Ranking the Football Opponents the Rest of the Way
Our football team is now sitting at 3-4 on the season and 0-3 in the SEC. They play conference teams the rest of the way out. The Wildcats have a chance to go bowling, albeit a small one. It all starts with a game against Mississippi State this Saturday.
I ranked each game on a difficulty scale of 1-10, based on record, personnel and difficulty of schedule.
Mississippi State Bulldogs:
Record- 3-4
SEC Record- 0-4
Level of Difficulty- 7.5
The Bulldogs were a dark horse pick to be a team to win the SEC West. Last year, they demolished Michigan in a bowl game and looked legit at the end of the season.
Their first five games were difficult, playing LSU, Auburn and Georgia among others. While the Bulldogs have lost all four SEC games, they were all against the elite of the SEC. They have not played Vanderbilt, Ole Miss or Kentucky. Their latest SEC loss came against South Carolina 14-12.
They have switched from quarterback Chris Relf to sophomore Tyler Russell. Russell has started the last two games and has more touchdown passes (5) that Relf (4). Their defense is allowing only 19.3 points a game, which is bad news for the Cats. But their offense is only averaging 24 points.
Mississippi State is not a bad team. Their worst loss came against Georgia 24-10. They won’t score a ton of points but the speed and talent on their defense is what makes me nervous. If Kentucky can knock them off this Saturday, then I might be sold on a bowl game.
Ole Miss:
Record- 2-5
SEC Record- 0-4
Level of Difficulty- 4.5
Thank goodness for Ole Miss because if it was not for them, then the Cats would be the worst team in the SEC. Kentucky ranks ahead of the Rebels in points against (68-79) and rushing yards (71-107), while the Rebs barely rank ahead of Kentucky in passing (107-116) and points for (104-111).
Ole Miss was hammered by Vanderbilt 30-7 (!) and lost to a decent BYU team in the first game of the season 14-13. The Rebels also just showed some life against Arkansas only to see the Razorbacks come back from 10 points down to win the game 29-24. Coach Houston Nutt is on the official hot seat and sounds as if he is on his way out after the loss to the Hogs.
Ole Miss seems to be at a very low point right now and play Auburn the week before they play Kentucky. The Cats have a better defense than the Rebels and I like our running game to continue to build and emerge. This game should be a win for the Wildcats.
Vanderbilt:
Record- 4-3
SEC Record- 1-3
Level of Difficulty- 6
Normally the level of difficulty on this game would be like a 2, but the Commodores are playing with a fire and passion not seen since Jay Cutler.
They defeated Ole Miss by a large margin and also creamed UConn and Army. Their three SEC losses came from South Carolina by 18, Alabama by 34 and Georgia by only 5. The ‘Dores aren’t much for the passing game but rank 57th on the ground. Their defense is allowing 21.6 points a game. I know these numbers aren’t really all that impressive, but they are getting decent results, more so than any Vandy team in the last five years or so.
They play Florida and Arkansas before Kentucky, so look for them to be a little beat up by the time the Cats travel to Nashville.
Georgia:
Record- 5-2
SEC Record- 4-1
Level of Difficulty- 8.5
The Dawgs have been a team on the rise ever since they started off the season with back to back losses against Boise State and South Carolina. While the game against Boise was a blow out, UGA lost by only three points to the Gamecocks at home.
But don’t let the gaudy 4-1 SEC record fool you too much. The four wins have come against Ole Miss, Vandy, Mississippi State and Tennessee; not exactly the cream of the SEC crop. Those four opponents have a combined SEC record of 1-15.
We will find out more about the Bulldogs when they play Florida this weekend and when they play Auburn on November 12th. I am still giving this a high ranking because the game is at Georgia and they have far better athletes than do the Cats. We can revisit this game later if need be.
Tennessee:
Record- 3-4
SEC Record- 0-4
Level of Difficulty- 5.5
This is the worst team that Tennessee has had in at least 20 years. They have been just about as competitive as UK in their SEC losses. Well, maybe a little more competitive, but they are still getting blown out.
The Vols lost starting quarterback Tyler Bray and have been absolutely struggling with Matt Sims behind the center. They rank 35th in passing yards by that is still due to Bray’s numbers in the first five games of the season in which he amassed 1,579 yards and 14 TD’s.
Sims has 243 yards and 0 TD’s in the last two games against Alabama and LSU. They are also ranked 115th in rushing and they are allowing 25.3 points a game.
They are plain terrible and would be lower on the difficulty scale it they were not Tennessee.
Final Analysis:
I say the Cats finish the year missing out on a bowl game. Go ahead and mark Mississippi State, Georgia and Vandy (yes, Vandy) as losses. Give the Cats a win against Ole Miss and a win against Tennessee at home. At least the win against the Vols will give us something to hang our hats on and give us some positive momentum to build on for next season.
Final record: 5-7
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