Last season, Kentucky closed the year on a six-game losing skid that cost the Wildcats their first bowl berth of the Mark Stoops era. They’ll have to be better against the rest of the SEC in 2015 to avoid a similar fate.

Kentucky won two of its first three conference games in 2014 against Vanderbilt and South Carolina, two teams that combined to finish 10-15 after last season, then proceeded to lose five straight SEC contests by double figures to spoil a 5-1 record at the midpoint of the year.

The SEC won’t be any kinder to Kentucky this year, but with the East Division falling behind the West the door is open for Kentucky to make a move in the conference standings.

Did the Cats learn any new tricks from last season’s free fall? Can Mark Stoops lead his team over the six-win hump? Those questions will be answered this fall in these five winnable SEC games on UK’s schedule:

1. Vanderbilt (Week 11): The Commodores lost their first seven SEC games last year by double figures, and finished the season 0-8 in the conference and 3-9 overall. Vandy has since changed coordinators on both sides of the ball, and it still lacks a proven commodity at quarterback. Derek Mason’s bunch won’t likely be as bad as they were a year ago, but it’s unlikely they’ll improve fast enough to close the gap with the rest of the SEC in 2015. There’s no such thing as an easy SEC win, but if UK can’t win this game it’s tough to picture Big Blue Nation bowling at season’s end.

2. Florida (Week 3): After last year’s triple-overtime thriller in the Swamp, Kentucky has to feel as though its on the cusp of finally snapping its 28-game skid against the Gators. Kentucky may enter the game with more experience at quarterback if Patrick Towles is named the starter again this fall, and UK will certainly have a better grasp of its Air Raid offense than Florida will have of Jim McElwain’s new system, especially in a game so early in the season. A stout Florida secondary may throw a wrench into that Air Raid offense, but Florida is still a team in transition. If there was ever a year for UK to take advantage, it’s this one.

3. at South Carolina (Week 2): Last year’s 7-6 regression has SEC fans wondering whether it was a brief dip for Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks after three straight 11-win seasons, or if it might signal the beginning of the end for the Head Ball Coach. UK will have plenty of say in whether South Carolina is still a prominent program or not when the two face in Week 2. Like Florida, South Carolina will be debuting a new starting quarterback, and UK will serve as that quarterback’s first career SEC opponent. Kentucky’s aggressive, blitz-prone defense may have a field day with the matchup. On the other side of the ball, South Carolina restocked last year’s pathetic defensive line, but if that talent can’t come together that quickly and that early in the season, Kentucky may torch the Cocks with the ground game again, led by Boom Williams and Jojo Kemp.

4. Missouri (Week 4): Tigers fans have every right to be furious with their team’s spot on this list. After all, Missouri is the two-time defending East champ and yet is rarely treated as such, with this serving as yet another example of that. But the Tigers quarterback, Maty Mauk, remains too turnover prone in his third year as a starter. He threw 13 picks last year, the second-most in the SEC, and he’s since lost his top-three wideouts and all-purpose back Marcus Murphy. If Kentucky can force a couple of turnovers in this game it absolutely has a chance to secure an upset win.