The weekend is approaching quickly and it's shaping up to be one of the best college football weekends ever.

Saturday's Big Games...
#11 Michigan v. #2 Notre Dame
#6 LSU v. #3 Auburn
#19 Nebraska v. #4 USC
#7 Florida v. #13 Tennessee
#17 Miami (FL) v. #12 Louisville

etc. etc.

This is the weekend that will separate the men from the boys in college football. Dreams of a national championship will be lost this weekend; you can't win a NC with a loss anymore in college football.

Just as the teams at the top will be defining themselves with a win or loss, so will Kentucky in their game against Ole Miss. Two teams both struggling to bring themselves up from the bottom of the SEC will need a win to do anything the rest of this season.

Ole Miss hasn't been the same since Eli Manning left... Kentucky hasn't been the same since Bear Bryant left...

No one needs to ask Rich Brooks how big this game is; he knows how big it is. Everyone knows how big this game is. Every game is big for Kentucky this season. If it isn't this game, it's next game, or the next one. Every word, every movement, every play, every substitution, every win, and every loss will be talked about and analyzed by every media outlet and every UK fan.

The way I see it, there's 3 groups of teams in the SEC:
You have the teams at the top - LSU, Auburn, Florida, Georgia
The teams in the middle - Tennessee, S. Carolina, Alabama, and Arkansas
and the teams on the bottom - Miss State, Ole Miss, Vandy, and Kentucky

Keep in mind that this rotates all the time but this is how I see things this year. Here's the catch though. A win against Ole Miss would be crucial for the Cats to step up into the middle of the pack in the SEC. I'm not saying that they would be able to jump right to the top, but they'd be a lot closer than they were before.

That's what the Cats need to strive for this year. I'd like to see them do well but I understand it's a process. They NEED to strive to be in the middle of the pack before they get to the top of the pack. What do I consider to be the middle of the pack? Well, there are some qualifications that I think teams need to have to be there...
1. Team ____ needs to make it to a bowl game
2. If ______ does not make it to a bowl game they need an upset victory that kills the bowl chances/national championship for another team
3. Teams must play one tough out of conference game against a big team

Are there any other qualifications that you think need to be present for a team to be in the middle of the pack? Obviously the lead pack contends for BCS games and/or National Championship game, has heisman candidates, etc. How long do you think it will be before Kentucky reaches this middle of the pack status?

Of course, we're still looking for University of Kentucky bumper sticker slogans if you have them...