The Kentucky Wildcats may just be able to beat the Texas Longhorns in Week 13
By Sam Fariss
The Texas Longhorns have only suffered one loss so far this season. The Georgia Bulldogs stormed into DKR Stadium and upset the then-higher-ranked Horns in Week 8, handing Texas its first loss in the SEC. However, Texas has righted its ship and most recently blew past the Florida Gators.
On the other hand, No. 3 Georgia struggled against No. 16 Ole Miss and ended up losing to the Rebels, suffering their second loss of the year. Already this year, Georgia lost to Alabama and struggled against Kentucky as well as lackluster Mississippi State.
So, with Texas seemingly back on track and Georgia slightly derailed, are the Longhorns set to coast through the rest of their season? Not quite.
In math, there's a theory called the "transitive property of equality." Basically, if A equals B and B equals C, then A must also equal C.
With the loss to Georgia, Texas already lost some credit as one of the top teams in the nation. Not to mention, Georgia has now lost to Alabama and Ole Miss. And, a little over a month ago, the Ole Miss Rebels lost to the Kentucky Wildcats, who are still on Texas' remaining schedule.
If you applied the transitive property of equality to the SEC (yes, I know, combining football and math is a faux pas but stick with me), then Texas should technically be pretty worried about its game against the Wildcats.
Texas hosts Kentucky on Nov. 23 and the Wildcats aren't a team to scoff at. Kentucky kept pace with Georgia, beat Ole Miss, and had their good moments against Tennessee. The Wildcats have a solid defensive unit and head coach Mark Stoops is a brilliant play caller and clock manager.
Kentucky's ability to slow down the game and possibly get to Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers could amount to a larger problem for the Longhorns: their second loss of the year.
All of that being said, a two-loss SEC team will most likely make its way into the College Football Playoffs. Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss, Missouri, and Texas A&M all have two losses already. Texas and Tennessee have a loss each but still have to get through three games that aren't cakewalks.
Alabama beat LSU on Saturday so the Tigers are almost certainly out of the Playoff picture but what would happen if all of those teams ended up at 10-2 overall? Without divisions in the conference, it isn't exactly clear which teams would stand out above the rest.
Texas and Kentucky are scheduled to kick off from Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Nov. 23, it will either be an afternoon game or a primetime game because it is listed as a "FLEX" matchup.