What Kentucky football’s win over Southern Miss means with SEC competition looming

Kentucky football opened the 2024 season with a 31-0 win against Southern Miss. A lightning-shortened victory over a team that won just three games a year ago might not tell us much about Mark Stoops’ Wildcats, but we will not have to wait long to learn more with the SEC opener against South Carolina set for next week.

Here is a closer look at what the win means beyond the scoreboard.

The opener hasn’t told us much recently

UK has now won its first game in seven of the last eight seasons with the lone exception being the 2020 season when the SEC played only conference games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kentucky has made a bowl in each of those seasons, but the opening performances haven’t necessarily signaled whether a truly special season was coming.

In 2018, the Wildcats slogged their way through a 35-20 opening win over a bad Central Michigan team but still went on to the program’s first 10-win season since 1977. The other 10-win season of the Stoops era in 2021 started with a dominant 45-10 win over Louisiana Monroe.

The last two seasons saw UK open with wins of at least three touchdowns over Group of Five conference teams, but the Wildcats finished the year with disappointing 7-6 records.

While the margin of victory might not say much, getting a win was still an essential step in keeping the door open for a special season. A disastrous start like the 2016 season-opening loss to Southern Miss would have immediately torched any dreams of contending for the 12-team playoff and could have ruined fan interest before September even started.

Taking care of business out of conference

Kentucky has now won 17 consecutive nonconference regular season games. That streak has been key to Stoops’ program reaching eight consecutive bowl games and will be even more important in the new-look SEC.

With the SEC abandoning its two-division format this season, Kentucky can no longer rely on matchups against the old East Division every year. This season, UK essentially traded games against Arkansas, Mississippi State and Missouri for Auburn, Ole Miss and Texas due to the schedule format change. In future years, Kentucky might have to play juggernauts like Alabama, LSU, Texas and Oklahoma all in the same season.

If the SEC elects to stay at an eight-game conference schedule, sweeping the three nonconference games against non-Power Four competition will be essential to keeping the bowl streak alive. If the SEC moves to a nine-game conference schedule, winning nonconference games becomes even more important.

Beating Southern Miss may not say anything about where Kentucky’s season goes from here, but it at least avoids the worst-case scenario.

SEC tests coming

Unlike a year ago when Kentucky jumped out to a 5-0 record without beating a single team that finished the year with a winning record, this schedule sets up in a way where it won’t take long to learn whether the current Wildcats are legitimate.

UK opens SEC play next week against South Carolina in a game that will be televised on ABC. South Carolina was picked to finish 13th in the SEC in the league’s preseason media poll but has beaten Kentucky in each of the last two seasons. That looks like a must-win game if Kentucky is to best its seven-win total from the last two years.

After South Carolina, No. 1 Georgia travels to Kroger Field for another ABC broadcast. A loss to Georgia would not derail Kentucky’s season, but a blowout would add questions about what the Wildcats can do against the rest of the schedule.

South Carolina trailed Old Dominion in the fourth quarter of its opener before salvaging a 23-19 win. Georgia opened the season with a 34-3 blowout of No. 14 Clemson.

Final statistics from Kentucky football’s lightning-shortened 31-0 win over Southern Miss

UK football season opener called in third quarter after multiple weather delays

Watch: Kentucky football quarterback Brock Vandagriff throws first TD pass with Wildcats