[Quality88]

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The University of Kentucky football team last Saturday night lowered the boom on then-No. 1 Louisiana State.
In so doing, the Wildcats might have raised their own bar. UK was ranked seventh yesterday in the first Bowl Championship Series standings of the season, and with a 6-1 start, a 2-1 Southeastern Conference record, a No. 8 ranking in the Associated Press poll and a 43-37 triple-overtime win against powerhouse LSU on their résumé, the Cats have their sights set high.
"Our goal is basically to try to get to the SEC Championship," wide receiver Keenan Burton said after the game. "We want to try to get to the national championship. This (LSU win) puts us right where we want to be. It's a blessing to be in the spot that we're in."
But for UK coach Rich Brooks, that spot isn't so different from the one the Cats have been in all season.
Brooks has been saying since the summer that he thought his team was good enough to be a factor in the SEC East race.
Taming the Tigers, he said, won't change his expectations.
The SEC Championship Game might seem like a more realistic goal today than it did last week. Same for a BCS bowl appearance.
But Brooks isn't getting ahead of himself.
"It's there for us if we win out, but winning out is not an easy thing to do, obviously," Brooks said yesterday on his weekly media teleconference. "We have to take it one game at a time and see if we can get another win under our belt at home."
The win Brooks covets now is against Florida, which will visit Commonwealth Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Gators -- the defending SEC and BCS champs -- are ranked 14th by the AP.
A win against the Cats would put Florida (4-2, 2-2) back into the thick of the SEC East race, and the Gators will enter Saturday's game after an off week.
By contrast, UK played a draining game, and Brooks admitted that he's worried about the physical toll the Tigers took on his team.
He said cornerback Paul Warford will miss the Florida game with a fractured clavicle. Some other key players -- including tailback Rafael Little and safety Marcus McClinton, who sat out last Saturday's game -- are expected to return to the lineup.
Quarterback Andre' Woodson, who was shaken by a shot to the ribs on his overtime touchdown toss to Steve Johnson, is fine, Brooks said.
The Cats will need all the help they can get if they want to continue their winning ways.
Three of UK's remaining five opponents are in the BCS Top 25: No. 15 Florida, No. 20 Georgia and No. 21 Tennessee.
"We're definitely in the race right now, but obviously we have a lot more SEC football to go," Woodson said Saturday night. "If we can just continue to take care of the football, have the defense continue to play the way they've been playing, I think we have a great shot at getting to the (SEC) title, but there's a lot more season to go."
Still, it's shaping up as a historic one for the Cats.
UK already is bowl-eligible, and its appearance in the BCS standings is a program first.
The BCS standings use a mathematical formula based on three components -- the Harris Interactive poll, the USA Today coaches' poll and an average of six computer rankings -- to determine the teams in the BCS bowl games, including the BCS National Title Game.
UK is No. 11 in the Harris Interactive poll, No. 13 in the coaches' poll, and No. 4 in the computer average. But Brooks said a higher profile shouldn't mean higher expectations.
"Our expectations internally have always been very high for this season. We felt like we could compete for the SEC East championship going into the year," Brooks said. "We are in position, but we have a very small margin of error. Every team that's in the competition has a small margin of error."

Suddenly, Cats are contenders

[Quality88]

If they beat the gators Sat, they have a shot. I'm not thinkin BCS yet... to far off, to many obstacles to get by first.....

Thoughts anyone?

[Lefty Noob]

Originally Posted by Quality88

If they beat the gators Sat, they have a shot. I'm not thinkin BCS yet... to far off, to many obstacles to get by first.....

Thoughts anyone?

Wow, hard to say. Anything's possible when you've got a difference maker like Woodson. A win over Florida and this is a top five team, I'd wager.