Kentucky Wildcats Football can still be a great story

I know that it has been a rough month and a half  for the Kentucky Wildcats football team.  When they take the field Saturday versus the Louisville Cardinals, it will have been 49 days since these Kentucky Wildcats have tasted victory and a once promising season has been lost in a vortex of bad losses and a growing sense of disappointment in the fanbase that was turning into a huge black cloud that was overwhelming the program.  At a certain point, I think that most Kentucky Wildcats football fans have felt there is no happy ending to this season.

Sound familiar?

Mandatory Credit: Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Turn the calendar back to March 1.

That’s when the Kentucky Wildcats basketball season went from what was supposed to be a championship run to a season on the brink.  Kentucky traveled to 10-18 South Carolina and came home with their tails between their legs, beaten 72-67 by the woeful Gamecocks.  After turning in a 26.9% shooting performance, it would have been easy for this team to turn on each other and finish their season in the NIT for the second straight year.

Did the players turn on each other?  Remember what Aaron Harrison said after the game?

"“Frustrating? It’s frustrating to lose but coming up, we know we can do and it’s going to be a great story.”“Because we know what we can do. We know, we talk about it. Even after the game, we just, we know what we can do and we know we’re going to make a run to have a big, great story for everyone to talk about.”"

Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

And as frustrating as this season has been for Kentucky Wildcats fans, the same can still be true.  This can be a great story.  This can be a great story for everyone to talk about.

With just 60 minutes of football, Mark Stoops and his team can flip the script and get this team into a bowl in just his second season.

Let’s be honest.  How many of us had the Kentucky Wildcats football team in this position back in August?  I’ve been the most optimistic of football fans and I had this pegged as a four win team.  Yet here we are, just four quarters from a bowl bid.

Yes, Louisville is a good team.  I’m not afraid to admit it.

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But they are not a perfect team.  They have NO wins over a ranked opponent this year.  And they have a loss to 5-6 Virginia.

It’s not Alabama or FSU that the Kentucky Wildcats football team is going up against.  It’s a bitter rival and well, we know what can happen in rivalry games.

Granted, this game is at Louisville.  And it is hard to imagine this team stopping Michael Dyer or Brandon Radcliff while this run defense has been exploited all year.

But Kentucky does have the better quarterback.  And this team still has playmakers that can make the big plays.  At this point, you wonder if their psyche has not been damaged to the point where they are ready to mail in the season, but I do not think this will be the case.

I think we will see a Kentucky Wildcats football team that is going to go out and fight for sixty minutes and leave their everything on the field.  And who knows?

This can still be a great story.