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The postmortem will be along a bit later after I have time to watch the second half. But in case anyone has forgotten (and I seriously doubt anyone has), the basketball team makes it’s official pre-season debut tonight against the Pikeville Bears.
Tweet of the Morning
The good news for Kentucky: based on the SEC East Chaos Theory, the Cats will beat Georgia 65-0 next week, all on fumble returns.
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_CJ) November 2, 2014
Most days, this would be darn funny. Today it just generates a forlorn smile.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
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Coaches explain the loss, plus a kind-of injury update. I think the conscious decision to run the ball more was well-conceived, but it manifestly failed. So in retrospect, with perfect hindsight, you’d have to say it was a poor one.
I get that coaches are human and imperfect, but you have to "dance with who brung ya." Running the football was not the date we took to the prom, and I would’ve thought that the staff would’ve figured that out sooner than they did. Then again, second-guessing the coaching is the most facile form of fandom.
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John Clay says maturity was the issue. I think that’s right and, it dovetails nicely with Bill Connelly’s observation that Kentucky was "…young, fun, and dumb." Yesterday, we were just young and dumb.
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Towles was unable to explain his troubles yesterday. I have no trouble explaining it — he has only nine starts at quarterback.
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Mark Stoops’ post-game comments:
Hat tip: John Clay
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Neal Brown’s post-game comments:
Hat tip: John Clay
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D.J. Eliot’s post-game comments:
Hat tip: John Clay
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Love the optimism. I think he’s right.
For those thinking (believing?) "here we go again," don't go there. There will be a post season football bowl for BBN during the holidays.
— Oscar Combs (@wildcatnews) November 2, 2014
Kentucky basketball
- Kentucky’s backcourt rates only 4th on CBS Sports’ list. I would put them third.
Other Kentucky sports
Links posts
College football
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Auburn survives Ole Miss, sure to move up in the polls. Looks like Ole Miss is out of the CFB Playoff picture with two losses. There was a terrible injury in that game as well.
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Steve Spurrier loses in overtime to Tennessee, loses his composure with the media as well. Vintage.
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Notre Dame finds tough sledding in Annapolis, but manages an unimpressive 49-39 victory. Consider this:
Navy can cause fits for any defense. Notre Dame has had one of college football’s best defensive units this season, holding opponents to 19.1 points per game coming into this one and holding a potent Florida State offense to a relatively low 31 points their last time out.
We saw Navy give Ohio State a hard time earlier this year, and they were able to rack up 336 rushing yards against the Irish with 39 points – notably more than the ‘Noles. Next week, against the nation’s top-ranked rushing offense in Georgia Southern, should be fun.
This says it all about Navy’s offense:
Navy doesn’t run the split veer, but a variation called the "flexbone" that always has one back in motion.
College basketball
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There is a lot to like about Gonzaga this season, according to Ricky O’Donnell. It will be interesting to see how Kyle Wiltjer fits in with the Zags. It looks perfect on paper, but I’ll reserve judgment until I see them.
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John Clay breaks down the men’s college basketball top 25. Nice to see three SEC teams in there.
Other sports news
Other news
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Does drinking lots of mild do a body good? Sometimes, but studies show it can also raise your risk of cardiovascular death.
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No wonder Afghanistan is such a rough place. Their deer are vampires!
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The conflict between extreme arboreal beauty and hot lava. It almost looks alive, doesn’t it?