Projecting Kentucky’s season after the Florida win

Kentucky’s football season already may be considered a big success by some after they ended their 31-year losing streak to Florida. The celebration that came in Lexington after the history-making win was well deserved.

However, it’s now time to flip the page and focus on the ten games Kentucky still has to play. Despite beating the 25th ranked Gators on the road, Kentucky only received 19 AP Top 25 votes and 34 in the coaches poll.

The team is also in an SEC Eastern division with Georgia, who is ranked No. 3 in the nation, and two unbeaten teams in Missouri and Vanderbilt.

It’s also worth mentioning both of their SEC West opponents Mississippi State and Texas A&M are ranked, and A&M was a two-point conversion away from taking No. 2 Clemson to overtime.

There’s a ton of work to be done, and despite a ton of good football from the Cats, there are areas that need to be cleaned up.

The first one is turnovers. The team has committed six turnovers in their first two games combined. This is alarming. Terry Wilson, who has played outstanding second half football has committed five of the six turnovers. Three interceptions and two fumbles.

To keep their winning ways, Kentucky needs Wilson to hold onto the football and make better decisions. Luckily Kentucky’s defense kept them alive the first two games, but this won’t happen each week’s turnovers eventually can kill a team.

Kentucky also needs to stay more disciplined. The team committed 12 penalties for 144 yards against Florida. This cannot happen. Giving free yards means losing the field position battle, giving teams second chances, and losing drives.

To become a ranked team, Kentucky needs to tighten the discipline.

All in all, Kentucky’s football team has been outstanding so far.

The team’s offensive line has been incredible, the defense has been lockdown, the running game with Benny Snell and A.J. Rose has been unstoppable, and Terry Wilson proved he could lead a team to victory in the hardest environments.

The win over Florida was big, but the team needs to set their sights on the big picture.

Here is the teams remaining schedule:

• Week 3: Murray State
• Week 4: Mississippi State
• Week 5: South Carolina
• Week 6: @ Texas A&M
• Week 7: Bye
• Week 8: Vanderbilt
• Week 9 @ Missouri
• Week 10: Georgia
• Week 11: @ Tennessee
• Week 12: Middle Tennessee
• Week 13: @ Louisville

Murray State is a 0-2 FCS team so that should be a Kentucky win.

Mississippi State and South Carolina will both be significant challenges. Both games will be at home, so I’d say Kentucky falls to Mississippi State but takes down South Carolina.

Winning at Texas A&M will not be easy, as Clemson nearly could not do so. Kentucky probably doesn’t win there.

Missouri is improved, but Kentucky should probably still take that game as well as Vanderbilt.

Georgia isn’t a winnable game this year, but based on how the team played at The Swamp, they should take down the rebuilding Vols at Neyland and then run the table in their final two games against Middle Tennessee and Louisville.

That would put the Cats at 9-3. Not only would the Outback Bowl be a possibility, but a New Year’s six-game would also be.

Kentucky’s win over Florida should give them momentum into what can be a special team if the team cleans up the turnovers and penalties.