UK back on track after Vandy win. Here’s where the SEC race stands.

It’s still two weeks from November and Kentucky is at six wins and eligible for a bowl for a third straight season.

A chance at that feat was not lost on the Cats’ players as they spent a week off thinking about that possibility.

“It’s in our heads,” senior cornerback Derrick Baity said this week. “We’ve got potential to be bowl eligible early, we don’t do that too often. It’s in our heads.”

There were plenty of other milestones for the No. 14 Cats after the 14-7 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday night at what felt like the freezer section at Kroger Field.

Kentucky’s 4-1 start in Southeastern Conference play is its best five-game league start since 1977. UK now will have at least four league wins in three straight seasons.

And while those are nice stepping stones for Kentucky, it has bigger goals in mind, like winning the SEC’s East Division, which is still within reach with some big games left to play.

Here’s what’s left for each of the SEC East Division contenders this season with fellow front-runners Florida and Georgia both off this week as they prepare to meet in Jacksonville, Fla., next week.

Florida (6-1, 4-1 SEC) — vs. Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, Idaho, at Florida State

Georgia (6-1, 4-1) — vs. Florida, at Kentucky, Auburn, UMass, Georgia Tech

Kentucky (6-1, 4-1) — at Missouri, Georgia, at Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, at Louisville

Because a tie atop the division doesn’t seem out of the question at this point, here’s a look at how ties are broken in the race to claim the SEC East title per the league rules.

If there’s a two-team tie, the title goes to the winner of their head-to-head matchup.

If three teams end up tied atop the SEC East standings,

the first tiebreaker is combined head-to-head record among the tied teams, then the record of the tied teams within the division. Next up is head-to-head competition against the team within the division with the best overall conference record and then proceeding through the division.

Then the league moves to overall conference record against non-divisional teams, combined record against all common non-divisional teams followed by record against the common non-divisional team with the best overall conference record and proceeding through other common non-divisional teams based on their order of finish within their division.

This story was originally published October 20, 2018 at 10:50 PM.