Anyone want to try and figure out the SEC and it’s scheduling? Well, don’t, because it’s a puzzle of nightmare proportions. Each team gets so many home games, so many away games, so many “buy” games ( I will explain in due course), and it is meshed into what we get to see each and every year. So that brings us to a bevy of questions that all could be having an effect on Kentucky’s ability to win in the SEC East.
Don’t get me wrong, this is not a complaint about the teams we play in our out-of-conference or OOC games as they are called. I have complained about that in the past, but recently come to the realization that UK has to get much better before we get to upgrade the games that have come to guarantee our success each year, and provide some much needed funding for smaller schools that benefit from coming to Commonwealth Stadium every year or two.
What I am referring to is what we must start doing every year to make a name for ourselves in the SEC. We have to start competing for the SEC East title, and I believe that making some subtle changes in our schedule could help us do that very thing.
Let’s take this year for example: We play a murderous 6 game stretch that will essentially be our season.
Sept. 25 At Florida
Oct. 2 At Ole Miss
Oct. 9 Auburn
Oct. 16 South Carolina
Oct. 23 Georgia
Oct. 30 At Mississippi State
We have to go Away to Florida, Ole Miss, and Miss St. of which we should be able to pick up at least 1 win, but a good possibility of getting 2, with 3 being a dream. The home stretch of Auburn, South Carolina, and Georgia could just as easily produce 3 losses as it does 3 wins.
That leaves us with the Charleston Southern, Vandy, and UT swing to finish the season, which we may very well be begging to see by the time it arrives, because we may very well need 2 of those three to get to a 7 win season. Of course we could also be looking to finish in double digit wins by then as well. But what if we had a little bit better approach to this schedule? The folks who do all of this, and to be honest, I get a different answer from everyone I ask about how the schedule is compromised, gave me answers ranging from Joker having final say, to the SEC controlling everything except our OOC, to Mitch Barnhart doing the whole thing. when all was said and done, I was told that it is actually a combination of all of those factors.
But what if we had this approach to our schedule? Let’s start by looking at Our SEC foes. Why not schedule Vandy the first game of the year? And no, I do not take this as a guaranteed win, but it is a good reference point to start out our season. Then bring in 2 of our “buy” games. That way we have a shot at going into the bulk of our SEC schedule with an SEC win under our belts. 3-0, 1-0 looks a lot better facing the likes of Georgia, Auburn, and South Carolina than 3-0 and having no idea what we are going to be able to do with SEC competition. Then we can take 2 toss-up games like those, slide in another “buy” game and look at going into November before we have to face the likes of a Florida.
Playing Florida at 5-3 & 1-3, or 6-2 & 2-2 sure looks a lot better than facing them at 3-0 and not knowing what we really have. Let Florida have to travel to Commonwealth in November for a change, instead of getting perfectly temperature controlled September. And that UK-UL game of the year that everyone just has to have? Move it to the last game of the year. Put some meaning into it. Scheduling does not guarantee wins, let me say that first and foremost, but careful scheduling could make us a better gelled and cohesive team when we have to face these behemoths like Florida, Alabama, LSU and the like.
How much better would this year look as such?
09/04/10 vs. Vanderbilt
09/11/10 vs. Western Kentucky
09/18/10 vs. Akron
09/25/10 at Tennessee
10/02/10 at Ole Miss
10/09/10 vs. Auburn
10/16/10 vs. South Carolina
10/23/10 vs. Georgia
10/30/10 at Mississippi State
11/06/10 vs. Charleston Southern
11/13/10 at Florida
11/27/10 at Louisville
That schedule allows UK the possibility to face Auburn and maybe South Carolina undefeated. It also allows us to have 3 out of 4 winnable games to finish the year headed to Bowl season. But more than that is gives us the chance to have several SEC games, both home and away, under our belts before we face the juggernaut known as Florida every year. How would you like to have the Louisville game determine our Bowl placement every year? What if Louisville represented the difference between the Outback Bowl and the Music City Bowl? We have to win them all no matter what the schedule, but a little help in scheduling could go a long way in facing some of these teams that always seem to have our number. Let other teams sweat playing us for a change. UK undefeated presents a different challenge for the Ol’ Ball Coach than UK at 3-3. We are starting to get the athletes, and more and more quality players at every position. Let’s take advantage of it. The UK-UL game at the beginning of the year gains us nothing.
We are better now, and we need to be smarter as well. Let’s take a long hard look at this folks. Start making the schedule work for us, instead of against us.
Keep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fans