KSR Today: Week 2 begins for Kentucky Football on Labor Day

Good morning and Happy Labor Day, and thoughts and prayers to LSU fans. Before we begin a busy day of football talk here on Kentucky Sports Radio, a quick message from our friends at Eckrich about an opportunity for teachers coming up when Kentucky hosts South Carolina at Kroger Field next month.

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Eckrich is proud to present the $1 Million Challenge for Teachers! This 2022 college football season Eckrich, in partnership with Extra Yard for Teachers and Kroger, will invite a local teacher (and true hero) onto the field at the South Carolina vs Kentucky game on October 8th. These lucky teachers, randomly selected from a list of nominations, will have a chance to throw a football through a target to win up to $1 million dollars in donations to fund local classroom projects. Nominate a teacher here for a chance to throw!

Make sure to nominate your teacher by September 28th.

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Thank you, Eckrich. Now for the morning’s news and things to know as Kentucky Football begins Week 2 preparations for the trip to Florida.

Mark Stoops’ Monday press conference

Coming up at noon, Mark Stoops will hold his second Monday press conference of the 2022 season to reflect on Saturday’s season opener versus Miami (OH) and to preview the challenge ahead in his team’s trip to Gainesville to play Florida. Kentucky’s injury report will be an important topic during the conversation after Kentucky lost running backs Ramon Jefferson and JuTahn McClain to a couple of leg injuries during the win over Miami.

Also of interest in the running back room, Stoops still needs to address the future of Chris Rodriguez beyond Rodriguez’s one-game suspension for his summer DUI. Stoops is limited in what he can say publicly about Rodriguez’s second off-the-field issue due to FERPA law, but he will be asked what is next for Rodriguez now that the one-game suspension is behind him.

During Saturday’s postgame press conference, Stoops said he will discuss the availability of Rodriguez and veteran linebacker Jordan Wright, who also missed Saturday’s season opener, today.

New depth chart to be announced later this morning

Moments before Stoops sits down in front of the microphone, he will release his team’s Week 2 depth chart to the public as the Wildcats begin preparations for Florida. The new two-deep will likely reveal more about the running back concerns before Stoops’ noon comments plus any other shakeups and substitutions to the rotation since Saturday’s win.

The opening line has the ‘Cats getting 4.5 in Gainesville

According to VegasInsider.com, the betting line on Saturday’s game at Florida opened up with the Gators laying 4.5 points to the Wildcats and an opening total of 51.5 on the game. For the optimistic Kentucky fans, a money line bet on Kentucky to win outright will pay +215.

The new top 25 in college football comes out tomorrow

With one more college football game still to be played, the Associated Press will wait until tomorrow to release its new Top 25 to reflect the outcomes from the weekend. Unfortunately, all but one of the 19 teams ahead of Kentucky were victorious in Week 1, so the ‘Cats have little to no room to move up from No. 20.

No. 11 Oregon’s fall is the one to watch following the Ducks’ 46-point loss to top-ranked Georgia.

Barion Brown is already on award watch

At some point today, the Southeastern Conference will pass out its first round of weekly football awards and Kentucky’s own Barion Brown is in contention for both SEC Freshman of the Week and SEC Special Teams Player of the Week following his breakout college football debut. Brown caught three passes for 45 yards and scored Kentucky’s first kickoff return touchdown in 13 years with his 100-yard return for a score.

After the game Saturday night, Brown said he laughed when his coaches told him it had been a decade since Kentucky’s last kick return touchdown. “I knew I was going to do it,” he told KSR.

The KSR radio show has the day off

As you can tell, it’s going to be a very busy Labor Day here on the KSR website with news upon news upon news still to come. But over on the KSR morning radio program, the guys who aren’t me are enjoying the long Labor Day weekend with the day off. The show will be back on air tomorrow morning from 10 AM to noon to recap Saturday’s win and everything we learn today.

New KSR football podcasts

Yesterday, Freddie Maggard released the first of his new Sunday morning episodes of his Depth Chart Podcast with the good and bad from Kentucky’s win over Miami. Nick Roush and former UK defensive lineman Jay Dortch joined Freddie for reactions to Saturday and an early look at Florida.

Later tonight, the KSR Football Podcast will go live on YouTube with its new Week 2 episode. Be on the lookout for the audio version on your podcast feed or the video version on YouTube around dinnertime.

LSU-FSU was absolute madness

Week 1 in college football kicked off last Thursday with an evening of chaos and excitement, but it didn’t take long for Thursday to be outdone because last night during the rare Sunday night college football game, LSU and Florida State gave fans an ending beyond belief. If you missed it, the ACC Network has a condensed version of the madness in the Superdome.

Happy Labor Day!

If you’re one of the many who aren’t on the clock today, enjoy whatever it is you’re doing, but also check in with us from time to time so you don’t get behind on Kentucky Football.

Go Cats.