[Quality88]

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- There have been historic wins. There have been memorable moments.
But as the University of Kentucky football team prepares to take on Tennessee on Saturday, the talk is less about savoring this season than salvaging it.
A UK team that started 5-0, that was 6-1 after an upset of then-No. 1 Louisiana State and was ranked as high as No. 8 in The Associated Press poll now faces the possibility of a sour finish to what had been a sweet season.
"We have let the season slip out of our hands," linebacker Braxton Kelley said yesterday. "We had it right there in our grasp to take for ours and have a great season. Right now, we can only settle for a good season, and that's only if we win this game. If we lose this game, I say the season's down the drain. We haven't done much of anything."
Beating Tennessee would be something.
The Wildcats (7-4, 3-4 Southeastern Conference) have lost 22 straight against the Volunteers, the longest active losing streak in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision by one team against another.
If UK can snap that streak, it also would knock the Volunteers (8-3, 5-2) out of the SEC Championship Game. A UK loss this weekend makes Tennessee the Eastern Division representative. A UK win puts Georgia in the title tilt against LSU.
"It would make (a win) a lot sweeter," defensive tackle Corey Peters said. "A lot sweeter."
That's not UK's only motivation headed into Saturday's game at Commonwealth Stadium.
Sixteen seniors will play their final home game, including quarterback Andre' Woodson, wide receivers Keenan Burton and Steve Johnson, tailback Rafael Little, tight end Jacob Tamme and linebacker Wesley Woodyard, all key players in UK's recent success.
Those players have anchored a team that already has clinched its second consecutive winning season for the first time since 1983 and '84.
"I'd like to obviously see them leave on a very, very positive note because they have meant so much and given so much to Kentucky football," coach Rich Brooks said at his weekly news conference. "This senior group is special, and I don't think we can (let) the disappointments in the last three or four games tarnish that at all."
For the Cats, though, that stretch has taken some shine off the season.
UK started the season with a bang, scoring at least 40 points in their first five games, including a 40-34 upset of the then-No. 9 University of Louisville. LSU became the Cats' second top-10 victim four weeks later.
But a 45-37 loss to Florida led UK to an "emotional hangover," Brooks said yesterday, and two weeks later, Mississippi State stunned the Cats 31-14 at Commonwealth.
A 27-20 win against Vanderbilt followed, but UK's offense sputtered in a 24-13 loss at Georgia last weekend.
After that game, Woodson said it felt like the season his team had worked so hard for was "going down the drain."
"Am I disappointed? Yeah, I'm disappointed based on where we were five weeks ago," Brooks said. "I think we've let a few (games) slip away here that we were in a position to get and we didn't get."
Still, the Cats have a chance to improve on last season's 7-5 regular-season record. And UK still is in contention for high-profile bowl games, including the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Fla., and the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta.
"I don't think it's a bad season at all," Burton said. "… Does one game salvage your season? You really never know. But I think if we beat Tennessee, a lot of people's attitudes will be changed around here."
In some ways, attitudes already have changed.
Brooks smiled when he considered the disappointment his team is feeling during a season in which it has beaten two top-10 teams, knocked off a No. 1 team for the first time since 1964 and will enter the final Saturday of the regular season with a chance to determine the SEC East champion.
"It's a great sign that we're disappointed at this point with where we're finishing in the SEC East based on where we were a month ago," Brooks said. "That's a great sign."

Cats want to finish season right way

[Quality88]

It could have been alot better of a season, but, hell this is Kentucky, we are happy as hell with what they have done this year.