After the win over Louisiana Monroe, the Kentucky Wildcats football team is just one win away from a bowl game. The next couple of games will be tough, but there will be opportunities to get that sixth win this season. Kentucky has moved up to ninth in the ESPN SEC Power Rankings, their highest spot of the year.
| 9 | Kentucky Wildcats Record: 5-1 overall, 2-1 SEC Previous ranking: 11 Who can blame Kentucky for coming out a little flat after its thrilling victory over South Carolina last weekend? The hangover didn’t last long. After falling behind 14-3, the Wildcats scored 45 unanswered points in Saturday’s win over UL Monroe. Next up is a trip to Baton Rouge. A win against LSU and this team is heading to a bowl game. |
Two of UK’s remaining opponents, Tennessee and Missouri, are listed below Kentucky on the Power Rankings but those will be road games. Kentucky has to turn into Road Warrior mode the rest of the year to get it done. That said, the folks at ESPN do have Kentucky in a bowl and it’s going to be deep in the heart of Texas.
College Football Playoff semifinal (Rose Bowl): Mississippi State
Capital One Orange Bowl: Ole Miss
Cotton Bowl: Auburn
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: Georgia
Citrus Bowl: Alabama
TaxSlayer Bowl: Texas A&M
Outback Bowl: Missouri
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl: LSU
Belk Bowl: Arkansas
AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl: Kentucky
AutoZone Liberty Bowl: South Carolina
Birmingham Bowl: Florida
Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
Damien Harris did not play on Friday night but he made his fourth visit to a UK game on Saturday. Harris talked a bit about his recruiting and Kentucky on ESPN-U Friday night.
"Q: You had an official scheduled for Kentucky, but plan is not to use that anymore. Why? Harris: Well, I decided that I wanted to enroll early at first. But I was thinking on that decision. I talked with my mom, my family, my coaches, and we just decided that wasn’t what was best for me. So with my decision being pushed back, that will give me more time and opportunity to take other official visits. Q: What goes into your choice for a school? Harris: Just that family feel from the coaching staff. It’s extremely simple. I just want to feel extremely wanted by a staff. Very welcome by the atmosphere and the players. A rich football tradition, that’s extremely important. You kind of don’t want to go somewhere that doesn’t necessarily have that much going for them as a program. Good football tradition. A school that has a degree that’s worth a lot. That has a lot of value. Because, you know, football ends one day. So you kind of want something to fall back on. So those are the most important things. Q: What put Kentucky on your radar? Harris: At first, they kind of weren’t. But Coach Stoops – his first stop as a coach, he came to see me. He just told me, ‘Let me recruit you. Give me an opportunity to prove that we can turn things around – that we can change the program.’ So, I kind of took what he said into consideration. I took it from there, and here we are in this process.” Q: You’re thinking of going back to UK tomorrow. Tell people what that signifies. Harris: I wouldn’t necessarily say it signifies anything. They are close. They are in state. It’s about a 20-minute drive. It’s a great place to take a lot of visits. But they’re definitely doing something special up there. It’s great to witness that as it goes on. Q: In your head, do you have an order of your top 5? Harris: I’m pretty sure I have a good order in my head. Q: Do you want to share that order? Harris: We’ll have to wait and see on that. Just a little bit more time."