Should Kentucky win at Missouri this Saturday and Florida lose to Georgia in Jacksonville, the Wildcats would vault into first place in the Southeastern Conference’s Eastern Division race.
League standings are not, however, being used as motivation this week for fourth-year Kentucky coach Mark Stoops.
“I won’t talk about that much because I am really concerned with this game, but our players know that,” Stoops said Monday in a news conference. “They realize where we are, and they also realize how tough these games are. They watch everybody play everybody. We watch a lot of the league, and we see the battles that everybody has and the stress that everybody has.
“So they know we have an opportunity, but it’s all about this week. It really is all about our focus and preparation for this game.”
Kentucky is the last “outsider” to win an SEC title, with the league’s big six – Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee – having claimed every crown since the Wildcats and Georgia shared the 1976 title with 5-1 conference marks. The Wildcats lost to the Bulldogs 31-7 that season in Lexington, which helped secure Georgia’s berth in the Sugar Bowl.