Ira D. Combs Syndicated Columnist
Tri State Sports Media Service Inc.

A much healthier UK football team than in recent weeks with fresh legs finished off a pesky Vanderbilt team with a very impressive second half last Saturday in Music City, Tennessee 24-13. Mainly because the Cats offensive and defensive lines manhandled Vanderbilt after intermission and it didn't hurt UK's fortunes when the Commodore quarterback threw aimless blanks almost every time he cocked his arm.

Now the Cats are officially bowl eligible but I'm afraid that's not enough in this new era of UK football. Big Blue Nation wants more and in this particular year it may need more.

Problem is, 11 of the 12 SEC teams mathematically can still achieve the 6 win plateau for bowl eligibility.

The SEC has 8 bowl affiliations this year (other than the BCS) to place their teams that qualify for post season play: Capital One Bowl/Orlando - Outback Bowl/Tampa - Cotton Bowl/Dallas - Chick Fil-A Bowl/Atlanta - Music City Bowl/Nashville - Liberty Bowl/Memphis - Independence Bowl/Shreveport - PapaJohns.com Bowl/Birmingham.

In my eyes, the best case scenario for UK is for two SEC teams to qualify for a BCS bowl and for Mississippi State to lose to either Arkansas this Saturday or Ole Miss in the annual Egg Bowl. If that unfolds then UK already has qualified no matter what happens the next two Saturdays, otherwise the Cats may need to knock off either the Dogs or Vols.

With this new turn of events, once again the stage is set with another opportunity for UK football to take that much anticipated step up the post season bowl ladder and into the mid to upper echelon portion of college football's most respected conference.

Up next for Rich Brooks and his newly energized Wildcat football team is the last road trip of the SEC schedule this Saturday in Athens, Georgia (7:45 ESPN2) where college football's most famous mascot "UGA" roams down between the hedges on ground just as sacred to Georgia football brethren as Rupp Arena is to Big Blue Nation. After that, Brooks and the gridiron Cats wind up the regular season entertaining college football's most homely looking mascot, "Smokey." The UT hound's favorite team in recent years has been "all bark and no bite" except during late hours around Knoxville at 7/11 convenient stores, anyway.

As the coaches say, I'll take the last two games one at a time and leave my remarks about the Vols and their new jack-of-all-trade hires, Lane Kiffin, for next week's column.

Never thought I'd be insane enough to predict UK would beat Georgia in Athens but, hey, if Appy State can beat Michigan in the Big House and Gardner Webb can beat UK in Rupp Arena, why not? Now, with sarcasm omitted and on a more realistic point of view, here are a few notes of interest that you may have conveniently forgotten about that I took into consideration:

#1 - Did you realize that the last three years UK has played Georgia they have either beaten them or had the lead entering the 4th quarter? That's not a one game fluke folks, that's an apparent indication that UK is closing the gap on at least one of the Super Six of the SEC.

#2 - Randall Cobb, Derrick Locke, Corey Peters, and Micah Johnson have developed into solid leaders and play makers on their respective sides of the ball in the same mold as Andre Woodson, Keenan Burton, and Wesley Woodyard were.

#3 - All those Georgia recruits (Trevard Lindley - Sam Maxwell - Randall Burden - Shane McCord - Matt Roark) on UK's roster that Mark Richt........Big Timed.......... in the recruiting process know this is as good an opportunity as ever to steal a win from the Dogs right in their backyard.

#4 - The three reasons UK didn't beat Georgia in all three of those earlier mentioned games were Matt Stafford, Knowshon Moreno, and A.C. Green. Stafford and Moreno are in the NFL now and Green left the Auburn game with a shoulder injury last Saturday and reportedly is out for several weeks.

#5 - Morgan Newton is ready for Joker Phillips to open up the passing game (tipped balls at the line are not the QB's fault) along with Chris Matthews, Randall Cobb, and LaRod King. All three are quality receivers in my eyes regardless of what the pigskin gurus think, but you have to throw the ball to them.

Let's not play fools gold here folks, it will be difficult to win in Athens because Georgia still has a better quality of a football player at most positions on each side of the ball, I'm just trying to bring out some points that reflect UK actually is making a move up the ladder in this particular series with one of those elite teams.

It's been proven on more than a couple occasions over the last four years that Georgia is the classic underachiever in the SEC while Brooks is becoming known as the classic overachiever with only a few 4 star marbles in his ring.

In closing, it also appears to me that this could be the classic trap game for Georgia coming off a hard fought come from behind game with arch rival Auburn and waiting in the wings on Thanksgiving weekend is the annual battle with the Ramblin Wreck of Georgia Tech.

If my crystal ball turns out to be accurate, look out Vols you'll see a Commonwealth Stadium unlike any in the past.

Cats - 27 Dogs - 23

SEC Officials Show True Colors

My concerns in recent years about officiating in the SEC, especially in football and men's basketball have been well documented in this column.

Now I must turn the tables on the conference office and those in charge of this department.

Last Saturday the officiating crew for the UK-Vandy game was the same crew that blatantly blew several calls earlier in this season which in turn forced the conference office to take a stand (finally) and suspend the entire crew for two weeks. I have no problem with those same officials having an opportunity to redeem themselves and establish their credibility once again in the SEC.

But why stick them in a conference game that is so important to at least one conference school and the bowl pecking order for the entire conference when you have Troy at Arkansas & La. Tech at LSU to send them to earn their stripes back.

I'll tell you why, because that's just the way the SEC office still sees UK and Vandy and always will.

Can't you just see the good ole boy network setting around the table down in Birmingham saying where can we send this crew guys...oh look here Kentucky and Vandy plays each other this week...let's send them there, they can't screw up much and if they do who cares?

Perception is reality and sometimes more to people who should know better than just a common fan.

Go to www.combsbrothersonkysports.com for more coverage of the Kentucky Wildcats and KHSAA sports.