Will Stein’s Kentucky Wildcats are off to an impressive 6-1 start that includes two top-10 wins and a comeback win on the road at South Carolina after being down 17 points to start the game.
Kentucky has continued to stack wins since their loss to #12 Alabama in week two. This start now has them with what some call the highest resume quality at the halfway point of the season.
According to PEAR Ratings, an analytics tool for metrics, Kentucky has the highest resume quality in the entire country. The points system puts Kentucky’s resume score at 1.51, just ahead of BYU who is at 1.44. The rest of the top five includes UCLA (1.28), Ohio State (1.14), and Miami (1.03).
After coming into the season with a top-five hardest schedule in college football, Kentucky has turned a dreaded stretch in the SEC into a fun journey with the big wins they have gotten so far.
Now, Kentucky has games remaining against Vandy, at Tennessee, Florida, at Missouri, and then Louisville, to close out the season. Two of those teams will likely be ranked when the Wildcats face them, and that road matchup with Tennessee could play a huge role in Kentucky’s potential playoff hopes.
Kentucky can continue adding to its resume, but it all comes down to keeping this hot start going.
After their most recent win at Oklahoma, Will Stein talked about what makes his team so good at winning gritty games and fighting when things aren’t going right, something that they have faced all season, even in their biggest wins.
“Play harder for guys you love and actually have respect for. So that’s one thing that shows a lot with our team is they’re playing for each other. And then toughness, like, toughness wins in football. College football and the SEC. You’ve gotta be mentally and physically tough. When we watch our tape, our guys fight. They fly around, they hit. They strain on the perimeter, they block up front, we run the ball. Those are, I think, two of the biggest DNA traits of our team: our connection and toughness.”
Kentucky has a great opportunity to continue building their resume on the way to a very special season. The first half of the season is behind them; this team needs to keep that same “0-0” mindset. Meaning each week is a new slate: play the next play and just go win the next one.
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