Top 5 Reasons To Be Thankful The Kentucky/Mississippi State Rivalry Is Still Alive

Today the SEC meetings wrapped up in Tampa and biggest piece of news was that there was in fact no news. Despite several talking points being on the table earlier this week the league decided they were fine with the way things are. So no 9-game league schedule, no big announcements of expansion, and no change from the 6-1-1 schedule. Which is all great news for Cats fans. With no impending changes coming to the schedule until probably 2016 there are lots of reasons to be thankful the 6-1-1 schedule is sticking around. Here are my top 5 reasons to rejoice that the yearly battle of Cats Vs. Dawgs is still alive: 5. It Isn't Like Basketball Conference expansion crushed the SEC basketball schedule. Where the was once consistency and divisions now lies a confusing mix-up of teams which can really impact your RPI. I enjoyed the days when you knew you were going to play all of the east teams home and away while rotating with the West. In a few years the same thing could happen in football as there would be no reason to have divisions except for determining who's playing the the conference championship. Hopefully football can avoid ending up like basketball. 4.We Still Get to Play Louisville As long as we're still playing 8-SEC games the greatest rivalry in sports is going to be alive and well on the gridiron. This is great news for fans on both sides of the ball. For Louisville it offers a chance to pick up a resume building win over an SEC opponent, especially in years like this one where Kentucky is the best team on their weak schedule. For the Cats they get a BCS level opponent and a team they have been competitive with historically. For the fans it offers bragging rights all over the state and another game within our own state. The Louisville game being on the schedule is great especially since.... 3.  It isn't One Of The Other West Teams If there is one team you want to play in the West it's Mississippi State. While the Bulldogs haven't been terrible in recent years they haven't been the BCS juggernauts that Alabama, LSU, Auburn, and Arkansas have been over the past 5 years. As long as  we are avoiding having to play those teams every year then Kentucky is coming out ahead. Especially as Stoops is trying to get this program off the ground. 2. Perfect For Rebuilding Miss St is a great opponent for the here and now as the landscape of the SEC could be very different in three years. Nick Saban will be heading into his mid sixties and getting closer to retirement. Johnny Football will be leaving A&M to live it up with Marshall Henderson. Les Miles will be cultivating his grass farm somewhere. After Stoops has built Kentucky into the program he envisions we should be ready to schedule those teams. However for right now Miss State provides a team Kentucky can challenge every year, perhaps as soon as this season. 1. We Can Beat Them Now To build a program you need to things. Wins and players. Stoops has already demonstrated a knack for getting talent now they just need to go out this year and notch some Ws.  Any SEC wins for Stoops in his first year would be nice after getting blanked last season and Miss St could be the team to beat. While it would be a hard win on the road it's still against a team that lost 7 of their last eight to end 2012 and one that only beat us by 13. (A major win for last season) As long as Miss State is on the schedule Cat fans should be excited. Do you agree? Do you like facing off with Miss St every year or would you rather see another teams from the West cycle in? Keep the SEC at 8 games.