My blogpoll ballot has basically calcified in place as far as the top ten is concerned.

For the first time all year, the top ten did not change.  At this point in the season, many teams are either done or nearly done with their regular season, and with the exception of some rivalry and league championship games which could prove significant, there is not a whole lot of movement likely.  We do no that either the Alabama Crimson Tide or Florida Gators are going to take a hit, but I would be surprised if the Nebraska Cornhuskers found a way to challenge the Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 championship.

More after the jump.

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Derrick Locke with the go-ahead touchdown!

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It's time to party, Kentucky fans!  The Big Blue Nation has pulled a notable upset on the road versus a Georgia team that absolutely shot themselves in the foot not once, but so often that they were operating on one leg and a peg from the knee down.

Georgia utterly dominated Kentucky in every respect except for the one that mattered -- the final score.  Georgia played a beautiful first half, and came back in the second half and did nothing but turn the ball over.  This was not a good game by the Dawgs after that first half, and they really lost their composure in the second.  I want to thank them for the effort, and my understanding is that they treat visiting teams with the greatest respect and classic Southern hospitality.  But today, the Red Clay Hounds were their own worst enemy.

The first half of this football game was one of the most frustrating I have ever had the misfortune to witness.  The play calling was weirdly inept, the defense as desperately needing an intravenous infusion of Viagra to cure its impotence.  Georgia was running, passing, and dominating Kentucky utterly.

The domination was particularly complete on the lines.  UK's O-line could not keep Georgia out of the backfield.  The UK D-line got pushed around like they had four 150 lb. guys instead of 300+, and Joe Cox had enough time to brew a cup of coffee before looking for his receiver.  At halftime, I was beginning to fear that UK was going to be uncompetitive for only the second time this season.

But when UK came out and forced a fumble for an immediate score on the opening kickoff of the second half, I knew we were back in the ball game.  I figured that a close loss was likely, but how wrong I was.  UK came out and reversed the line domination completely on defense, and mostly on offense.  Georgia got frustrated and began throwing the football to UK players, with disastrous results.  In the final ignominy, the Dawgs turned the ball over on the Kentucky one-yard line.

More after the jump.

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More photos » by Wily Low - AP

Will UK fans tear down the goal posts on an opponent's field?

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UK (6-4, 2-4 SEC), coming off a victory at Vanderbilt which secured the 'Cats' bowl eligibility, tackles the 6-4 (4-3 SEC) Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Georgia tonight at 7:45 EST.  Kentucky, hoping to improve the chances of playing a bowl game outside the state of Tennessee, haven't beaten the Bulldogs in Athens since 1977, a 33-0 'Cat-washing of the pre-Hershel Walker Bulldogs.

If UK clinches a winning season tonight, this is who they must execute the coup-de-tat against ... after the jump:

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It's time for the SEC Power Poll for Week 11, and Alabama once again rises to the top both on my ballot, and in the aggregated totals, which are found at Team Speed Kills, as always.

For my part, I obviously think a little more of the 'Cats and a little less of Tennessee than other voters, but other than that, there isn't a whole lot of difference.  Alabama has pretty much cemented itself as the best team in the league with more or less consistent domination of everyone, while the Gators seem to be running into more difficulty of late.  The Tide takes on an FCS school this week (Wait--didn't we get heat for doing that from TSK?) in UT-Chattanooga, then finishes the season at detested in-state rival Auburn for the Iron Bowl, which is the Tide's biggest danger of a loss in a while.

Florida, on the other hand, gets two schools from in-state to finish off the season -- Florida International and hated rival, Florida State.  As with Alabama and Auburn, the possibility of an upset looms somewhat larger with the Seminoles.

My ballot follows the jump.

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Week 11 is here, and it's time to publish my blogpoll ballot for this week.

Alabama surges to the top, Texas falls to #2, and Florida winds up at #3.  Well, you have to put all of them somewhere, and I guess they will just be taking turns on my ballot for a while.

There were relatively few big games last week, so what we had is a series of humdrum games, with none of the top teams really having the opportunity to prove their superiority.  I guess that will happen for sure when Alabama and Florida face off in the SEC championship.  Texas' only remaining games are against fading Kansas, mediocre Texas A&M and Nebraska in the Big 12 championship, so they will likely be in the BCS championship game versus the winner of the SEC championship game.

My ballot follows the jump.

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More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

Derrick Locke -- 5'9" of determination, power and speed.

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Kentucky is now assured of its fourth .500 or better regular season in four years, and is bowl eligible for the fourth straight time.  That's a good feeling for Wildcat fans who have suffered through the unfortunate loss of Jeremy Jarmon, the mid-season loss of Mike Hartline, the long absence of Trevard Lindley, and various injuries to Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke which cost the Wildcats.

Did I say a good feeling?  It's a great feeling.

Looking back at the game, Eric Crawford of the Courier-Journal says the Vandy win was unconvincing.

Unless something surprising happens over the next two games, that's going to be the story of the season: a team that did what it was supposed to do but nothing more.

Given the inordinate and costly injuries, I'd say Kentucky deserves more credit than that, but from a macro standpoint, you have to say that Crawford isn't far off.  Chris Low of ESPN, however, has an alternative viewpoint more favorable to the Wildcats:

It's no secret that Rich Brooks has done a terrific job in elevating Kentucky's program to a level of respectability, but this may be one of his better jobs when you consider all the injuries the Wildcats have endured this season.

More after the jump.

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More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

Derrick Locke's power and speed was critical to the 'Cats win over Vanderbilt.

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I am very, very happy to report that Kentucky has won their second SEC road game this year and is now eligible for a bowl for the fourth straight year.  Congrats to the football Wildcats on a big win at Vandy today.

Vanderbilt was a very, very tough and determined opponent, but their problem today was the same as it has been all year -- they have not been able to put enough points on the board.  Vandy's defense was extremely tough today in the passing game, but they were vulnerable over the ground as they have been all year.  Kentucky finally figured that out and exploited it to great advantage in the second half.

Derrick Locke was absolutely awesome, and his running mate Randall Cobb was almost his equal.  We saw trick plays, circus catches, and two tipped interceptions.  As usual in the Vanderbilt game, we found that the foe was much tougher than we expected, and that was very nearly the Wildcats' undoing.

But at the end of the day, Kentucky was superior offensively.  The 'Cats also made some nice halftime adjustments defensively, and Steve Brown & Co. held the Commodores without a score the entire second half.  I was taking Brown's name in vain at halftime, but he made up for all that with a well-played second half.

My observations follow the jump.

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At this point in the season, there is a lot of jockeying for position down in the lower reaches of the league, but with the division champions settled and only two or three games left, the four and five win teams are striving to earn bowl eligibility, and the better teams are trying to polish their credentials and avoid the late-season upset.

As for Kentucky, well, they are really two SEC wins away from finding themselves firmly in the middle of the pack.  Right now, despite some factors that make them look better on paper than some others, it's hard to put a team with only one SEC win, even a pretty good one, too high.

With all that said, my ballot follows the jump.

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