KSR Today: Schedule news, football intel, and Kentucky Roadshow

Good morning, folks! I can’t be the only one who woke up this morning, stepped outside, and took a deep inhale of the chilly, fall air. Okay, so I choked a little when I did, but that crispy taste has only one thing on my mind: football season.

Before we dive into some football news though (and there is plenty to discuss), we have to first mention Mark Pope‘s squad — some significant news dropped yesterday.

Kentucky MBB has its full ’24-25 schedule

The Southeastern Conference finally unveiled the slate of games for the upcoming season. With that, we now have the full 2024-25 schedule (preseason included) for this year’s edition of the Kentucky Wildcats. Notably, John Calipari will make his return to Rupp Arena on Saturday, Feb. 1 when Arkansas comes to Lexington.

You can check out the entire schedule below. KSR’s Drew Franklin broke down the schedule even further with his top takeaways and notes, which you can read here.

Date	Opponent/Event	Location
Oct. 11	Big Blue Madness	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Oct. 18	Blue-White Preseason Event	Historic Memorial Coliseum
Oct. 23	Kentucky Wesleyan (exhibition)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Oct. 29	Minnesota State Mankato (exhibition)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Nov. 4	Wright State	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Nov. 9	Bucknell	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Nov. 12	vs. Duke (Champions Classic)	Atlanta | State Farm Arena
Nov. 19	Lipscomb (BBN Invitational)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Nov. 22	Jackson State (BBN Invitational | Unity Series)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Nov. 26	Western Kentucky (BBN Invitational)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Nov. 29	Georgia State	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Dec. 3	at Clemson (SEC/ACC Challenge)	Clemson, S.C. | Littlejohn Coliseum
Dec. 7	vs. Gonzaga (Battle in Seattle)	Seattle | Climate Pledge Arena
Dec. 11	Colgate	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Dec. 14	Louisville	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Dec. 21	vs. Ohio State (CBS Sports Classic)	New York | Madison Square Garden
Dec. 31	Brown	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Jan. 4	Florida (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Jan. 7/8	at Georgia (SEC)	Athens, Ga. | Stegeman Coliseum
Jan. 11	at Mississippi State (SEC)	Starkville, Miss.| Humphrey Coliseum
Jan. 14/15	Texas A&M (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Jan. 18	Alabama (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Jan. 25	at Vanderbilt (SEC)	Nashville, Tenn. | Memorial Gymnasium
Jan. 28	at Tennessee (SEC)	Knoxville, Tenn. | Thompson-Boling Arena
Feb. 1	Arkansas (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Feb. 4/5	at Ole Miss (SEC)	Oxford, Miss. | Pavilion at Ole Miss
Feb. 8	South Carolina (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Feb. 11/12	Tennessee (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Feb. 15	at Texas (SEC)	Austin, Texas | Moody Center
Feb. 18/19	Vanderbilt (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
Feb. 22	at Alabama (SEC)	Tuscaloosa, Ala. | Coleman Coliseum
Feb. 25/26	at Oklahoma (SEC)	Norman, Okla. | Lloyd Noble Center
March 1	Auburn (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
March 4/5	LSU (SEC)	Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center
March 8	at Missouri (SEC)	Columbia, Mo. | Mizzou Arena

Football is right around the corner

Only 10 days away, in fact. Next Saturday, Mark Stoops‘ squad will finally take the field to kick off the 2024 season. Southern Miss comes to Kroger Field in Lexington for the Week 1 matchup. It’s getting to the point where containing any excitement is nearly impossible. So we can thank KSR’s Nick Roush for helping feed our football-hungry stomachs.

Last night, Roush dropped plenty of insider notes and intel on what he’s hearing about this year’s group of Wildcats. He squashed any concerns you might have about the offensive line, talked us into Gavin Wimsatt, and hyped up the pass-catchers. You can read everything he had to say here.

But that’s not all. Over on KSBoard, Roush was able to share the extra juicy info — the type of stuff that will have you ready to run through a wall in excitement for this season. It’s a must-read for the die-hard football fanatic in you. Head to the message board now if you haven’t already. If you need a nudge to sign up, how about a 50 percent off promotional offer?

Take advantage of our KSR+ HOMEGROWN Special to get bonus coverage of the Cats, including game threads, in-depth scouting reports, and the latest recruiting and roster intel. Use promo code HOMEGROWN for 50% off the annual price.

Tom Hart on the call

Speaking of that season-opener against Southern Miss, we learned of the announcing team that we’ll hear on the SEC Network for the 7:45 p.m. EST kickoff. The SEC is sending a trio of familiar faces to cover this game in Lexington: Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers, and Cole Cubelic.

Remember, Week 0 action begins this Saturday — you don’t have to wait another week-plus to watch some regular-season football.

Date	Time (ET)	Matchup/Commentators	Platform
Sat, Aug 24	Noon	Aer Lingus College Football Classic: No. 10 Florida State vs. Georgia Tech (from Dublin, Ireland) Joe Tessitore, Jesse Palmer, Katie George	ESPN
	3:30 p.m.	McNeese at Tarleton State Lowell Galindo, Fozzy Whittaker	ESPN2
	7 p.m.	FCS Kickoff: North Alabama vs. Southeast Missouri State (from Montgomery, Ala.) Jay Alter, Rocky Boiman, Morgan Uber	ESPN
	7:30 p.m.	Cricket MEAC/SWAC Challenge Kick-Off: Florida A&M vs. Norfolk State (from Atlanta, Ga.) Tiffany Greene, Jay Walker, Quint Kessenich	ABC/ESPN+

Sources Say at Kentucky Roadshow

The latest episode of Sources Say saw a location change.

Jack Pilgrim and Shawn Smith went to the Kentucky Roadshow in Lexington to meet with owner Jimmy Mahan, who has just as much Kentucky memorabilia to show off as he does stories to tell. Before giving us a complete tour of his store and all of the history it includes, he sat down to talk UK basketball as someone who has seen Pope‘s new team up close and in person. They also start the show by talking about Malachi Moreno‘s commitment to Kentucky from last week.

This is a must-watch for Kentucky basketball lovers.

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