KSR Today: The day after a Kentucky football meltdown

Good Sunday morning, Big Blue Nation. I hope your day starts off like a Kentucky football game against Missouri, but Lord help you if it finishes like one. The Wildcats fell to the Tigers out of Columbia 38-21 on Saturday night in a game that everyone involved hopes to soon forget.

Well, at least three of the four quarters were forgettable. Kentucky started off extremely strong with an almost picture-perfect opening quadrant of football. They ran the ball with ease and power and defended with reckless abandon.

Then there was that stupid fake punt that changed everything.

Was there offensive pass interference that helped Missouri’s gunner Moss one of Kentucky’s best cornerbacks? Probably. But out of all the bad or missed calls over the evening, it is tough to blame the officials for not blowing their whistles on that one. Mizzou made a tremendous play and it seemingly broke the home team’s soul.

The Tigers went on to outscore the ‘Cats 38-7, turning the tables on what looked like a potential rout in favor of the men in black, who jumped out to an early 14-point lead. Penalties, dropped passes, and more penalties plagued Kentucky throughout the game as the players exemplified the undisciplined version of themselves that comes out far too often, especially as of late.

KSR’s Rapid Reaction

While most of the Big Blue Nation was already at home sleeping off the loss, the KSR crew was standing in an empty tunnel in Kroger Field, still in disbelief by Kentucky’s lack of fight against Missouri. Nick Roush gave his postgame thoughts with Drew Franklin and Adam Luckett from the scene. If you want, hit play below to see three disappointed Cats fans who are tired because it’s late, and tired of Kentucky beating itself with costly mistakes and undisciplined football.

Mark Stoops plans to use the bye week to get better

You think you’re frustrated? Try being Mark Stoops. Kentucky’s head coach was none too happy after the game, citing some of the same glaring deficiencies that fans saw.

Stoops pointed to the team’s lack of discipline in his opening remarks. “We need to get to this off week and take a good look at ourselves and improve in a lot of areas,” he said. “Starting with the discipline of this team.”

Other frustrations include pass protection, getting behind the chains, dropped passes, and much more. “There’s frustrations across the board,” Stoops admitted.

With two weeks before Kentucky faces Tennessee, let’s hope Stoops can clean up a lot of these issues. Until then, see what Stoops had to say about this loss:

BBNFL Schedule

Forget about the misery that is last night’s Kentucky football game and turn your attention to the players of yesteryear still doing battle in the professional ranks. Here is who and when to watch during week six of the NFL:

Today:

9:00 a.m. (NFL Network): Ravens @ Titans (Levis)
1:00 p.m. (CBS): Commanders (Rodriguez, Davis) @ Falcons (Ali, Dupree)
1:00 p.m. (CBS): Seahawks @ Bengals
1:00 p.m. (CBS): Panthers @ Dolphins (Joseph)
1:00 p.m. (CBS): Colts @ Jaguars (Fortner, Allen)
1:00 p.m. (FOX): Vikings @ Bears
1:00 p.m. (FOX): 49ers @ Browns (Smith)
1:00 p.m. (FOX): Saints (Bowden, Young, Johnson Jr.) @ Texans
4:05 p.m. (CBS): Patriots @ Raiders
4:25 p.m. (FOX): Eagles @ Jets (Cobb, Echols)
4:25 p.m. (FOX): Lions (Paschal) @ Buccaneers
8:20 p.m. (NBC): Giants (Robinson) @ Bills

Monday:

8:15 p.m. (ESPN) Cowboys @ Chargers

Friendly reminder: Kentucky basketball’s Big Blue Madness was awesome

I will spare you the over-reactionary impulse to say, “Basketball is right around the corner.” There is still a lot left in this football team and a tremendous season is well within grasp. However, it is hard not to peek a little bit ahead and get excited about this basketball team.

Despite having to go without its top two frontcourt players, Ugonna Onyenso and Aaron Bradshaw, for another month or two depending on who and when you ask, the hype around this team hasn’t been this palpable since the Fox, Monk, and Bam season. There is just something about what we are hearing about this team, all the positive vibes radiating from it, that makes me think the downtrodden years are in the past.

On Friday, Big Blue Madness did nothing but reinforce this notion. This group looks like they are having fun and embracing the culture of Kentucky basketball at every step. Antonio Reeves won the 3-point contest and Joey “highest vertical jump on the team” Hart took down the dunk contest. But the real takeaway was the reinvigorated joy we all saw.

We even got a healthy dose of nostalgia with Boogie Cousins and MKG making an appearance.

Oh, and a certain 7-foot-2-inch (possibly 9-foot-2-inch based on pictures) Croatian also was in Rupp Arena, as Zvonimir Ivisic touched down on campus just in time to get his first of many standing ovations from roughly 20,000 people.

Basketball looks like it is going to be fun again, and I’m here for it. Watch KSR’s rapid reaction and I hope your day is as good as Jacob Polacheck’s after getting to pet an alpaca.