Today On KSR: Kentucky Football's Offseason Begins And Other UK Things To Know

Good morning! It’s a beautiful Monday here in the Commonwealth because Big Blue Nation is still relishing Saturday’s rivalry game win in the Governor’s Cup. So if you see a Louisville fan today, be sure to give them your best L’s down and a smile.

There were a lot of those in Kroger Field on Saturday.

While we keep this party going, let’s catch up on all there is to know heading into a new week with the Governor’s Cup trophy in place at home for another year.

KENTUCKY FOOTBALL

NO MONDAY WITH MARK TODAY

As much as we’d love to hear Mark Stoops talk about Kentucky Football today, the end of the regular season marked the end of “Mondays with Mark” and his regular weekly press conferences. Stoops will instead spend his Monday doing other things because his team has the week off from practice with no game to prepare for next Saturday. (Don’t forget to cancel your SEC Championship hotels this week.)

However, Stoops has one last Monday night call-in show in him to wrap up the season. He’s on air with Tom Leach tonight from 6-7 PM on the UK Sports Network.

STAFF CHANGES AHEAD

With the players gone to rest up and be college kids, one of the “other things” Mark Stoops will do today and this week is review his coaching staff for any changes that need to be made moving forward. After Saturday’s game, Stoops said, “I got to get into work tomorrow and really take a good look at things and see where we are at and go from there.”

It’s no secret the offensive coordinator position is one that could be reopened, but KSR’s Matt Jones believes it’ll be a few days until anything is announced about Rich Scangarello’s future in Lexington. At least two changes will be made throughout the staff, Jones and others are speculating.

BACKUP WIDE RECEIVERS HINT AT TRANSFERS

Not just a time for coaching shakeups, a couple of Kentucky’s wide receivers hinted at transfers soon after the regular season ended. Both Chauncey Magwood and Chris Lewis hopped on Twitter on Sunday to say their goodbyes to Big Blue Nation, likely confirming their exits from Kentucky’s receiver room, where true freshmen Dane Key and Barion Brown jumped the depth chart in their debut seasons.

It’s been real #BBN 💙💙

— CHAUNCEY MAGWOOD (@illest_magg) November 27, 2022

It was fun while it lasted #BBN 💙

— ~DEUCE~ 🎭 (@ChrisLew__) November 27, 2022

Before Key and Brown became stars, Magwood and Lewis were the two promising receivers from Kentucky’s 2021 recruiting class.

LATEST BOWL PROJECTIONS

Looking ahead to the postseason, there is still uncertainty around the Wildcats in the latest round of bowl forecasting after the weekend’s results in college football. The Pool of Six games (Outback Bowl, Gator Bowl, Music City Bowl, Texas Bowl, Liberty Bowl, and Las Vegas Bowl) have several options to choose from and Kentucky is in the mix of comparable teams that will get sorted out and sent to one of those postseason sites.

The Liberty Bowl in Memphis is high on the list of places to watch, according to KSR’s own Adam Luckett, but other various expert predictions around the internet call the Music City and Texas Bowls likely destinations for the Cats. Nothing is set in stone or obvious right now.

KENTUCKY MEN’S SOCCER

WILDCATS ELIMINATED FROM NCAA TOURNAMENT

It’s the end of the road for Kentucky Men’s Soccer in the NCAA Tournament because last night, the Wildcats lost at home to Pittsburgh in the NCAA’s Sweet 16 round. The Panthers broke a 1-1 tie when Bertin Jacquesson scored with three minutes left on the clock at The Bell. Making things worse, Pitt was playing down one man when Jacquessor scored the game-winner against the Cats.

A heartbreaking defeat, Kentucky was the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.

REGULAR SEASON PERFECTION

The early exit from the postseason is disappointing, but Kentucky can still hang its cleats on winning the Sun Belt’s regular season and tournament championships in the Wildcats’ first season in the league; in addition to the school’s first-ever undefeated regular season.

KENTUCKY VOLLEYBALL

HOSTING NCAA TOURNAMENT

You might’ve been too busy watching the NFL to notice yesterday’s NCAA Women’s Volleyball Selection Special, where Kentucky Volleyball earned a No. 3 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Craig Skinner’s Wildcats will host the first two rounds of the tournament at Memorial Coliseum, first against Loyola-Chicago on Thursday and then against the winner of No. 6 Western Kentucky/Bowling Green on Friday.

See the entire bracket at NCAA.com.

SEC CHAMPIONS

Earlier in the weekend, Kentucky Volleyball swept South Carolina to win its sixth consecutive Southeastern Conference championship. Kentucky finished conference play with a 15-3 record and a share of the trophy with Florida.

KENTUCKY BASKETBALL

NEW TOP 25 TODAY

Coming up at noon-ish today, the Associated Press will update its Top 25 to reflect the last week of results in college basketball. There were plenty of losses among ranked teams since the last update, but don’t expect a big move from Kentucky at No. 15, if any move at all.

Kentucky is currently No. 13 in the Coaches Poll, which will be updated today, too.

A NEW NO. 1 TEAM

One thing that will change in the new Top 25 is North Carolina’s place atop the polls. Our nation’s reigning runner-up will lose its top spot to Houston after dropping Sunday’s game versus Alabama in four overtimes, coming off a loss to Iowa State earlier in the week.

BRUISER FLINT TO PREVIEW THE BELLARMINE GAME

Coming up at 11 AM today, Kentucky assistant Bruiser Flint will hold a press conference to discuss Kentucky’s return to Rupp Arena to host Bellarmine tomorrow night. It’s odd that John Calipari has stopped doing these pregame press conferences, but we’ll still be there for Flint’s comments about the next game on the schedule.

You can hear from Calipari tonight on his call-in show from 7-8 PM on the UK Sports Network.

LANCE WARE’S NEW TRUE BLUE CUSTOMS

Ware channeled Mike Tyson’s Punchout for his latest custom sneakers from True Blue Customs.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by True Blue (@truebluecustoms)

THE BIG 12/SEC CHALLENGE IS DONE AFTER THIS SEASON

Breaking news this morning: This year’s Big 12/SEC Challenge will be the last after a 10-year run of cross-conference rivalries. ESPN will no longer continue the Big 12/SEC or ACC/Big Ten Challenges after this season, per Andy Katz.

This will free up a spot for Kentucky Basketball to–hopefully–add another marquee home-and-home series to future schedules.

NFL

THE BENGALS CHEATED

Titan Up today, tomorrow, and always.

WHAT’S AHEAD

KSR FOOTBALL PODCAST

Tonight at 7 PM on KSR’s YouTube channel, the KSR Football Podcast will continue the celebration of the Governor’s Cup win over Louisville. We’ll talk a little season review and any coaching changes to be made in the days ahead, too.

Join us online for the live broadcast and leave comments to participate.

SHORT WEEK OF MATT JONES ON KSR

On this morning’s KSR, Matt Jones and Ryan Lemond will give their takeaways from the game and the current state of the program and staff. Matt is only on the air two days this week so tune in for your Matt Jones fix before he hands the show off to Ryan, Shannon, and me beginning on Wednesday.

KHSAA STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Then later this week, Kroger Field will host all six high school football state championship games:

Friday, Dec. 2
Class A, Pikeville (11-2) vs. Raceland (13-1), noon
Class 2A, Beechwood (13-1) vs. Mayfield (14-0), 4 p.m.
Class 4A, Corbin (14-0) vs. Boyle County (12-2), 8 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 3
Class 3A, Christian Academy (14-0) vs. Bardstown (14-0), noon
Class 6A, Male vs. Bullitt East (13-1), 4 p.m.
Class 5A, Bowling Green (12-2) vs. Frederick Douglass, 8 p.m.

USA’S MUST-WIN WORLD CUP GAME

Tomorrow at 2 PM, the United States must beat Iran to stay alive in the World Cup. Join us at KSBar and Grille for a watch party for America.

And as always, Go Cats.