‘We’re gonna go and win this game.’ Kentucky focused on ending Big Blue Depression.
The University of Kentucky football program has an opportunity to generate some good will and briefly steal the spotlight following the men’s basketball team’s shocking loss to Evansville this week.
On the flip side, if the Wildcats’ weekend trip to Nashville goes awry, the commonwealth’s collective frustration would be palpable. A loss on Saturday would leave UK no further room for error in its quest for a bowl and would put Louisville in position of keeping the Cats out of the postseason. Gulp.
If the football team suffers a loss it would be similar to a stretch last year where, in the span of a week, the football team lost to Georgia at home in a battle of top-10 teams, the men’s basketball team got destroyed by Duke as part of the Champions Classic and then the football team faltered against a lesser Tennessee squad.
This football team’s already checked the box beside “excruciating loss to Tennessee” and the basketball team said “Yes!” to a historic defeat as the nation’s No. 1 team. Last season, at least, the hoopers created a positive memory (a 71-59 win over Southern Illinois) the night before the UT football loss.
There’s no potential for such a buffer this season; it’s up to Mark Stoops’ squad to bring Big Blue Nation back to its feet. Vanderbilt (2-7) is on deck.
It’s easy to allow last year’s 14-7 struggle at Kroger Field to cloud one’s projection for this renewal of the series. That Kentucky team was better than this Kentucky team, but that Vanderbilt team was way better than this Vanderbilt team. Mark Stoops’ teams are 4-2 and have won three straight against the Commodores, who haven’t scored more than 22 points against Kentucky in Stoops’ tenure.
Defensive coordinator Brad White said Wednesday that there’s been urgency since after the first bye, but wouldn’t say that it’s intensified with three games left to win two, as far as bowl eligibility goes. Kentucky has shaken up its routine this week, though. It practiced inside Kroger Field — not in its indoor facility or its outdoor complex — to better simulate game conditions in below-freezing temperatures Wednesday night. Stoops said UK would travel earlier than usual to Nashville and practice at the Tennessee Titans’ facility to get the team, which is 0-3 in road games this year, better acclimated away from Lexington.
“We realize it’s the next game and it’s an important game,” White said. “When you get to the back half of the season, every game matters, and that’s the beauty of college football compared to some other sports. You only get 12 guaranteed, so they all matter, but I do think there’s a focus and an understanding that we’re gonna be in a dog fight from start to finish.”
Vanderbilt last defeated UK, 21-17, in 2015. That contest, played in Nashville, was Kentucky’s fifth straight loss that year. The circumstances were eerily similar: Vandy was able to pick up its second Southeastern Conference win (the Commodores are 1-5 in SEC play entering Saturday) while Kentucky was left with two games left to earn bowl eligibility (it would defeat FCS opponent Charlotte the next weak before falling at home to Louisville).
That was Derek Mason’s second season at Vanderbilt, and the only one in which he’s beaten the Cats.
“Their coach is receiving some hell, so they’re gonna come out and play hard,” offensive tackle Logan Stenberg said. “It’s not gonna be a cake walk, so we’re gonna prepare that way.”
Whether they make it a cake walk or not, the Wildcats should avoid that repeat of 2015. They opened as a 9.5-point favorite and have been bet up to a 10.5-point favorite (contrast that with the spot-on spread in 2015, when the Cats were a four-point road underdog). There’s a great deal of confidence in Kentucky to take care of business this week, and it begins in the locker room.
“We obviously all want to go bowling,” Stenberg said. “We all have a common goal. We’re gonna go and win this game, and then we’re gonna win the two after, and we’re gonna approach every week the same.”
