Going into this season I didn’t think too heavily about the middle of Kentucky’s schedule. I was on the same boat as a lot of other people who believed the South Carolina game in week two would largely dictate what this season would look like for the Wildcats. Yes, unfortunately Kentucky lost that match up in pretty ugly fashion, however, they responded well last week against the number one ranked team. Seeing that gives me some hope that Mark Stoops can salvage the rest of the season despite losing two of the first three.

Kentucky hosts Ohio University this weekend and as long as the home team shows up and comes out to play like they did against the Georgia Bulldogs, they should have no issues with finding their second win and improving to 2-2. Kentucky will then go on the road for the first time this season in week 5, traveling to Oxford to take on a top-5 Ole Miss team. Ole Miss is very good don’t get me wrong, but outside of Florida, this is likely Kentucky’s best shot to get a victory on the road this season. Kentucky will go to Texas, at Florida, at Tennessee, and at Ole Miss to complete the 2024 road schedule.

There will be no question of who will be more battle-tested between the two groups. Kentucky had to face a better than expected South Carolina team as they were on the verge of being a top-25 team, then turned around and faced the top-rated team in the week after. The best team Ole Miss will have seen by that point is a mediocre Wake Forest football team.

Winning at “The Grove” will be a challenge without a doubt, as it is a feat Kentucky has never accomplished under Mark Stoops. Let’s say for conversational purposes that Kentucky does lose to Ole Miss, that will put them at 2-3 on the season and open up quite the run for the month of October. This stretch is the make-or-break part of the schedule for me. Kentucky will host both Vanderbilt and Auburn, as well as, go on the road to “The Swamp” in Gainesville. This three game stretch is critical for the success of this year’s Kentucky Football team if it wants to be remembered fondly.

Personally, I think Kentucky should be favored in all three of these games but it may not be by much. On paper, Kentucky is head and shoulders above those teams. But this is why we play the game. The same was being said the week prior to the South Carolina matchup and you know what the result of that one was. If Kentucky comes out of October 3-0 against Vandy, Florida, and Auburn, that will put them at 5-3 with four games left to play. As a fan, you still might have a bad taste in your mouth from South Carolina and Georgia games of what could’ve been, but overall (at that point), the team would be looking pretty decent from how the season started off.

With this scenario, the door would be open for another bowl game. Even with having to travel to Texas and Tennessee, you still will have Murray State and Louisville at home. If Kentucky only manages to win one or two games in that October stretch then that door unfortunately starts to shut close on the expectations. That’s why this month of October is so important for Mark Stoops and the Wildcats.

This had me thinking, how has Mark Stoops performed in the month of October in recent years? So, I went all the way back from 2016 up to last season to determine. The stats that I found were not the most encouraging, if I’m being honest. Since 2016, Stoops has went 15-15 in the month of October (13-17 if you take away the wins from 2021). I know this doesn’t mean a lot in the grand scheme of things but I think it is worth noting.

We have a few more weeks until those start to arrive, and of course we all want the program to be successful, but this year’s success is riding on that three game stretch next month.