Monday Quickies: Consensus Defensive Player of the Year Edition

Good morning Big Blue Nation!

Last night Josh Allen added yet another award to his list. He was the recipient of the Ronnie Lott IMPACT Award for defensive player of the year. That’s a clean sweep for Mr. Allen as he is now the consensus defensive player of the year.

I’ve stated this before but I don’t think we will truly appreciate how special Josh Allen was this season until we can all sit back and reflect upon it. How many key sacks did he have late for the Kentucky Wildcats? How many crucial turnovers did he force? How many times did he drop back into coverage to break up a potential touchdown or first down pass?

We will have one more game to appreciate his talents and effort here at UK.

Tweets of the Day

Allen is the most decorated Wildcat in the history of the program. Don’t forget all of the First Team All Defense awards he received as well. And he very well could be a top five draft pick.

Quickies

Cats bounced from CBS Top 25 | Cats Pause- After losing to Seton Hall, the Kentucky Wildcats will likely plumet in the AP Poll today and for good reason. I don’t think they’ll be out all together but it wouldn’t surprise me.

UK Hoops rallies then falls at Louisville | UK Athletics- Matthew Mitchell’s team fought tooth and nail but in the end, it wasn’t enough as they lost their first game of the season to the Cards. I have a feeling they’ll be back in the NCAA Tournament.

Vols beat the Zags | CBS- It’s looking more and more like the SEC will run through Knoxville this season. The Vols are for real and they just put everyone on notice by defeating the number one undefeated Zags, 76-73. Maybe Ben Howland was right and we should all feel stupid for laughing at him when he said Tennessee was far and away the favorites in the SEC.

Megan Calipari has a message for Kentucky fans | The Spun- John Calipari’s daughter took to twitter to tell the Big Blue Nation to stop sending her tweets if they are mad at her dad or the team. I agree 100%. It’s ok to be disappointed or upset after a loss, but don’t take it out on the coaches, the players, or their families. Instead, call me at 502-267-9680 on the UK postgame show and vent there!

Kentucky falls to 15 in SI Power Rankings | Sports Illustrated- Consider the following:

Kentucky: The Wildcats’ first game against a Power 5 opponent in more than a month didn’t work out in their favor. A half-court heave by Keldon Johnson sent Kentucky–Seton Hall to overtime, but UK came up just short at Madison Square Garden. The loss brings more questions about this Kentucky team, whose best win remains UNC Greensboro. The most striking stat right now is the Wildcats’ perimeter defense, where opponents are hitting 40% of their threes. That’s skewed a bit by some big-time performances, but it’s hard not to view it as a concerning trend. Kentucky will return to Rupp Arena for what should be a win against Utah, but after that, this team will enter sink-or-swim territory.

Miami Miracle downs the Pats | ESPN- In one of the craziest plays that you’ll ever see, the Miami Dolphins defeated the New England Patriots by running a hook-and-ladder into the endzone.

Louisville football loses the bottom 25 to UTEP | CBS- The dreadful Louisville football team wasn’t the worst as they lose to UTEP in the mock bottom 25 playoff.

Jerry Jones was actually right | Sporting News- Jones was widely mocked for giving up a first round draft pick for the Raiders’ Amari Cooper. But ever since Cooper became a Cowboy, the former first round draft pick out of Alabama has reignited his career and the Cowboys, winners of five straight.

What’s real and what’s not one month into basketball season | ESPN- I was honestly shocked that Kentucky wasn’t mentioned in the fake section given all of the preseason hype and the lackluster start.