For Kentucky football fans, the hopes and fears about UK’s game vs. Murray State
READ MORE
Preview: Kentucky vs. Murray State
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Murray State football game at Kroger Field.
Expand All
What Kentucky football backers should hope for and what they need to fear as the Wildcats (3-6, 1-6 SEC) prepare to play FCS foe Murray State (1-9, 0-7 Missouri Valley Football Conference):
Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m. EST Saturday, Nov. 16, at Kroger Field (capacity 61,000) on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
The game telecast is available only via internet streaming on the digital SEC Network+ or ESPN+ platforms.
Hopes
▪ The Murray State defense has not gotten an abundance of stops in 2024.
Out of 123 Football Championship Subdivision programs, Murray State is 113th in run defense (allowing 217 yards a game), 120th in pass defense (283.1), 122nd in total defense (550.2) and last in the country in scoring defense (allowing 45 points a game).
Given that reality, maybe a Kentucky offense that has not scored more than 20 points against an SEC foe this season can finally get some touchdowns on the scoreboard and have some fun.
▪ Regular Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff is expected to start after leaving UK’s 28-18 loss at Tennessee two weeks ago with an apparent head injury.
In an ideal scenario, UK will establish control of the game with Vandagriff and then get a chance to give true freshman QB Cutter Boley some work.
The 6-foot-5, 214-pound Boley was the No. 24-rated QB prospect in the country for the class of 2024 in the 247Sports Composite Rankings.
This season, the former Lexington Christian Academy star has appeared in only one game for UK. In mop-up duty in Kentucky’s 48-20 loss at Florida on Oct. 19, Boley went 0-of-6 passing and threw a pick six.
It would be nice for the freshman QB to get a chance to put up some positive plays and not have the struggles in “The Swamp” be his only game experience of 2024.
▪ Against a foe from a lower division of college football at the end of what has been (mostly) a lost Kentucky season, the Wildcats nevertheless come out and play with energy and conviction.
If that happens, it would be a positive sign about the underlying culture of Mark Stoops’ program.
Fears
▪ Kentucky comes out flat and plays to the perceived level of the competition.
As UK coach, Mark Stoops is 10-0 vs. FCS foes.
However, two of the games — a 34-27 overtime victory over Eastern Kentucky in 2015 and a 28-23 win over Chattanooga in 2021 — have been decided by one score. Two others, a 27-16 win over EKU in 2017, and a 28-17 victory over the Colonels in 2023, were competitive into the fourth quarter.
This year, a slog of a victory against an FCS foe that has struggled to the extent Murray State has will not be in the least bit satisfying.
▪ In 2016, Kentucky faced an FCS foe, Austin Peay, that came to Lexington on a 26-game losing streak. Even though the Wildcats needed to win the game to secure bowl eligibility, UK decided not to start regular quarterback Stephen Johnson — who came on the field for warm-ups wearing a bulky brace on his left knee.
With walk-on QB Luke Wright starting in place of Johnson, Kentucky promptly fell behind Austin Peay 13-0. Johnson had to be rushed into the game to calm the situation. He eventually led the Cats to a 49-13 win.
The moral of the story is that when there is ample talk in the run-up to a game of using a backup quarterback extensively, it can lead a team to overlook a foe it expects to beat.
In the two weeks since Kentucky last played, there has been a barrage of talk about the Wildcats using a backup QB vs. Murray State.
▪ Given Murray State’s defensive struggles, it seems unthinkable that Kentucky could lose. But if the game were to be close in the fourth quarter, the amount of pressure on the Wildcats would be stifling.
For UK to actually lose this one would be, in a sports context, an unmitigated disaster.
This story was originally published November 15, 2024 at 7:00 AM.
