[Jarons]

Of course using the basketball team as an analogy means very little to me because SEC basketball and SEC football is totally different in terms of strength.
But since you used it Kentucky's non conference patsies. ETSU, Portland, Boston U., Miss. Valley St., Winthrop, Coppin St., and Penn. Now what major conference are those teams in just wondering. Now exactly powerhouses.

Of course we should go against the norm unlike the rest of our SEC who all play teams in the power conferences. Looking at 4 teams that usually are considered the powerhouses of Football in the SEC.

Auburn- Ark. State, La Monroe, Chattanooga, Clemson- 3 cupcakes
Alabama- San Jose St., Penn St., Duke, Georgia St- 3 cupcakes
Florida- Miami (Ohio), S. Florida, Fla. State, App St. -3 cupcakes
LSU- N. Carolina, WVU, McNeese St., La. Monroe- 2 cupcakes

LSU is the only team out of the 4 that played 2 good teams. Of course if they had not been asked to play in a prime time game to start the college football season they would have played another cupcake.

So I guess Kentucky should go against the norm to make the fan experience more appealing. You might not care about revenue but that extra home game allows Kentucky to pay for a few more scholarships for the non-revenue teams.

The point I was trying to make by using basketball is if the basketball team scheduled all cupcakes and went .500 or close to .500 in confernce and earned a 9 seed would people be excited?
UK football plays cupcakes to get to 6 wins and earn a lower tier bowl. People get excited. Why such the lower expectations for football? As a fan I want my team to be the best and play better competition. I am not talking a major upgrade. UK is good enough to play better teams than they play.