KSR Today: Ready or not, it’s Georgia Week

Once upon a time, just a few days ago, this week held a lot of promise. On Saturday morning, your University of Kentucky Wildcats were heavily favored to beat the South Carolina Gamecocks in the SEC opener at Kroger Field. College Gameday waited in the wings, ready to bring the nation’s eyes to Lexington for the first time since 2007 for the Sept. 14 game vs. No. 1 Georgia. All the Cats had to do was beat the Gamecocks, who looked vulnerable in the season opener vs. Old Dominion.

As you know, that did not happen. Instead of taking care of business, the Cats dropped a third straight to Shane Beamer’s squad, losing 31-6. More than that, they got embarrassed on national television, amassing just 183 yards of offense — 44 through the air — and committing 11 penalties. The Big Blue Wall was a sheet in the wind, surrendering 11 tackles for loss, five quarterback sacks, and four quarterback hurries. In the rare instances Brock Vandagriff had a chance to make a play, he struggled as well, clearly flustered by the Gamecocks’ defensive line. It was an all-systems failure, one of the worst losses of the Mark Stoops era , which is not what you want to hear in Year 12 with plenty of NFL talent on the roster thanks to plenty of NIL investments.

In a wild reversal, College Gameday is headed to South Carolina for the Gamecocks’ game vs. No. 16 LSU. Kentucky will not get a chance to lick its wounds. No. 1 Georgia comes to town fresh off a 48-3 victory over Tennessee Tech. The Bulldogs opened as a 24.5-point favorite . Saturday’s game will once again be featured on ABC. An upset for the ages feels like too much to ask for; all Kentucky fans want after Saturday’s letdown is a respectable showing.

The KSR crew is getting back on the horse. Here is our plan for the day, along with some things that may have slipped through the cracks if you needed to disconnect on Sunday. (We get it.)

Two chances to hear from Mark Stoops

It didn’t do much to cool tempers in BBN, but Mark Stoops was about as down as a coach could be on Saturday night. Stoops seemed bewildered at how his team responded to adversity, but ultimately shouldered the blame , calling the number of mistakes the Cats made “ridiculously embarrassing on my part.”

Did a day of reflection change Stoops’ opinion? Probably not, but we’ll hear from him twice, first during his weekly press conference at noon and later on his weekly call-in show at 6 p.m. on 630 WLAP. Given the unrest in the fanbase, the latter will likely be more difficult than the former, especially with this ugly stat making the rounds.

We’ll have a replay and recap of Stoops’ presser on the site shortly after lunch, along with a full rundown of his comments on the radio show this evening.

A new KSR Football Podcast coming your way

After hearing from Stoops, Nick Roush and Adam Luckett will head to KSBar and Grille to chat with Drew Franklin and Max Duffy about Saturday’s game and where the season goes from here on a new episode of the KSR Football Podcast. You can watch live at 1:30 p.m. on the KSR YouTube Channel . Drew spoke with fans as they left the game but this will be Luckett, Roush, and Max’s first time talking about the game. I know they have thoughts.

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.

KSR Tailgate Show at the REVEL ^XP tents on Saturday

The vibes are not great in BBN right now. One thing that would reverse it all? A good showing vs. Georgia on Saturday. If you want to do it up right, allow me to introduce our friends at REVEL ^XP . We’ll be doing a live tailgate show from one of their beautiful tents this Saturday starting at 5:30 p.m. at the Cat’s Corner near Gate 1, so come out and join the fun.

Are you looking to take your tailgate experience to another level this season? You can, thanks to our friends at REVEL ^XP .  Elevate your Kentucky football fan experience with full-service tailgating, a premium game day service! You can sign up for a hassle-free tailgate experience, including equipment, setup, cleanup and on-site customer service. REVEL ^XP handles all of the logistics, so fans can enjoy the day and depart easily after the game. Head to REVELxp.com and from there you can select your game and tailgate package. Let REVEL ^XP take care of your tailgate experience this season.

We want to invite you to join us for a live tailgate show before the Georgia game on September 14th. We will be at the Cat’s Corner REVELxp location, just steps from Kroger Field. Come check out a full-service tailgating experience and also secure your games today. REVEL ^XP is the Official Fan Experience Partner of Kentucky Athletics as well as over 60+ college sports teams across the country.

New KSR High School Football Rankings

Hopefully, the weekend wasn’t a complete wash for your football teams. Later this morning, we’ll unveil our latest high school football rankings. Boyle County is the current No. 1 team in the state and I doubt that will change after Saturday’s impressive win over nationally-ranked St. Edward in Ohio. No. 2 Trinity didn’t fare so well, losing to Center Grove from Indiana, while No. 3 Male won an overtime thriller vs. No. 5 St. Xavier .

We don’t need to talk about my Danville Admirals . Rebuilding dynasties takes time.

Volleyball goes 2-1 on the weekend

It wasn’t all bad news for UK Sports this weekend. After falling to No. 7 Penn State (3-2) on Friday night, the No. 9 Kentucky Volleyball team won back-to-back matches in the Kentucky Invitational, beating James Madison (3-0) and Ball State (3-0) in straight sets at Memorial Coliseum. Craig Skinner’s Cats head to Dallas on Friday to play SMU. On Saturday, they’ll face either Purdue or Houston.

Women’s Soccer stays undefeated with win over No. 9 UCLA

The biggest win of the weekend belonged to the Kentucky Women’s Soccer team, which moved to 7-0-0 with a 2-0 win over No. 9 UCLA (5-2-1). Makala Woods and Catherine DeRosa scored goals to give the Cats the massive upset over the Bruins. Kentucky has won six straight at home and is off to its best start since 2011. The Cats host Kent State on Friday at the Bell, which is Senior Night.

No. 16 Men’s Soccer takes on No. 15 Louisville

Men’s soccer is coming off its first loss of the season, falling to No. 10 Wisconsin on Friday to move to 1-1-1 on the season. Tonight, the No. 16 Cats can bounce back in a big way. No. 15 Louisville comes to Lexington for a 7:30 p.m. rivalry match. Tickets are still available, so put your blue on, your Ls down, and get down to the Bell to cheer the Cats on. Gates open an hour before kickoff.

Two Cats in action on Monday Night Football

There’s more football to watch tonight, as Brenden Bates , Brandin Echols , and the New York Jets take on the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football (8:15 PM ET, ABC/ESPN). The first “Manningcast” of the season airs on ESPN2, with former Patriots coach Bill Belichick making his broadcast debut alongside Peyton and Eli Manning. Belichick will join the brothers on each broadcast this year in addition to his roles on other ESPN shows. The rest of tonight’s guests have yet to be announced.

Sunday didn’t provide much solace for fans of local NFL teams. After leading the Bears 17-0, Will Levis and the Titans fell apart, losing 24-17. The winning touchdown was a Levis pick-six, a rough debut for the second-year quarterback. He finished 19-32 for 127 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.

Things weren’t much better in Cincinnati, where the Bengals were stunned by the Patriots 16-10. Cincinnati committed three turnovers and Joe Burrow struggled, finishing just 21-29 for 164 yards. The Bengals were such favorites that 44% of entries in Yahoo Sports’ survivor pools were eliminated. Twenty-three celebrities were knocked out of KSR’s Survivor League as well, leaving these 27:

Who up, Palm Beach?

Today is a Monday for you. It’s a Friday for me. Tomorrow morning, I’m headed to Palm Beach for a few days to celebrate a cousin’s very big birthday. If you have any recs for the Palm Beach area, send them my way on Twitter or KSBoard . I hear it’s a fancy place. Saturday’s embarrassment aside, I’ll still be rocking Kentucky blue.

Join KSR Plus! With a KSR Plus membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.

The post KSR Today: Ready or not, it’s Georgia Week appeared first on On3 .