Sitting at 2-1 and heading into a bye week, while having a very “competitive” and teachable game against Ole Miss, Kentucky now faces a stretch of conference foes on its schedule that doesn’t look very pretty at first glance.

Yet, if you take a deeper dive into the upcoming games, there is room to argue in favor of Kentucky potentially being able to go toe to toe with some of the upcoming teams.

Offensively, the Wildcats finally have some mojo with Cutter Boley creating primetime plays and Seth McGowan running like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Defensively, despite the personnel and chunk play issues, Brad White has historically mustered up serviceable game plans, especially at home against teams such as Georgia and Florida.

It obviously is hard to hash out exactly how Kentucky will fair for the rest of the season, given the inconsistency issues with the offensive coordinating and having some of the guys banged up, including running back Dante Dowdell and quarterback Zach Calzada, but that’s part of the game and can plaque any team.

Ironically, that leads right into Kentucky’s next opponent on Sept. 27, where it will travel to Columbia, South Carolina to take on the Gamecocks. South Carolina’s highly-touted quarterback LaNorris Sellers suffered a head injury against Vanderbilt, taking a nasty hit before halftime. There is still yet to be any true updates regarding his availability, but one can assume he likely has a concussion, which would put him on the block against Kentucky.

Point proven, a Gamecocks team without Sellers is very beatable, whether it’s on the road or not. Mark Stoops and the Wildcats could pull this one off, despite the recent failures against their rivals in past seasons.

Next, you have Georgia on the schedule, which its name alone should strike fear into every opponent. There’s no true “matchup nightmare” for the Bulldogs, not one at all honestly. Georgia will always likely be heads and shoulders above Kentucky, but history is the biggest indicator of a great head-to-head battle reoccurring every season, and these two do just that.

Kentucky hasn’t beat Georgia since 2009. Yikes. Several times since then however, the Wildcats have only lost by one score. Can they actually defeat Georgia? No, not a chance, but they definitely can make it a competitive matchup and once again, leave Kirby Smart having to dial up one final gut punch to send the Wildcats home. Maybe even Stoops will punt the ball again with several minutes left in the game.

Serving another bye week, the Wildcats will then host the Texas Longhorns in Arch Manning’s first ever game at Kroger Field. Speaking of Manning, he has been extremely underwhelming to start the season, struggling against the defending champions and only leading the Longhorns to 27 points against UTEP. Manning threw for 11/25 (44%) on Sept. 13, also throwing an interception.

Again, Texas is head and shoulders above the Cats in every aspect, but Kentucky may be able to shock the nation and shut down the Manning bandwagon at home, leading to yet another one or two score game.

Keeping things at home, Kentucky will host the rival Tennessee Volunteers. This is the Cleveland Browns vs. the Cincinnati Bengals. This is North Carolina vs. Duke. This is the rivalry game where truly, anything can happen.

Before this game, the Volunteers will be coming off of a week in Tuscaloosa where they very well could lose to the Crimson Tide. A night game in Lexington after a deflating defeat is just screaming for back-to-back losses for the Vols, making for another instant classic between the two.

Finally, the Wildcats will go back on the road to face junior quarterback Jackson Arnold and the Auburn Tigers. Arnold, since his days at Oklahoma, has only been a “run first” type of quarterback and doesn’t necessarily air it out against defenses. So far this year, his longest pass is only for 32 yards against the South Alabama Jaguars.

This could be a sluggish and low-scoring matchup, the type of game Kentucky thrives in.

Before a “guaranteed win” type of game against Tennessee Tech, the Wildcats will host the Florida Gators, who are coming off of a dreadful performance against LSU where quarterback DJ Lagway threw five interceptions.

Recent history shows that the Wildcats can keep it close with Florida and even beat them given the circumstances of the game. To add the bout being in Lexington, Kentucky could very well send the Gators back home with another unexpected loss.

The final SEC matchup for Kentucky features a road game against the Vanderbilt Commodores. Kentucky holds a 48-44-1 all-time record against Vandy, splitting wins in the past four games.

Vanderbilt has rebuilt itself brick by brick, both in football and basketball, to be a true competitor in every game. For years, the Commodores were the laughing stock of the SEC, along with the Wildcats. This is a pride war to cap off the conference schedule. Anything could happen in this one.

To cap things off, I do not by any means think the Wildcats can actually beat some of these teams, I just highlighted the silver lining of each matchup and at least anticipate a Boley-led team to put up points and give any defense a long and unexpected day.

Kentucky is on a long and dreadful conference losing streak and they all understand the importance of changing the narrative of the program, at least, I assume.

All the Cats need is a singular SEC win, and technically, they’re set up for an “improvement” season. I likely have too much animosity; all it takes is one stinking win.