What Kentucky football’s loss to Tennessee means for rest of season, bowl possibilities
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Game day: No. 3 Tennessee 44, No. 19 Kentucky 6
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Tennessee football game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
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Kentucky football fell to 5-3 on the 2022 season and 2-3 in SEC play with a 44-6 loss at No. 3 Tennessee on Saturday.
Here is a closer look at what the loss means beyond the scoreboard.
A STATEMENT FOR FUTURE SEC PECKING ORDER
The Kentucky-Tennessee rivalry has been so one-sided that the last handful of years might be the only time in the history of the two programs that Kentucky could even make an argument it was ahead of Tennessee in the SEC pecking order. Even for much of that stretch, the Wildcats failed to take full advantage of a down spell for the Volunteers.
The SEC is reportedly preparing to ditch its two-division format when Oklahoma and Texas join the league, but no Kentucky fan can feel comfortable about the Wildcats’ staying ahead of the Volunteers in the SEC East pecking order for as long as the division lasts now.
It was Kentucky that was picked second behind defending national champion Georgia in the SEC East this summer and ranked in the preseason Associated Press top 25. The fact that it is Tennessee contending for a playoff berth as the calendar turns to November in just its second year under head coach Josh Heupel while Kentucky’s most hyped season in decades stumbles only adds salt to the wound.
On paper, losing to an undefeated top-five team on its home field is hardly shameful, but it would be difficult not to read more into the directions of the programs after Saturday’s game.
Kentucky could still make its season with an upset of Georgia, but it seems just as likely the Wildcats stumble in one of the three remaining games they are expected to be favored in now. The November results will determine how this Kentucky season is ultimately viewed, but it seems safe to say regardless of the next four games the Wildcats have been passed by Tennessee again.
TEST COMING AT MISSOURI
Even if Kentucky does not retain its spot in the Associated Press top 25 on Sunday, the Wildcats still figure to be favored in a week at Missouri.
It would be difficult to assume Kentucky can coast in that game though.
Already once this season Kentucky came out flat after a loss in a marquee game, continuing a worrisome trend of letting one loss spiral into multiple defeats in recent years. After losing at Ole Miss, Kentucky posted its worst performance of the season the next week in a home loss to South Carolina. Can Mark Stoops’ team avoid that trap again?
Star quarterback Will Levis missed the South Carolina game, but his absence was compounded by a listless performance from the healthy Wildcats. Now, Kentucky faces an 11 a.m. local time start in Columbia, a scenario for which it has struggled to find the needed energy before. Missouri moved to .500 on the season with a win over South Carolina on Saturday.
Kentucky has lost three of its last four games. Lose at Missouri, and things could get ugly quickly. A home game against Vanderbilt makes Kentucky reaching the six wins needed for bowl eligibility still a safe bet, but after Louisville’s blowout of Wake Forest on Saturday, the Governor’s Cup rivalry can no longer be considered a definite win.
BOWL IMPLICATIONS
Any lingering hope of Kentucky contending for the SEC East title ended with the loss. With it almost certainly went the chance of reaching a New Year’s Six bowl game.
The Citrus Bowl has first pick of SEC teams after the playoff committee fills the New Year’s Six bowls. Even if Kentucky is the top-ranked SEC team available at that point, it is unlikely the Citrus Bowl would take the Wildcats for a second consecutive season, especially considering other SEC teams will almost certainly be ranked in the same vicinity.
That leaves Kentucky in the SEC’s “Pool of Six” bowl tier, which includes the ReliaQuest, Gator, Music City, Texas, Liberty and Las Vegas bowls. Reaching eight wins might be enough to get Kentucky to the ReliaQuest Bowl (formerly known as the Outback Bowl) but a loss to anyone other than Georgia down the stretch could end that hope.
Bowl projections love to match Kentucky with the Music City Bowl, but that game is a bad fit this year since it kicks off at the same time as the Kentucky-Louisville men’s basketball rivalry game on New Year’s Eve. The Wildcats are unlikely to be sent to the Gator Bowl, where they played two years ago. The Texas Bowl usually takes a team from the SEC West.
The Las Vegas Bowl might be the second most attractive bowl for Kentucky in the “Pool of Six” since it would be a new trip for fans. The Liberty Bowl appears to be in play as well.
This story was originally published October 29, 2022 at 10:34 PM.
