KSR GAMEDAY: Kentucky vs. Murray State, WBB Showdown with Louisville

It’s a big day in Lexington. The Kentucky football team is getting things rolling with a 1:30 pm EST kickoff against Murray State. It’s setting the table for a matchup across campus between Kenny Brooks’ Cats and Jeff Walz’s Cards at 6:00 pm EST. Both games will be streamed on SECN+ and ESPN+.

For Mark Stoops’ troops, the Wildcats are desperate to get off the schneid. Kentucky has lost four straight. Their last victory at Kroger Field was on Sept. 21. That was a long, long time ago.

Fortunately for Big Blue, the bye week did its job to help these Wildcats get healthy. Preseason All-SEC CB Maxwell Hairston will be playing in his first game since that win in Lexington over Ohio. Despite a head injury at Tennessee, QB Brock Vandagriff is expected to take the first snaps under center for the struggling Wildcats’ offense. The porous Murray State defense might be the cure that ails this group.

The football team should easily take of business against the one-win team from the Missouri Valley, in similar fashion to what the Kentucky women’s basketball team has done to its first three opponents, winning by an average of 39.3 points per game. The intensity will be amplified when Louisville comes to Historic Memorial Coliseum.

Even though Kentucky leads the series 34-24, Louisville has won seven straight. Kenny Brooks can pull a Mark Pope and log an early signature win that gets the BBN all in if the Cats can snap that embarrassing losing streak to an instate rival.

Kentucky vs. Murray State: How To Watch, Listen

• Kickoff: 1:30 p.m. ET
• TV: SEC Network+ (Richard Cross, Charles Arbuckle)
• Watch college football games live – try Fubo for free! Click HERE NOW.
• Local Radio: UK Sports Network (Tom Leach, Jeff Piecoro, Dick Gabriel)
• AM: 840 WHAS, 630 WLAP
• FM: 98.1 WBUL
• Online: iHeart Radio
• Sirius XM: 102 or 111
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

You can also keep up with the game and chat with other fans on our game thread on KSBoard, with Drew Franklin, Nick Roush and Adam Luckett providing updates from Kroger Field and the rest of us from home.

Saturday Gameday Schedule

We have a little audible this morning. Ryan Lemond is missing the KSR Pregame Show, so Miles Butler is stepping in alongside Max Duffy for a little Pin it Deep reunion with Matt and Drew. Tune in for all of the hijinx you can expect from a Kentucky-Murray State pregame show, LIVE from KSBar and Grille.

9 am — Doors Open at KSBar and Grille for Breakfast
9:30 am — KSR Pregame Show
10:30 am — LexTran Shuttle Begins
11:15 am — Cat Walk
1:30 pm — Kickoff on SEC Network+ and ESPN+

Gambling on Kentucky vs. Murray State

According to FanDuel, Kentucky is a 38.5-point favorite over Murray State. The total is 49.5, giving us a projected score of 44-5.5. Kentucky is 5-4 against the spread (ATS) with a 6-3 under record this season. The Wildcats are 5-9 outright and 3-11 ATS off regular season bye weeks since 2013. That number is even worse since 2017, just 0-9 ATS.

You can find more interesting nuggets on this matchup by diving into Adam Luckett’s Scouting Report on KSR+. Not a member? Join now for $1 and you’ll get seven days of access and 50% off your first year. You need to be locked in ahead of what will be a transformational December for this program.

Kentucky Defense Still Banged Up

Even though Hairston and Vandagriff are back in action, Mark Stoops told Tom Leach on Friday that the defense is still far from 100%.

“There are some guys that we won’t get back for the year, and that’s disappointing,” said the Kentucky head coach. “But the last time we went out, I was so proud of the defensive guys because we were so shorthanded against a tough team on the road and just played so hard. That’s what we’re looking for again today.”

Heroes’ Day at Kroger Field

Today the Kentucky football program will salute our nation’s veterans and first responders on Heroes’ Day. Here’s to hoping they salute them with an entertaining, dominant victory.

Back in our home tomorrow 🏡 pic.twitter.com/Lw4BCSaHrE

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) November 15, 2024

Important App Update

The On3 App really is your one-stop shop for all the content you love from KSR. Now you can stream and download all of your favorite KSR podcasts directly from the app, even the radio show! If you haven’t smashed that download button, go ahead and add the On3/KSR app to your home screen and turn those notifications on.

College Football on TV

No. 25 Tulane at Navy	Noon ET	ESPN2
Utah at No. 17 Colorado	Noon ET	FOX
No. 2 Ohio State vs. Northwestern (Wrigley Field)	Noon ET	Big Ten Network
No. 3 Texas at Arkansas	Noon ET	ABC
No. 20 Clemson at Pittsburgh	Noon ET	ESPN
ULM at Auburn	12:45pm ET	SEC Network
Murray State at Kentucky	1:30pm ET	ESPN+
Michigan State at Illinois	2:30pm ET	FS1
Syracuse at California	3:00pm ET	The CW
Oregon State at Air Force	3:30pm ET	CBS Sports Network
No. 19 Louisville at Stanford	3:30pm ET	ACC Network
Boston College at No. 14 SMU	3:30pm ET	ESPN
No. 22 LSU at Florida	3:30pm ET	ABC
Virginia at No. 8 Notre Dame	3:30pm ET	NBC
No. 4 Penn State at Purdue	3:30pm ET	CBS
Nebraska at USC	4:00pm ET	FOX
Baylor at West Virginia	4:00pm ET	ESPN2
No. 22 Missouri at No. 21 South Carolina	4:15pm ET	SEC Network
Rutgers at Maryland	6:00pm ET	FS1
Arizona State at No. 16 Kansas State	7:00pm ET	ESPN
No. 13 Boise State at San Jose State	7:00pm ET	CBS Sports Network
No. 1 Oregon at Wisconsin	7:30pm ET	NBC
No. 7 Tennessee at No. 12 Georgia	7:30pm ET	ABC
New Mexico State at No. 15 Texas A&M	7:45pm ET	SEC Network
Wake Forest at North Carolina	8:00pm ET	ACC Network
Cincinnati at Iowa State	8:00pm ET	FOX
UAB at Memphis	8:00pm ET	ESPN2
No. 18 Washington State at New Mexico	9:30pm ET	FS1
Kansas at No. 6 BYU	10:15pm ET	ESPN
San Diego State at UNLV	10:30pm ET	CBS Sports Network