It's pretty clear for Kentucky

Kentucky's football team trudged off the turf in LSU's Tiger Stadium last Oct. 14, staring at a scoreboard that confirmed a 49-0 loss.

The Tigers played everyone but live mascot Mike the Tiger and 69-year-old LSU legend Billy Cannon in the fourth quarter to hold down the score.

At that point, Kentucky was 3-4 for the season and 12-29 since Rich Brooks took over as coach.

Fast forward to Monday. That's when Kentucky, after winning for the eighth time in the last nine games dating to that forgettable October evening in Baton Rouge, moved into the Top 25 for the first time in 22 years.

After the 40-34 win over then-No. 9 Louisville last Saturday, Kentucky (3-0) is ranked 21st in the Associated Press Top 25 and 23rd in the USA Today Coaches' poll. The Wildcats are the last SEC team to open conference play, doing so today at Arkansas.

"The thing we don't want to do is have it short-lived," Brooks said. "We have such a difficult schedule, and when you haven't been in (the polls) for a long time, the voters usually don't give you a grace period. If you lose, they throw you out with the dirty bath water."

So what has turned it around for the Wildcats?

For starters, there's the obvious improvement of quarterback Andre Woodson, a turnover machine two seasons ago who has been transformed into a first-round NFL draft choice. Much of the credit goes to second-year quarterbacks coach and former Tennessee offensive coordinator Randy Sanders.

"The kid worked his rear off," Sanders said. "The biggest thing I thought he needed to work on when I got here (Lexington) was where he had his eyes. I think he was trying to read too much of the field when he was throwing. You only have 2.5 to 3 seconds to get that done.

"We tried to simplify it a bit. I tried to limit all the excess mental parts of the game that I could, and just allow him to go out and play football."

Brooks also attributed Kentucky's turnaround to running game and defensive improvements.

"We started running the football better," Brooks said. "But the real difference is we started playing better defense. We had upper echelon SEC defensive efforts, got off the field more after third downs."

A Spurrier Shot: South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier voted his opponent this week, LSU, No. 1 in the coaches' poll. Spurrier said he told LSU coach Les Miles three years ago when he took the job that he "got the best job ever in college football" because of the Tigers' recent recruiting classes. One of the more popular early-season coaching scenarios has Spurrier switching jobs from South Carolina to LSU should Miles, a Michigan grad, leave LSU to replace Michigan's Lloyd Carr should Carr retire or be fired after this season. Spurrier poo-poos that notion, because he has a long memory.

"This is my college job right here," Spurrier said. "I got a lot more to worry about than Les Miles going to Michigan. Tell LSU they had a shot at me back in 1986 (when LSU stayed in-house and hired defensive coordinator Mike Archer to replace Bill Arnsparger). I didn't even get a second interview back then."

Burned in Mississippi: Florida plays at Ole Miss today, and Florida has lost its last three games in the Magnolia State. The Gators lost to Mississippi State in Starkville in 2000 (47-35) and in 2004 (38-31), the latter loss resulting in Florida announcing two days after the game that Gators' coach Ron Zook would be fired at the end of the year. Florida lost to Ole Miss in Oxford, 17-14, in 2002, in Zook's first year succeeding Spurrier. Florida coach Urban Meyer said he's aware of the Gators' dubious history in Mississippi and vowed to drive home that point all this week.

"(Co-defensive coordinator) Charlie Strong (who was receivers coach at Ole Miss in 1990) has talked to me quite often about that," Meyer said.

Redshirt A Romper: Georgia redshirt freshman tailback Knowshon Moreno is the SEC's sixth-leading rusher with 268 yards and one touchdown, averaging 89.3 yards per game. But despite the fact he has led the Bulldogs in rushing in all three games so far, senior Thomas Brown (139 yards, three TDs) will remain as Georgia's starter.

"I like the way it's going right now," Georgia coach Mark Richt said. "Thomas is our starter."

Some information from writers in other cities.