentucky road win at Oxford would be pretty massive.
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