Kentucky Football: Beat the Commodores Edition

Good morning, BBN! I don’t know what the weather is like around you, but I woke up to a winter wonderland here in Southern Indiana. The grass is covered in snow and the flurries are steadily coming down. While it’s very pretty, I wasn’t quite ready for this. I was hoping that Fall could hang on for a few more weeks but, alas, here we are with winter firmly making its debut. My kids are already out playing in the snow.

The Kentucky Wildcats are trying to get two wins in a row and move to 7-3 today against the Vanderbilt Commodores. The win last week against Missouri was sloppy yet satisfying. The Cats need to, once again, take care of business but look better in the process. I’d like to see a clean, turnover free performance by the Cats as Georgia looms ahead.

Vandy is a beat up team with multiple players out due to the flu. This shouldn’t be a contest for the Cats today so style points and not getting injured are the focal points here. There are still two big games left on the schedule so clean football is a must going forward but it’s hard to buy into believing in it since we haven’t seen it all season.

Tweets of the Day

Oscar Tshibwe may be out longer than we expected him to be but John Calipari lucked out when he added Ugonna Onyenso in August. He’s been the surprise of the early season and he’s going to keep getting better.

Clean.

Headlines

Saturday predictions: Vandy at UK | Anchor of Gold- The folks over at our fellow SB Nation site are bracing for an ugly football game. I hope it’s ugly for them only.

Cal updates the status of Oscar Tshiebwe | Cats Pause- Many of us thought that Oscar would be ready for the regular season after his minor knee surgery. Then we expected him against Michigan State. Now the timeline is up in the air as Calipari talked “swelling” last night. Thank goodness for Onyenso.

Daimion Collins back with the team before attending father’s funeral | Cats Pause- Collins returned to practice after the Cats defeated Howard on Monday. He will leave with John Calipari and Cason Wallace, Daimion’s cousin, today to attend the funeral.

Sahvir Wheeler shines in his return to Kentucky | Cat’s Illustrated- The First Team All SEC guard made a dazzling return last night with 11 points, 11 assists and only two turnovers. Looked like he didn’t miss a beat.

Kentucky’s three keys to victory against Vanderbilt | Vaught’s Views- These all make sense but I’d add this: don’t turn the ball over.

Cats cruise past Morehead State in Memorial | UK Athletics- Maddie Scherr, Blair Green and Robyn Benton led the charge in the 78-43 victory.

Eastern Kentucky coal honored as the “Y” at Kentucky game | WDRB- They pulled out all the stops for Mike McGuire and his family last night at Rupp Arena. An awesome ending to an awesome story.

Week 10 against the spread | CBS- Not a lot of big time games against top 25 opponents this week. TCU vs. Texas is the best we have. Hoping for a day of upsets to make this seemingly sleepy slate a little more exciting.

Temple knocks off 16 Villanova | ESPN- The Owls stormed the court after the big upset. It’s the first time they’ve beat the Wildcats since 2012.

Tom Brady doesn’t regret coming out of short retirement | Sporting News- Good thing because he gave up a lot of his personal life for it.

I’ll be on the air this afternoon after the Wildcats and the Commodores finish up at Kroger Field this afternoon. We will take your calls and texts as well as have Mark Stoops’ postgame press conference!