Mark Stoops confident Kentucky fans will 'pound some beers' before early kickoff

Now that alcohol sales are finally live at Kroger Field, Kentucky head football coach Mark Stoops expects quite the party for the Wildcats’ noon game vs. Florida this weekend.

Typically, the UK-UF contest is an evening kickoff and was each of the last two seasons before drawing the short straw of a noon kick for this year. No worries about the crowd, though, says Stoops, because he’s certain that Big Blue Nation will set their alarms so they can get after it early on Saturday morning.

At his press conference this week, KSR’s Drew Franklin reported that Stoops issued the following statement on the early kick time: “I have great confidence in the people of Kentucky to get up early and pound some beers.”

Haha, what a bomb from the longtime Kentucky head coach, who rarely offers comments of note at his press conference. If this was a year ago, Stoops might’ve had a call from UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart before he even left the podium. But now that alcohol is sold in Kroger Field, he’s openly encouraging the fans to crank a few cans in the AM hours on Saturday.

After all, he just wants a raucous crowd for one of the biggest home games of the season.

With Georgia and Tennessee not looking quite as strong as they were a year ago, if one of these two clubs wants to make a surprise SEC East push, a win this coming Saturday is a must. So, Kentucky fans better pound those beers and give Stoops the environment he needs to pull it off.

Kentucky opens as favorite over Florida

According to FanDuel’s opening line, Kentucky is a 2.5-point home favorite in next Saturday’s noon kickoff vs. the Gators, while the over/under for the contest is set at just 44.5.

Kentucky comes into the game at 4-0 thanks to a breeze of a first third of their schedule. The ‘Cats knocked off Ball State, Eastern Kentucky and Akron in a trio of snoozefests before riding a pair of pick-sixes to a blowout victory over the Commodores in the construction zone that is Vanderbilt’s football stadium. Meanwhile, Florida is blemished with a loss at Utah, but also has a win to hang their hat on after toppling Tennessee at home.

The ‘Cats and Gators have found themselves in tight battles over the last five to six years and FanDuel is predicting yet another contest between these intra-divisional rivals to come down to the wire, with Kentucky getting the slight edge for being at home.