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Good morning BBN, these are your Thursday Wildcat quickies. Today marks the start of college football officially returning! Today, we don't have to settle for a not very competitive game in Australia, but instead we get a bunch of games in this continent. There will be a total of 16 games today, including an SEC matchup between South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
We're of course still waiting for Kentucky to kickoff on Saturday night against Southern Miss, a much-anticipated reunion between the Cats and Shannon Dawson, as well as some of the best teams in the country all going at it in the very first week.
Tweet of the day
You guys, there's 5 straight days of college football starting tomorrow.
— ESPN CollegeFootball (@ESPNCFB) September 1, 2016
In the words of the great Bart Scott, "can't wait."
Your quickies
SAAC Leading Donation Drive for Louisiana Flood Victims - UK Wildcats News
The University of Kentucky’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) has organized a drive for supplies to assist victims of historic flooding this August in southern Louisiana.
Shannon Dawson will feel the pressure, too - Lexington Herald-Leader
Inheriting a high-scoring attack from a season ago, the pressure will be on new Southern Miss offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson, who starts out the 2016 season facing the coach who fired him last year.
How Kentucky Beats Southern Miss - Kentucky Sports Radio
Freddie Maggard has already stated that Southern Miss is better than South Carolina and Missouri. Be sure to read his preview of how the Cats come out on top this Saturday.
Top football prospect set to visit UK for sixth time " UK recruiting blog
ESPN ranks Alex Reigelsperger as the No. 156 overall prospect nationally in the class of 2018. He's visiting this weekend.
Kentucky reaches out to 2017 PG Nick Weatherspoon - HoopSeen
"Coach Payne was just talking to me about the program and how the program goes, and how I could fit with them," Weatherspoon told Garrett Tucker of HoopSeen.com. "He wants to build a relationship with me."
SEC to implement collaborative instant replay - SEC Sports
The SEC is set to implement a collaborative process for instant replay in the sport of football beginning Thursday night. The SEC Video Center will be staffed each week by three collaborative replay officials who will communicate with the in-stadium replay official to determine results of official reviews. In addition, there will be individual technicians assigned to monitor each game in the Video Center.
LSU Tigers coach Les Miles survives uncertainty to face Wisconsin Badgers - ESPN
After nearly being ousted last season, LSU coach Les Miles navigated a turbulent offseason in Baton Rouge during a summer of violence and flooding.
Other sports news
AFC West primer: Broncos will take their lumps - NFL.com. Trevor Siemian is the Broncos' starter -- for now. How long will he hold off Paxton Lynch? And will it matter after Alex Smith has a career year in K.C.? Chris Wesseling previews the AFC West.
NFL clears James Harrison, Clay Matthews, Julius Peppers of Al-Jazeera PED allegations - ESPN
In concluding an investigation into PED allegations by Al-Jazeera, the NFL cleared James Harrison, Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers of wrongdoing.
2016 NFL award predictions: MVP, Rookie of the Year and more - NFL.com
Who's poised to add some hardware to the mantel this season? Our analysts provide their picks for all of the major individual awards, with Khalil Mack, Russell Wilson and Ezekiel Elliott getting love.
NFL thrives after a decade under Goodell - Portland Press Herald. Perhaps Goodell isn't as bad as everyone makes him out to be?
The Big 12 has ruled some teams out in its expansion process - Fox Sports. East Carolina, UNLV and New Mexico are now out of the conversation.
The US Open closed the new retractable roof for the first time ever during a match - ESPN. The roof cost $150 million, so I imagine the tournament organizers were dying to use it.
An NFL executive called Colin Kaepernick a traitor - CBS. "I don't want him anywhere near my team," one executive told Bleacher Report.
Other news
Walmart has named its 25 hottest toys for the holidays - USA Today.
68 million Dropbox accounts hacked - Tech Times. If you have a Dropbox account with anything significant on it, you should probably change your password.