Kentucky has already put the Alabama loss behind it on the practice field, but the sting from Saturday is still hanging around. Forty-eight hours after the Wildcats were blown out 45-17 at Kroger Field, the conversation is shifting to what comes next: a road trip to face No. 9 Texas A&M.
That matchup brings a very different kind of challenge. Texas A&M has spent the first two weeks of the season living in the same messy space Kentucky just occupied against Alabama - early sluggishness, then a late surge that blows the game apart.
Mike Elko’s team led Missouri State only 19-0 at halftime before rolling to a 50-point win in the second half. Against Arizona State, the Aggies were actually outgained and trailed in the fourth quarter before two Cutter Boley pick-sixes helped spark 24 unanswered points.
For Kentucky, the bigger concern is that Texas A&M is still trying to settle in after its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance and is doing it with two new coordinators. That makes Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on ESPN a little harder to pin down, especially for Will Stein in his first SEC road game.
Stein is expected to address the Alabama fallout when he returns to the Kroger Field podium today at Noon. The program plans to provide live updates on KSBoard before posting more coverage on the website.
On the other sideline, Elko spent Monday opening game week with his own press conference, and Kentucky came up in the conversation because of Jay Bateman. The Wildcats’ defensive coordinator spent the last two years in College Station, so Elko acknowledged the familiarity factor.
“They’ll have an intricate working of who we are and what we’re all about, and so that creates its own challenges,” Elko said. “We’ll have our hands full with Kentucky, and it’ll be another big, big game and big challenge for us.”
Elko also made it clear he doesn’t leave much to chance when it comes to terminology.
“I think people would tell you I’m probably on the extreme paranoid end when it comes to things like that,” Elko said. “So I think I’m probably on the seventh version of terminology in the last eight years and probably the third or fourth version of offensive terminology in my four years as a head coach, so I probably live on the uber paranoid side of that.
While football takes center stage this week, Kentucky basketball recruiting keeps moving. AJ Williams, ranked fourth in America, cut his list to 10 on Monday, and Kentucky is still in the mix, though it has work to do with the five-star wing. Over the weekend, the Wildcats also hosted their first official visitor of the fall semester when 6-foot-11 shot-blocker Lewis Uvwo spent the weekend in Lexington.
Big Blue Madness is coming fast, too, set for Oct. 2.
UK announced tickets will go on sale online Friday at 5 p.m., with 1,000 tickets available to fans who join BBN United by midnight tonight. Those who sign up today will also receive two tickets to Kentucky’s football game against Vanderbilt at Kroger Field.
And for anyone looking for a jolt of pure September baseball chaos, Elly de la Cruz delivered one of the biggest home runs ever hit at Great American Ballpark in the bottom of the ninth against the Dodgers. Cincinnati still lost, but the blast was the kind of swing that stops you in your tracks.
In Other News...
Mark Pope Is Turning Kentucky Media Week Into A Wildcats Spectacle
Mark Pope is leaning all the way into Kentuckys spotlight week, and the result is shaping up to feel more like a showcase than a routine preseason stop. He announced Media Madness, an event set for Thursday in which reporters will be invited to take part in a full practice before sitting in on a press conference with players and staff, a format that already has 60 to 70 media members expected to attend.
Pope has talked about the idea during his own media appearances, and the timing only adds to the buzz around the program as the Wildcats also turn their attention to the football game against Texas A&M. It is the kind of week that keeps Kentucky in the conversation on multiple fronts, with Pope clearly enjoying the chance to make media week feel like part circus, part basketball tune-up, and part campus-wide event. [Read more 🡒]
Kentucky Fans Face The Annual Big Blue Madness Ticket Scramble
Kentucky basketball fans know the drill by now: when Big Blue Madness tickets become available, the scramble starts immediately. The program has set the annual tipoff showcase for Oct. 2 at Rupp Arena, with the online sale set for 5 p.m. Friday and a minimal service charge attached, giving the Big Blue Nation its first real chance to lock in a spot for one of the most anticipated nights on the hoops calendar.
The timing is a little different this year, and not just because the Wildcats are also rolling out a full slate of exhibition and regular-season dates for both the mens and womens teams. Fan Fest is set to return on Oct. 3, too, with more details still to come, which means Kentucky supporters are already looking at a busy early-October stretch around the programs annual celebration. [Read more 🡒]
Kentuckys Early Offensive Frustration Keeps Pointing Back To One Offseason Miss
Will Steins first offseason in Lexington brought the kind of portal work Kentucky needed, with a top-10 transfer class that included help at quarterback and along the offensive line. But the early returns through two weeks have also made it clear that one part of the offense still looks thin, especially at receiver, where the Wildcats have struggled to separate and threaten defenses down the field.
The gap is hard to ignore because Kentucky had its sights set on a major outside target in DeAndre Moore Jr., only to watch him land at Colorado instead. While Moore has started making an impact there, Kentuckys passing game has leaned more on the tight ends than on its wideouts, leaving the Wildcats searching for the kind of vertical element that can change how an offense is defended. [Read more 🡒]