KSR Today: A spooky trip to Knoxville awaits...

Good morning, Big Blue Nation. Happy Friday to you all. Hopefully everyone wrapped up October with all of the candy, trick-or-treating, costumes and spooky movies you could get your hands on this Halloween. It was a fun one in the Pilgrim household — our one-year-old was a monkey out in the weather and then Spider-Man pajamas to close out the night, filled with The Nightmare Before Christmas and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. 10/10 day, would recommend to everyone.

As we transition back to UK Athletics reality, though, things could get pretty spooky on the football field for the Cats on Saturday. Kentucky is set to take on No. 7 Tennessee with the Volunteers hosting a blackout, favored by three scores as the visiting team comes in limping both physically and mentally.

That’s where we start November this morning.

Mark Stoops previews Tennessee

What are the vibes in the building following three straight SEC losses and a 1-5 record in the league weighing the program down with two more top-10 matchups to go this season? Coach Stoops talked about his team’s mindset going down to Knoxville to take on one of the best teams in college football on Thursday.

“Once again, it’s been a solid week of practice,” he said. “Hopefully we’ve made some improvement, worked hard to try and put our players in position to be successful. We know it’s going to be a great challenge, but we embrace that. Our players have been in good spirits and we’re anxious to get rolling tomorrow.”

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Thursday’s availability report

A few minor changes to a tough injury report as is, two more Wildcats downgraded to out in Quay’sheed Scott and Jayvant Brown while DJ Waller Jr. has been upgraded to probable. Elsewhere,  Maxwell Hairston, Jordan Dingle, Gerald Mincey, D’Eryk Jackson, and J.J. Weaver remain out while Demie Sumo-Karngbaye, Tavion Gadson and Deone Walker are all probable.

• Maxwell Hairston | DB | Out
• Jantzen Dunn | DB | Out
• Darrion Henry-Young | DL | Out
• Gerald Mincey | OL | Out
• Josaih Hayes | DL | Out
• Chip Trayanum | RB | Out
• Steven Soles Jr. | OLB | Out
• Jordan Dingle | TE | Out
• D’Eryk Jackson | LB | Out
• J.J. Weaver | OLB | Out
• Quay’sheed Scott | DB | Out
• Jayvant Brown | LB | Out
• DJ Waller Jr. | DB | Probable
• Deone Walker | DT | Probable
• Tavion Gadson | DL | Probable
• Demie Sumo-Karngbaye | RB | Probable

How are the Volunteers looking?

Is Tennessee as beat up as Kentucky? Well, not quite — though there are some notable injuries to keep in mind. Josh Heupel‘s group will be down two defensive starters.

• Keenan Pili | LB | Out
• Jourdan Thomas | DB | Out
• Edwin Spillman | LB | Out
• Caleb Herring | DL | Questionable
• William Satterwhite | OL | Probable

Kentucky at Tennessee: How To Watch, Listen

• Kickoff: 7:45 p.m. ET
• TV: SEC Network (Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers, Cole Cubelic)
• 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: 374 (UK); 158 or 191 (Tennessee)
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

Mark Pope’s first weekly press conference

Wait, the head coach of a high-major basketball team is previewing his own games rather than sending out an assistant to do the work for them? You are correct.

From this point forward, Coach Pope is on the schedule to talk every Thursday throughout the season — unless a game is played on a Wednesday. They’ll slightly alter plans in those few instances (Dec. 11 vs. Colgate, Feb. 19 vs. Vanderbilt and Feb. 26 at Oklahoma), but other than that, you can expect updates from the head man himself at noon ET sharp on the same day each week from now until March.

Thursday was the first of many to come, Pope sharing a positive injury update on Amari Williams before breaking down everything he saw during exhibition play and previewing the start of the regular season, namely the Wright State matchup on Monday.

Take a look:

Kenny Brooks previewed the WBB opener, too

Speaking of hoops, there is plenty more excitement on the way when Coach Brooks and the Cats make their season debut inside Historic Memorial Coliseum vs. USC Upstate on Monday with tipoff scheduled for 5 PM ET.

Like the men’s team, they’re excited to move past the intrasquad scrimmages and take on someone else for a change.

“Exciting times,” he said. “I think it’s that time of the year where they’re sick of me and sick of playing against each other. It’s time to see what we have going against someone else. We’re excited for the year, the kids have been working really, really hard. I’ve been really pleased with their progress. By no means do I think we are where we want to be, but that’s the joy of coaching and putting together a team, watching them come together daily to figure it all out.”

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That’s all we’ve got for now, but plenty to come today and throughout the weekend — don’t forget about Acaden Lewis’ commitment at 2 PM ET on Saturday, either. It’s the calm before the storm as we get into the final third of football season and the start of regular season action with basketball next week.

Stick with us for a heck of a ride. Go Cats. Happy November.