Kentucky Wildcats Morning Quickies: Living In a Football World Edition

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, and welcome to the Tuesday Morning Quickies. Also, welcome to Kentucky, the football school.

You know you have arrived when the Gray Lady starts including you in their sports commentary section, especially if your team is in flyover country like Kentucky.

But let’s not get carried away. Kentucky did not look good winning the game on Saturday (note — I just watched it last night, I was at Western’s homecoming this weekend). As improbable and spectacular as the victory was, however, it’s drama could become a trivia question now that it sets up an opportunity for UK to participate in its first ever SEC Championship game.

It will take much better offensive execution to win against the Bulldogs than we saw Saturday, and even though Terry Wilson looked anything but great against Mizzou, Gunnar Hoak is definitely not ready to step into his shoes if his three series against the Tigers are any indication. He was indecisive, inaccurate, and ineffective. He also demonstrated the lack of athleticism that it’s hard to be without once you have it. Wilson has that in spades.

Not that Wilson was great, but that final drive was a solid piece of work, and that final walk-off throw a thing of beauty. Hopefully, that will give him the confidence he seems to be struggling with. To be fair, he had several on-target throws dropped that might’ve made the game a little less dramatic had they been hauled in.

Well, I’m going to enjoy this week, no matter what the outcome of the actual ball game. If you had told me we’d be 7-1 coming into the Georgia game, I might’ve believed you given our schedule. But if you asked me if I’d take 7-2 after Georgia, I’d have said, “Hell yes!”

But 8-1 sounds so much better, doesn’t it?

Tweet of the Morning

Well, Kentucky being an underdog versus just about any SEC team not named Vanderbilt isn’t exactly earth-shattering.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky football

• Kentucky not shying away from the Georgia game hype. Great. After all, they haven’t had many opportunities to do anything with “hype” in football. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.
• Mark Stoops got a little carried away after Saturday’s dramatic walk-off victory, and he’s feeling it a little more these days.
• Georgia’s not trash-talking Kentucky, at least not yet. They say they aren’t surprised UK is playing for an SEC East title.
• Georgia knows what’s at stake vs. Kentucky.
• Alabama running back (and former UK recruit) Damien Harris on whether Nick Saban would crowd surf:

• The wages of losing in the SEC is… criticism. So it is with Missou.
• Mark Stoops talks about the final play vs. Missouri:

• Kirby Smart expects four-quarter game from Kentucky.
• Is Mark Stoops having too much success to keep?
• Updated bowl projections for UK football.
• Kentucky-Georgia preview.

Kentucky basketball

• Coach Cal says he’ll body surf like Mark Stoops if the Wildcats win another NCAA Tournament title.
• Top combo-guard prospect Cole Anthony has his top six, and Kentucky is not among them.
• Mark Story says a Kentucky college basketball season unlike any other is coming.
• The Duke Basketball Report notices this article at A Sea of Blue and responds with its own. This season is going to be epic, and it’ll begin with an epic start.

Other Kentucky sports

• JJ Williams named C-USA co-offensive player of the week in soccer.
• Softball releases 2019 schedule.

Links posts

• The Leach Report: Tuesday Wildcat Links

College football

• Petrino says his record has earned him more time at Louisville. Heh, this couldn’t be happening to a nicer guy.
• Heh. Louisville without Lamar Jackson looks like the Atlanta Falcons when Petrino was coach after Michael Vick was convicted for bankrolling dogfighting.
• Urban Meyer’s future is… murky.

College basketball

• Michael McCann talks about how the convictions of last week in the basketball corruption trial affect the legal strategies of those next on the dock.
• Bill Self should be suspended if Kansas is serious about following the rules, according to Michael Rosenberg.
• As widely expected after he decommitted from Kentucky, Penny Hardaway has landed DJ Jeffries.
• UK is nowhere to be found on the College Football Empires map.
• What we can learn from Duke’s embrace of the “One and done.” Really, we are just getting around to this?
• Tiering up the leaders for the 2019 NCAA Tournament title.

Other sports news

• Kevin Knox is about to return from injury.
• Rick Pitino wants to coach in the NBA again. Whatever, dude. Why don’t you decently retire before something else goes wrong?

Other news

• SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy should be carrying a government payload in early 2019.
• The Hubble Space Telescope has returned to service after a successful reboot of a balky gyroscope.
• Acoustic tractor beams? Yes, they are a thing.