Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, and welcome to the Tuesday Morning Quickies.
The Kentucky football team is 5-1, one game away from bowl eligibility with virtually every remaining game on the schedule (with the possible exception of the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens) looking like a game Kentucky can win, so bowl eligibility looks almost like a foregone conclusion absent a total collapse in the second half of the season. Kentucky’s sole loss by 1 point to Florida could easily have gone the other way, and Kentucky would be undefeated in six games.
Yet according to Mark Story at the Lexington Herald-Leader, the fans are exuding a collective “Meh:”
Given that this year is only the seventh time a University of Kentucky football team has begun a season 5-1 since the venue formerly known as Commonwealth Stadium opened in 1973, you might expect a little more electricity in the BBN.
So why isn’t there more excitement? Let’s explore some theories.
He goes on to postulate several possible explanations for this, including (I kid you not) not beating Florida. As a stand-alone justification, that seems absurd. But if such apathy does actually exist anywhere except in the imagination of Story, I suspect it’s because of all of the above.
Personally, I’m thrilled by the 5-1 start and have enjoyed every game (except maybe for the last ten minutes of that single loss). Kentucky has obviously come a long way to get this good, and even though there have been disappointments (I’m looking at you, offensive line and defensive backfield), the reality is that, as a team, this group has been the best we’ve seen in Lexington in years.
How many years have UK fans suffered through where they were the team with the high turnover ratio who couldn’t make a big play when they needed one? That’s just not the case this season. This team has delivered in the clutch, and when the going gets tough, found a way to bring home the win every time but a controversial single game.
That’s something to celebrate, and be proud of.
Tweet of the Morning
Last 9 games:
— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) October 8, 2017
Mark Stoops 7-2
Gus Malzahn 6-3
Butch Jones 6-3
Ed Orgeron 6-3
Derek Mason 5-4
Muschamp 5-4
Dan Mullen 5-4
Jim Harbaugh 5-4
Surprising? Maybe, but nice to see.
“I’m pissed at my team for being 5-1. Hold on, I have to go harass a high school kid about another high school kid changing his mind.”
— MarcTheWorst (@meisterbuerger) October 9, 2017
Heh.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
- To get more snaps, Lynn Bowden needs a clearer role. I think this is perceptive, and correct. Bowden has a very similar skillset to Randall Cobb, and I think that’s the right model for him. Stoops needs to show him some film of Cobb at Kentucky, and try to integrate him into a similar offensive role, both in the Wildcat, as a second thrower and receiver.
- Related: Lynn Bowden named SEC Freshman of the Week.
- Injury update from Mark Stoops. The Bye Week is coming at a really good time, and that’s just one more reason to believe this UK football team can be special, despite it’s narrow margins of victory.
- Assessing Kentucky football at the halfway point.
Kentucky basketball
- Uber-recruit and UK big-time target Zion Williamson talks about his recruitment to Evan Daniels. Consider:
What position do you see yourself?
I see myself as a point-forward. I can play the two through the four. It’s just whatever the team needs from me at that time. If they need me to play two, I’ll play two. If they need me to play three, I’ll play three. If they need me to play four, I’ll play four.
- Former UK target Romeo Langford talks about his recruitment. I’d be very surprised if he wound up anywhere but IU.
- What Coach Cal and UK basketball need from Hamidou Diallo. Consider:
“If you’re going to be that guy, you gotta lead,” Calipari said. “And leading means you gotta serve them. I’ve talked to Hami about that. I said, ‘Man, you can’t go off in your room and put your headphones on. These guys gotta know you are there for them. They gotta know it. They gotta know you’re not just here to do your thing. You cannot lead if that’s who you are. And when your stuff goes south, no one is going to help you if you’re that way. If you want to lead, everyone here is going to be about you. That means they got to know, Hami is for me.’”
- John Calipari would love to sit down and talk to Donald Trump. Interesting. Calipari has done a great job of keeping his politics mostly divorced from his public persona, and I admire that about him.
- Kentucky basketball pro day reveals the measurements for the 2017-18 Wildcats, and they are impressive. Jermarl Baker has seemingly grown an inch, and his wingspan is surprising.
- Related: Takeaways from Pro Day.
- Quade Green is “better than I thought” according to Coach Cal.
Other Kentucky sports
- The Bat Cats will be playing their final season in Cliff Hagen stadium. At last. It is so past time for a better facility for what is becoming an outstanding programs.
- Related: Baseball releases 2018 schedule.
- For the third week in a row, UK volleyball takes home at least one SEC honor. This week, Leah Edmond wins Player of the Week and Madison Lilley won Setter of the Week, her fourth.
Links posts
- The Leach Report: Tuesday Wildcat Links
College football
- Oregon State and head coach Gary Andersen agree to part ways.
- Georgia is moving on up in CBS Sports 130, sitting now at #3. Kentucky currently sits at #42, which I think is just a bit low. Probably mid-30’s is right.
College basketball
- No ESPN 24-hour basketball marathon on ESPN this year. Frankly, I never cared for it, there’s plenty of college basketball on all the time, it seems.
- 5-star Arizona recruit lawyers up.
- Andy Kennedy likes his Ole Miss team, and doesn’t mind flying under the radar. Kennedy has done a fine job in a tough place, and I don’t expect that to stop.
Other sports news
- Not too surprising, but he’s not done yet:
Derek Willis has been waived by the Detroit Pistons. He will play for the team's G League team in Grand Rapids
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) October 10, 2017
- Former football great and Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle has died. Rest in peace, he lived 90 good years.
Other news
- Proxima Centauri, our closest stellar neighbor, may have been captured by Alpha Centauri A and B’s gravitation.
- Could this be the missing piece that explains the mysterious EM Drive?
- NASA is running out of Pu-238, critical to long-range space probes. The reason is that this isotope was mostly made for the cold war, now decades in the rear-view mirror.