By Joshua Huff

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The SEC East had a rough go of it this Saturday. With no teams separating themselves from the mediocre pack that exists within in the SEC East, an uninspired division could dilute the progress of UK football.

Missouri lost to an average Indiana University team that lost to Bowling Green last week. South Carolina barely beat a Vanderbilt team whose only win came from the University of Massachusetts. Florida held its own against No. 2 Alabama through one half until the Gators’ secondary flopped and Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper and quarterback Blake Sims took flight.

We’re at a point in the season where the rumbles are slowly beginning to turn into shouts. South Carolina is not a pretty football team and is not the contender they were expected to be during the preseason. Georgia, as expected, rolled over Troy and is in the conversation to win the SEC East, though the Bulldogs lost to the Gamecocks in Columbia, S.C.

Yet doing more shouting than rumbling these days are the teams within the SEC West, specifically  Arkansas and Mississippi State.

Mississippi State strolled into Death Valley and upended LSU. It’s the first win for Mississippi State against a ranked opponent since 1986. Quarterback Dak Prescott is a true Heisman contender and the predictions that UK will shake its SEC win drought against the Bulldogs are looking laughable at best.

Arkansas won Saturday behind 215 passing yards and 212 rushing yards. The Hogs were 10 of 14 on third downs without any turnovers. Arkansas is a dangerous team right now, and with a clash against Texas A&M next weekend, the SEC West may be in for a power shakeup.

So how does the play of the SEC West play into UK football?

As everybody knows, the Cats play in the SEC East. UK lost to SEC East division opponent Florida last week, which proceeded to get destroyed by Alabama, a team from the SEC West.

The SEC West at this point in the season has lost just two games, and those losses come from teams within the SEC West.

It means UK plays in a division that is diluting the best conference in the country. The SEC West could possibly have every team within the division in the Top 25 come next weekend’s end. Yet the SEC East has no identity. We could hypothetically have an SEC East that does not have a standout team until the waning weeks of the college football season.

That does not bode well for the Cats. Regardless of how well UK does this season, bowl game or not, the expectations of teams in the SEC East are low. UK can have a four-game improvement from last year, but the talent discrepancy in the SEC West will dilute any improvement UK has. People will shrug off the Cats as a team who has improved in a weak division.