5 Kentucky Sports "Gifts" We'd Like to Return This Year

Christmas has come and gone, and unless Santa was spot-on this holiday season, you may be returning some gifts to get what you really want. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do the same with Kentucky sports?

With the long lull between games, it’s time to get creative with content, so I spent the morning thinking about the year that was for Kentucky sports and the games, moments, decisions, etc. I wish we could send back. On the football side, there were a LOT — if I could box up the entire 2024 season, I would. The month of March was very unkind to the basketball program as well, but without the low of the first-round loss to Oakland, the subsequent changing of the guard may never have taken place.

Here are five UK sports moments I’d like a refund for this year.

1. The Ohio State loss

This one is pretty top-of-mind. Kentucky was riding high going into the CBS Sports Classic last week, up to No. 4 in the polls and off to its best start since the 2016-17 season. What we thought would be an easy win turned out to be the first dud of the Mark Pope era. The Cats were embarrassed in the 20-point loss to Ohio State, the Buckeyes bullying their way to the basket and exposing Kentucky with ball screens. Mark Pope still sounded sick about the loss on Monday’s call-in show, telling Tom Leach that it “pained” him to leave BBN with the disappointing defeat just a few days before Christmas.

The hope is the game was a one-off and/or will serve as a wake-up call to the Cats heading into SEC play. Even so, it ruined what seemed like a really fun trip to New York City (the Cats saw Hamilton! Two of them got engaged in Central Park!) and raised some red flags at the wrong time of year.

2. Zion Childress’ overturned Pick 6 vs. Georgia

Again, lots of bad moments to choose from in the 2024 Kentucky Football season, but one that could have changed it all was Zion Childress‘ pick-six vs. Georgia. Carson Beck’s pass bounced out of Dominic Lovett’s hands and into Chidlress’ on 3rd and 7 midway through the second quarter vs. the Bulldogs. Childress ran it back to put Kentucky up 10-0, but the score was wiped off the board when officials ruled that the ball touched the ground before popping up to Childress.

Instead of being in the driver’s seat vs. the No. 1 team in the country, Kentucky fumbled it on the next drive and went on to lose 13-12. Of all the “what if” moments, that may have been the biggest of the season.

Imagine if this counted 😮 pic.twitter.com/z2wvRcQhbf

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 15, 2024

3. Rick Pitino’s appearance at the Vanderbilt football game

The rails really started to come off about a month later when the Cats lost to Vanderbilt at home. Kentucky was a 13.5-point favorite vs. the Commodores, who were coming off a huge win over Alabama, but made mistake after mistake en route to the 20-13 loss. An unexpected guest at the game? Rick Pitino, who we found out over the summer was a Kentucky Football NIL donor.

Pitino came to Lexington to support both Mark Stoops and Mark Pope, making a surprise appearance at Big Blue Madness the night before alongside several of his former players. It was a surreal moment for BBN and Pitino (topped only by his appearance on the KSR Pregame Show the morning after). With Pope now at the helm, Pitino coming back was inevitable — he almost made a return trip for the Louisville game a few weeks ago — but it is worth noting that the football team went 1-6 after he stepped on Kroger Field. Did he put a curse on it? Can we go back in time and reverse it?

4. The upcoming Netflix SEC Football series

In May, word broke that Netflix was working on a docuseries about SEC Football; in the fall, we found out Kentucky was one of the teams being featured in it. Netflix crews followed the Cats around for two games this season; unfortunately, they ended up being two of the worst. When the show comes out next July, we’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at the losses to South Carolina and Louisville at Kroger Field. I have a feeling we won’t like what we see.

Now that the Beyonce halftime show is over, I’m willing to turn my Netflix subscription back in if it means they’ll pull the plug on the series.

5. The 2025 SEC Football Schedule

It can be difficult to be optimistic about the future of the football program. Kentucky finished the season 4-8, snapping the school-record eight-year streak of bowl appearances. With the transfer portal and NIL transforming the sport at a rapid pace, there is long-term uncertainty about whether or not the Cats can keep up. In the short term, things also seem bleak. We knew Kentucky’s 2025 schedule would be difficult; when the dates for the games were revealed a few weeks ago, a tough road just got harder.

Ole Miss will be seeking revenge when it comes to Kroger Field in Week 2. After a bye week, the Cats have back-to-back road games at South Carolina and Georgia. Then comes another bye, very very early, before a brutal stretch of games vs. Texas, Tennessee, at Auburn, and Florida. At least the Gators have to come to Lexington in November. That’s just about the nicest thing you can say about the Cats’ 2025 slate.

If possible, I’d like the SEC to accept this return, make some modifications (let’s shift those bye weeks around), and send the schedule back, please.