Another week, another chance to make some SEC history for Kentucky’s Benny Snell. Snell, if you are keeping count, is tied for 11th in the league’s illustrious record book with 41 rushing touchdowns. But Saturday brings an opportunity for an even more elusive slice of SEC history.

Snell’s 868 yards this season leads SEC runners, and with another 132 (roughly equivalent to his average weekly output) he will crack the 1,000-yard mark for his third season as a college back. Despite not carrying the ball in his first two games as a freshman, Snell reached 1,091 yards in 2016. Last season, he increased that production to 1,333 yards.

When and if Snell cracks the 1,000-yard barrier, he’ll become only the sixth back in SEC history to amass three 1,000-yard seasons. The others? Georgia’s Herschel Walker and Nick Chubb, LSU’s Kevin Faulk and Arkansas’s Darren McFadden and Alex Collins.

It’s as well that Snell makes a run at the SEC’s record books because he’s nearing the final stages of demolishing Kentucky’s.

He broke UK’s career rushing touchdown mark last season as a sophomore. His current total of 41 touchdowns bests the mark held by former Wildcat Randall Cobb, who reached the end zone 37 times during his days in Lexington.

Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Snell’s career 3,292 rushing yards is third on the Kentucky list, 41 yards behind Moe Williams in second place. Wildcats leader Sonny Collins is still 543 yards away, but with five regular-season games remaining in Snell’s season, that figure is entirely within his reach.

The figures that would otherwise establish Snell’s dominance tend to be hidden stats. For instance, ProFootballFocus calculated that Snell had rushed for 897 yards after contact in 2016 and 2017. Of course, Snell has had a role in the most significant indicator of progress within his team. In the three seasons before Snell arrived in Lexington, UK was a combined 12-24. Since the first time the Wildcats handed the football to Snell, they’ve gone 20-11.

Which brings up another point: What could be better for Wildcats fans than three 1,000-yard seasons from Snell?

Well, yes, four 1,000-yard seasons.

It seems to be a forgone conclusion around the SEC that Snell will head to the NFL after this season. That said, Mark Stoops has built a culture in which Kentucky has remained competitive in the SEC race — and the Wildcats have featured several players who were potential NFL draft choices but elected to return to Lexington.

If Josh Allen, Mike Edwards and Jordan Jones elected to return to Kentucky, might Snell make the same choice?

As ever, this week will focus on first things first. Snell will try to add his name to that illustrious list of five and keep the Wildcats atop the SEC East standings along with the winner of Florida-Georgia … but forgive Big Blue Nation if they’re already hoping he might return in 2019 to try to start a new list with yet another big season.