KSR Today: One sleep ’til kickoff

You hear that, BBN? It’s the sound of Carl Nathe’s voice echoing through Kroger Field as the pads pop and the fans roar. There is truly nothing like the feeling of game day in Lexington in the fall, and it’s finally here.

Well, almost here. It’s essentially in the palm of your hand, only one sleep away from fully grasping it — plus an entire morning, afternoon and early evening counting down the minutes until kickoff. But you get the idea: one Ray Davis, Wan’Dale Robinson or Lynn Bowden jersey number away from Kentucky football season.

And Mark Stoops is quite giddy to get there.

“I’m excited to finally have this press conference, the last one. It’s my last speaking engagement until we go tee it up,” the Kentucky head coach said Thursday. “Just excited about this time getting here. I mentioned all throughout talking season, people asked me all summer, we’re really not ready to go until right now. Tomorrow we do a little clean-up and make sure we put the finishing touches on things, run through and try to execute and be clean with what we’re gonna do. Then we’ll be ready to play.

“The only downside is we have to wait a long day Saturday before we go tee it up, but it is what it is. We’ll play at any given time. It’s been a good week of practice, nice to be challenged with this weather and the extreme heat. It’s been challenging, but it’s been good to mentally challenge them. … I feel like we’re prepared, we’re excited to go out there and play.”

Kentucky will take on Southern Miss at 7:45 p.m. ET on Saturday, live on SEC Network. The Wildcats sit comfortably as 27.5-point favorites with the over/under set at 50.5 total points. ESPN’s Matchup Predictor gives the home team an 86.0 percent chance to pull off the season-opening victory at Kroger Field.

Mark Stoops previews Southern Miss

What do you need to know about the Golden Eagles? On the surface, they’ve been picked to finish sixth in the Sun Belt West and are 4-16 against the SEC in openers with eight straight losses, their last win coming against Kentucky in 2016. They’re coached by Will Hall, but interestingly enough, their offensive coordinator is Chip Long, who spent the 2023 season at Louisville as a quality control specialist following previous stops at Memphis, Notre Dame, Tulane and Georgia Tech.

Stoops has seen plenty of tape on Long’s offense over the years and feels the team has a solid feel for what’s to come on Saturday.

“If he stays true to form — it’s like any of us, you are who you are. You have wrinkles, you evolve, you try to grow and do new things. I think we all do that as coaches,” Stoops said. “He’s certainly a very good coach who has been around and had very good success. The nuts and bolts, the pieces, we expect to be the main pieces. Through camp and with our defense, we just have to prepare for everything and be on point. Anybody who has a lot of time is gonna have a new wrinkle or two. You always want to be on your toes and ready for that.”

Stoops also addressed the new injury reports in the SEC, watching other college football games, Kentucky’s situation at punter and more. Take a look:

KSR also previews Southern Miss

The content has been rolling out all week long over on the KSR YouTube channel, breaking down the matchup and the start of Kentucky football season from every angle imaginable.

KSR Football Podcast

Looking for more goofy big-picture takes? Drew Franklin, Max Duffy, Nick Roush and Adam Luckett have you covered on the KSR Football Podcast.

11 Personnel

How about digging into the nuts and bolts with some in-depth coverage of Southern Miss and what to expect from the Golden Eagles at Kroger Field? Roush and Luckett have you covered there with 11 Personnel, as well.

Pigskin Preview

Wanting some national game picks and Luckett’s Locks (plus a few technical difficulties)? You won’t find a better show than Pigskin Preview.

Head out to the Club Blue meet and greet!

Club Blue will have a booth near the Catwalk at Gate 1 before every home football game this season.  They will have a male athlete and a female athlete available for meet and greets with all Club Blue members. For those who aren’t members yet, you can come to the booth and get signed up on the spot.  For the first game, they will have Jaxson Robinson from Men’s Basketball and Clara Strack from Women’s Basketball. Club Blue is the official collective partner of the University of Kentucky. Subscribe today at www.clubbluenil.com

Welcome to Historic Memorial Coliseum!

Antsy for kickoff on Saturday? Don’t forget you have plans in Lexington tonight , the perfect appetizer for the weekend: Kentucky volleyball’s home opener against Northern Kentucky! We all love our volleyball Cats, but Friday marks a special match for the program as it is the soft opening for Historic Memorial Coliseum, the first chance for fans to see the venue’s $82 million renovations with their own two eyes.

How can you be a part of the celebration? Doors open at 5:30 p.m. ET on Friday ahead of first serve at 6:30 p.m. ET. The matchup will feature giveaways of collectibles for fans in attendance. There will also be locations to collect a commemorative ticket from Friday’s soft opening and volleyball rally towels. The 2023 SEC Championship team will be celebrated prior to the match, as well.

The match vs. Northern Kentucky is part of the 2024 Bluegrass Battle featuring a round-robin with in-state schools Western Kentucky, Morehead State and Northern Kentucky from Friday to Sunday at Historic Memorial Coliseum.

Club Blue is the official collective partner of the University of Kentucky. Support your volleyball team today .

Gabriel Diallo advances to third round of US Open

A former Cat is making history as we speak in the US Open. Gabriel Diallo, who led Kentucky to the national championship in 2022 and a three-time All-American in Lexington, has advanced to the third round of the US Open.

He did so by taking down No. 24 Arthur Fils in the second round of the US Open , winning in four sets (7-5, 6-7 [3], 6-4, 6-4). He’ll now take on No. 14 Tommy Paul of the USA on Saturday, advancing deeper than any former Wildcat since 2009 after racking up five straight matches on the courts of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Diallo is currently ranked No. 143 overall by the ATP, but quickly making a name for himself on the big stage. It’s been almost 15 years since former Kentucky star Jesse Witten participated in the French Open and Wimbledon in 2010 while also making the third round of the US Open in 2009. Now another Cat has made his mark.

Go Cats.

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