By the modern standards of Kentucky football, what UK achieved by defeating struggling Vanderbilt 34-17 in Nashville on Saturday evening is huge.
The victory means the Wildcats will finish the 2021 season with a winning mark (5-3) in Southeastern Conference games.
This year is only the ninth time that the Cats have won more SEC games than they lost — and the Cats began playing in the league in 1933.
For the second time in the past four seasons, UK (7-3, 5-3 SEC) has clinched second place in the SEC East.
The 2018 and 2021 UK teams are the only ones in school history to finish as high as second in the East — and the SEC split into divisions in 1992.
Yet if you survey UK fan opinion on internet message boards, social media sites or, from my experience, face-to-face, you will encounter a lot of ambivalence about the 2021 Kentucky football season.
The fact that UK Coach Mark Stoops has elevated Kentucky football to such an extent that there seems dissatisfaction at 7-3 is a tangible sign of program progress.
"I feel like we are setting new standards," UK senior defensive end Josh Paschal said after the Vandy win via a video-conferencing app. "That is what the fan base is holding us to. At the end of the day, that's what you want. You want to raise the standards each and every year."
In a sense, Kentucky's victory at Vandy was a fitting nutshell for the Wildcats' season: The result was positive but the manner in which it was achieved left some anxiety.
UK lit up Vanderbilt in the first half with a 31-3 rampage that was probably the Wildcats' best half of the season.
Kentucky's stars — Christopher Rodriguez; Wan'Dale Robinson; Paschal; Yusuf Corker — played like stars.
With quarterback Will Levis completing his first eight passes, the Kentucky offense scored on its first four drives, cashing in three touchdowns and a field goal.
Meanwhile, what had been a struggling UK defense kept Vandy out of the end zone and even contributed a touchdown of its own when safety Jalen Geiger took an interception 31 yards to the house.
Those who wondered if the three-game losing streak UK rode into Nashville after a 6-0 start had dulled the Wildcats' edge got an emphatic answer.
"It's been a long several weeks, for sure," Stoops said. "You can get beat up and beat down, mentally and physically, in (the SEC). (I) really appreciate our players bouncing back."
Yet, after playing a such a stellar first half, Kentucky appeared to let down after the break.
The UK offense failed to dent the end zone after halftime.
Vandy's insertion of dual-threat quarterback Mike Wright to replace ineffective pocket-passer Ken Seals ignited two long Commodores TD drives and allowed Vanderbilt to outscore UK 14-3 after halftime.
The second-half slog left the Kentucky defense frustrated.
"I feel like we kind of came out second half, kind of lost some energy," said Geiger, the sophomore safety. "(Not letting down with a big halftime lead) is hard, but it is something we shouldn't have let happen."
The second-half slog left the Kentucky offense frustrated.
"We came out in the second half with the game plan to just kind of put the nail in (Vandy's) coffin and choke them out," said UK's Levis. "(Putting games away is) an area we have not necessarily capitalized on all season. We had an opportunity to do that this game and it didn't come together for us. It is a little frustrating."
Dead ahead for Kentucky are two final non-league games to close out the season.
The Cats should handle New Mexico State (1-9), coached by early-1980s UK quarterback Doug Martin, next week in the home finale.
After that, Kentucky will seek to retain the Governor's Cup for a third straight game and fourth out of the last five when it travels west across I-64 to face intrastate archrival Louisville.
The outcome of that game looks far more uncertain than it did just a month ago when UK was unbeaten and U of L (5-5, 3-4) seemed beaten down by a series of excruciating, late-game defeats.
"It feels like forever since we got a win," Levis said. "Now, we need to get some more in the next couple of weeks."
When Kentucky started 6-0, UK backers saw the long-coveted "special season" within grasp.
The understandable loss at No. 1 Georgia, the disappointing "no-show" defeat at Mississippi State and yet another "rip your beating heart out of your chest" loss to Tennessee ended that dream.
Still, a victory over New Mexico State would give UK only its third eight-win regular season (1984, 2019) since 1977.
Victories over NMSU and U of L would give the Cats only their second nine-win regular-season (2018) since 1977.
That it is possible Kentucky could finish a season 9-3 and it be judged a somewhat unsatisfying outcome is the ultimate testament to the raised possibilities the Stoops era has brought to UK football.
