The Student Activities Board’s (SAB) annual “Paint Blue” event was held across from Memorial Coliseum Thursday night, Sept. 29.
It featured free T-shirts and Kona Ice, as well as the opportunity to dance, hangout and be splattered with paint.
Paint Blue was originally set to take place on Sept. 2, over “Labor Stay” weekend, but was resched uled due to improper weather con ditions.
Despite being postponed, tem peratures were still as low as 48 degrees during Paint Blue, causing some students to pass on the event.
Freshman Sudeys Saman said that even with the cold, he was de termined to go.
“I think it’s part of the fresh man experience to go to as many events as you can,” he said. “This wasn’t the original date … that also probably led to the turnout being less.”
While many agreed the atten dance was underwhelming, SAB Director of Concerts Sophie Stone said Paint Blue had “gone great” regardless.
“Even with the cold weather people are still here … we weren’t prepared for the fact that it was go ing to be cold, but students seem to be having just as much fun as if we did it on Labor Day, which is when
it (the event) was planned for,” Stone said.
The music at the event was per formed by a live DJ and consisted mainly of dubstep and trap remix es to popular songs, by artists like Adele, Jack Harlow and Dua Lipa, as well as mashups.
Chilean native and transfer stu dent Franco Tapia said he would have preferred more Reggaeton tunes.
Tapia had “stumbled upon the event,” and said the highlight of it was the free Kona Ice, though he thought the entirety of the event was fun.
“Every other day I try to do something because if you study too much it can cause too much stress,” Tapia said. “This was worth it.”
Mac Stokan, a second-year grad student at UK, said he came to this year’s Paint Blue to relive old times.
“I did this event back in 2019 … it was one of my core memories at UK,” Stokan said. “It is a bit chilly, but I think the adrenaline kicking in definitely helps ... it doesn’t help that I have a snow cone.”
With it being his last year at the university, Stokan added that he “wanted to go all out” this time, with the goal being to be complete ly covered in paint. He then reen tered the crowd, snow cone in hand.
On the opposite side, Sophomore Brianna Holliday said she wasn’t sure what to expect with Paint Blue.
Students get splashed with paint at the SAB Paint Blue event on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.
“I just love Kona Ice, and I love free stuff,” Holliday said. “I think it was worth it.”
Sophomore William Taylor said they had not “planned very well” but decided to get covered with paint anyways.
Taylor, who attended the event for the promotion of a free t-shirt, said they decided the experience was worth potentially ruining their clothes.
“I’m just glad I’m wearing black pants,” Taylor said. “I want more
paint on me honestly,”
Instead of wearing the T-shirt provided and being shot with paint himself, senior Zane Polk laid his shirts on the grass and requested them to be painted while he ob served at a distance.
“I only have so many good pairs of jeans,” Polk said.
Polk attributed bad planning as his motivation for the move and admitted he wasn’t sure how the process of getting the shirts painted had worked beforehand.
By Paul Schlowak features@kykernel.com
This is Humans of UK, inspired by the Humans of New York Instagram series by photographer and author Brandon Stanton. This series dives into the individuals of UK as well as their stories, strifes and passions.
As classes start to get more stressful and the first midterms are due, the de mand for relaxing and fun ac tivities rises.
For seniors Shelby Fraley and Cora Spohn, conversa tional knitting seems to be the best way to cope with stress while having a good time. The two high school friends are the presidents of UK’s Knitting Club.
“Our members sit togeth er at a table and just work on their separate projects, and we’re there for each other if we need help with something or to teach specific things ... or just for camaraderie,” Fra ley said.
Fraley showed off her achievements on her phone, including a long scarf that took her one year to knit. Un til now, they knitted socks, sweaters, blankets and laces.
Fraley said another benefit
DAVID FALADE | STAFFof knitting is coping with dis traction. Instead of picking up her phone and scrolling, she said she is happy about having an alternative.
“I’m actually doing some thing that feels productive and is probably much better for my mental health,” she said.
The meetings are a “scheduled break for us from
school,” biology major Spohn said.
Both started their “knitting career” in high school when they attended an extracur ricular knitting course. After coming to UK, they realized that there was no organized knitting club on campus.
“We were hoping that UK would have a club because they boast about having
200 organizations,” Sophn said.”We looked and looked, and we couldn’t find it. So we said, ‘Well, we’ll just make our own.’”
Three years later, about 20 students attend the meetings to knit and talk. Even though Fraley said that knitting “is not just for old ladies,” she said the knitting club is still mostly white and female. They try to make the club more diverse and include men in order to challenge the female stereotype of knitting.
Now and then, they said they received “stupid” com ments.They were once asked if joining the knitting club would be “a good way to pick up girls.” However, these comments are rare.
“Mostly, people are just curious,” Fraley said.
By hosting beginner les sons, Spohn and Fraley tar get people who have never knitted before. They invite everyone to join and provide, if needed, the necessary ma terials.
Since both are seniors, they said their biggest chal lenge is finding a successor who continues the club. Fra ley said they would love to find someone who figures out “how to grow” and imple ment new projects and ideas.
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340 McVey Hall University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40506
On the front cover:
JACK WEAVER | STAFF Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Will Levis (7) walks off the field after the No. 7 Kentucky vs. No. 14 Ole Miss football game on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.
Author and podcast host Dani Shapiro spoke to UK students, faculty and staff about storytelling and family secrecy on Thursday, Sept. 29. Jeff Rice, department chair for Writing Rhetoric and Digital Studies, welcomed Shapiro to campus.
He said his department wanted to in vite Shapiro because of the previous lack of activities after the pandemic. Rice said Shapiro’s discussion topic, “Family Se crets and the Stories We Carry,” would be helpful as the academic year begins.
“Today we welcome the speaker who writes about the human condition, whose guests come and speak about the human condition, and we’re really happy she’s here with us today,” Rice said.
Some students attended for classes with topics similar to those Shapiro dis cussed. Many were also curious to learn why understanding their own stories mat tered.
UK senior Lily Beasley said she want ed to hear about Shapiro’s personal expe riences with self defining stories.
“I thought it was interesting, just the concept of the stories that we carry,” Bea sley said. “I’m just intrigued to hear more about how she has done that personally.”
Shapiro explained how she became a writer and how her family history affects her process of storytelling.
She told the audience when she was 23 years old, her father passed away in a car crash and her mother was badly injured. She was an only child and her loneliness produced a need for storytelling.
The story she referenced inspired her first memoir. Shapiro’s discovery that the man who had raised her was not her bi ological father furthered her interest in family secrets.
“The biggest secret of all was me,” she said. “The truth of my identity had been kept from me all my life, and on some lev el – some unspoken, unthought level – I knew.”
Shapiro began her podcast, “Family Secrets,” because after exposing her se cret, others wanted to tell their own. She said she feels protective of her guests while they share vulnerable parts of their lives.
Shapiro also discussed difficulties in creating a podcast. She had no prior ex perience producing a podcast before mak ing her own. She said it took her years to feel comfortable making episodes of the podcast, and that it takes a team of people many hours to create one episode.
“I felt like a total newbie. I knew a lot about storytelling but not this kind of sto rytelling. I had to learn a whole new lan guage,” she said.
Shapiro described her writing endeav ors about family secrets as her way of at tempting to tell stories in differing ways. She said that every risk she has taken in her writing career has served her larger purpose of storytelling.
Shapiro took questions from the audi ence to close her speech. One audience member asked about the similarities be tween technical writing and storytelling.
Shapiro said that technical writing can still be supported by good storytelling.
“Thinking of it as something that has
a shape, thinking of it as something that is storytelling,” she said. “The data tells a story.”
Another audience member asked if it was hard for Shapiro to stay genuine with guests on her podcasts after talking to so many about their secrets. Shapiro credited discovery with her continued passion of storytelling.
“I never ask the same questions,” she said. “Discovery is so much of storytell ing and if I were no longer discovering through the process of these interviews for “Family Secrets,” I wouldn’t do it
anymore.”
Throughout her talk and while an swering questions, Shapiro stressed how important learning how to tell effective stories was to her. She said that being curious about the world and communi cating that curiosity well are vital for success.
“To understand the connection, and the picture, and the sense of somebody’s life, you have to be able to understand their story and you have to be able to un derstand your own in order to be able to make that kind of connection,” she said.
The Kentucky Theatre (TKT) will celebrate turning 100 years old during the month of October. The month-long celebration will feature an Anniversary Gala to commemorate the history of the theater.
General Manager of TKT Fred Mills has watched the theater grow into a hub of family entertainment since he began working at TKT in the summer of 1963. Mills called TKT “Lexington’s best kept secret” and insisted every Lexing ton resident should stop in at least once.
“Although someone may have lived in Lexington for 10 years or 20 years, many people have not been in The Ken tucky Theatre before,” he said. “It’s im portant to keep reaching out there – we have this gem in downtown Lexington, (everyone) needs to come experience this.”
Mills hopes the upcoming celebra tions will bring in more customers and connect people through the love of cin ema.
The theater’s month-long celebra tions begin with the Anniversary Gala and Shindig at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 8, featuring silent auctions, 1920s films, birthday cupcakes, period cocktails and more during the 2-hour event. Attendees are encouraged to wear cocktail attire.
Immediately following the Gala, a casual Anniversary Shindig will begin, featuring live swing music performed by The Swells. Tickets for the events can be purchased online.
Through the offerings of the anniver sary celebrations, Mills hopes to expand
Kentucky Theatre manager Fred Mills sits among the empty seats of the Kentucky Theater
amid a lengthy closure on Monday, Sept 13, 2021, in Lexington, Kentucky.
the theater’s impact on the citizens of Lexington.
“We’ve always tried to make the the ater everybody’s theater, since I’ve been associated with it,” Mills said. “Over the years I think the theater has meant a whole lot to generations of college stu dents.”
Mills also highlighted the upcoming showing of the 1922 silent film “Nos feratu” which will feature a live organ accompaniment. Costumes are encour aged, but not required, for the showing at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15.
Other events such as showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Coraline,” “Hocus Pocus” and more
will take place throughout the month.
Throughout the 100 years of histo ry contained in the walls of TKT, there also lies tragedy. A fire originating in a neighboring storefront caused extreme damage to the theater in 1987. After a forced five year closure and hefty ren ovation, the theater was able to reopen.
Mills, who worked at TKT during the fire, was optimistic about the future of the theater. He called TKT resilient and said he hopes to continue sharing his love for cinema in the years to come.
“Maybe out of something bad came something good,” he said. “The theater got renovated and restored, and here we are approximately 30 years later, and
we’re getting ready to celebrate our 100th anniversary.”
Hayward Wilkirson, director of TKT, said the theater has overcome a lot of hurdles during its lifetime, including the 1987 fire and, more recently, the COVID pandemic. Through persever ance, the theater has continued to be a home for the arts in Lexington, he said.
Wilkirson said the theater looks for ward to a long future serving the Lex ington community.
“We’re not the oldest cinema in the U.S., but we’re one of the handful who are 100, and that’s really cool,” Wilkir son said. “We look forward to being here for another 100 years.”
Neima Moaven left Denver with a dream, arrived in Lexington and made it happen.
The success of the sports programs at UK made the decision to at tend the university easy for Moaven. He knew wanted to be a sports agent and that UK was his ticket in.
“A lot of people ask, ‘Why choose Kentucky?’ and it was very simple for me. It was sports,” he said.
However, when he ar rived, he quickly realized there was no real access to the sports industry pipeline like he imagined.
Moaven said, “I came in knowing that I wanted to go into the sports in dustry and hoped that the university would help me do so. I went looking just like any other student, and didn’t really come across much.”
That’s when he went to his Beta Theta Pi brother and “little” Drew Rodriguez with an idea to make the “ticket” that he dreamed of into a reality for himself and other stu
dents with similar aspira tions at the university.
“I came across this model that was used at other universities, and I approached Drew with this idea to help students get jobs in the sports in dustry. Then we kind of just went from there,” Moaven said.
Together, Moaven and Rodriguez are co-found ers and co-presidents of the Kentucky Sports Industry Conference (KSIC).
Moaven said, “We wanted to build a big ger platform for UK stu dents with the mission of helping them break into industry.”
Rodriguez said the conference is complete ly student-led, which he called “something we’re really proud of.”
“Fifteen people have come together for the past year without any form of compensation, putting in countless hours because we want our out come to be UK being the top school for the sports industry,” he said.
According to the KSIC Program Playbook, their vision is to “create the premier talent pipeline
for the sports industry” and their mission is to “develop and connect di verse talent to recruit to the top companies and teams in the sports indus try nationally.”
Last summer, the two went to Atlanta and New York and spoke with over 50 people in the sports industry.
“Our vision, our North Star, how we measure our success is how many stu dents get into internships and full-time jobs,” Ro driguez said.
Moaven said that he had gained more expe rience and learned more from some successful entities in the sports industry than he had ever predicted.
“I had no intention of really being at the table with a bunch of heavy hitters here at a university level and on the national level with our speakers and partners,” he said.
KSIC is that ticket into the sports industry that Moaven had been looking for.
Moaven has been able to get experience as a manager on the UK men’s basketball team and as an intern on Shae
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ADDIE FRESCA PHOTOGRAPHYNeima Moaven, left, and Drew Rodriguez, right, pose for a photo at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.
don Sharpe’s team, while Rodriguez was a sum mer analyst for Goldman Sachs and an intern at Steve Young’s private eq uity firm.
KSIC is available to all students, as one’s ma jor has no effect on their ability to join. They have members with various majors such as communi cations, sports medicine, business and kinesiology.
There are also no fees to pay in order to reap the benefits of what KSIC has to offer.
KSIC hosts monthly workshops called “devel op sessions,” which help students learn or improve skills needed to help them break out into the sports industry.
On Oct. 7, 2022, KSIC will be hosting a ticketed conference where stu dents can network and connect with profession als in the industry.
“We’ve raised over $50,000 to pull this off, and we’ve gotten partners such as UK, Keeneland and Coca Cola,” Rodri
guez said.
The conference starts at 8 a.m. and has an hour allotted for general ad mission, breakfast and the opportunity to have one’s headshot taken for a résumé.
The event will also feature guest speakers UK men’s basketball coach John Calipari and Toronto Raptors General Manager Chad Sanders from 9-10 a.m.
From 10-11 a.m., there
University of Ken tucky professors, under graduate students and graduate students from a variety of vocations de veloped an antiviral mask to combat COVID-19 and other viruses.
This 12-person team is led by Dr. Dibakar Bhat tacharyya, director of the Center of Membrane Studies. Bhattacharyya has worked in chemical engineering at UK for around 50 years. He be gan working on the an tiviral mask project in April 2020, shortly after the first cases of corona virus were found in the United States.
The mask contains enzymes that attach to the spike proteins found in many viruses like COVID-19. The enzyme then deactivates the pro tein so it can no longer harm the human body.
Two of the many peo ple on the research team were Todd Hastings, pro fessor of electrical engi neering and the director of the Center of Nanoscale Science and Engineer ing, and senior chemi
cal engineering student Matthew Bernard.
“Although I am listed as the PI (principal inves tigator), there’s a lot of people involved,” Bhat tacharyya said.
He added that without everybody on the research team, the project would have never taken off.
Bernard said that his role in the project was working with the spike proteins. The mask need ed to not only be able to take out the proteins that bind with human cells, but also destroy them so if they are able to get through the mask they can’t infect the body.
Bernard was respon sible for developing an enzyme-embedded mem brane for the mask materi al, testing it with the spike proteins and designing a way to see the results. The team used a dye that would bind to the inside of the proteins when it broke apart.
Hastings worked with light scattering to detect when particles passed through the mask mate rial; when particles pass through the material, laser light scatters over, expos ing the particles. Hastings
said that Ph.D. student
Rollie Mills was a piv otal part of this process as well.
Other aspects of the project included develop ing a hydro-gel to keep the enzymes alive while on the mask. Bernard de scribed it as a “micro-en vironment where the enzymes can hang out.” The mask can be used as defense against many different viruses as well as the several variants of coronavirus.
The project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Bhat tacharyya said that the University of Kentucky’s facilities, departments and support centers were also crucial to the research.
“It’s not just the equip ment, but it’s having all the people,” Bhattacha ryya said.
He said that without the diversity of the peo ple, their backgrounds and their knowledge as well as the accessibility of research, the project would have been ex tremely difficult to pur sue, if not impossible.
Students, professors and researchers of biology, chemistry and engineer ing were integrated to form the team.
The team has applied
for a patent on the prod uct; until the masks are patented, Bhattacharyya said they are not avail able for use. However, he said that money was nev
er the goal.
“My satisfaction for this project is not making money,”Bhattacharyya said. “It’s saving the lives of people.”
JACK WEAVER | STAFFDibakar Bhattacharyya, left, and Rollie Mills pose for a photo on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022, at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.
The lawn surround ing Memorial Coliseum transformed into a sea of tents and UK-blue T-shirts last weekend at the Big Blue Madness Campout, returning for the first time since 2019 due to COVID.
Over 300 fans of all ages camped out for more than 24 hours in hopes of scoring free tickets to Big Blue Madness (BBM), UK basketball’s season kickoff event. BBM is a mens and womens bas ketball open practice, consisting of player intro ductions, practice drills, scrimmages and more.
Campers were able to interact with play ers and coaches, go to a watch party for the UKOle Miss football game, attend the UK-Alabama volleyball game, eat piz za, engage in a friendly cornhole competition and connect with other mem bers of the Big Blue Na tion, free of cost.
“It’s about a tradition, family, … meeting peo ple that share a common interest,” UK fan Kevin
Pieper said.
Despite tickets not be ing available until 9 Sun day morning, Pieper was among the first to arrive at 11 a.m on Friday, Sept. 30, accompanied by his pet rabbit, Chapo.
Pieper and Chapo sat in lawn chairs along Avenue of Champions until the next morning at 5, when the campout officially be gan.
Pieper said Chapo tagged along to bring good luck, calling him a “lucky rabbit.”
UK fan Anthony Bour land also brought along someone special to him: his son. Bourland has been coming to the BBM Cam pout since 2008. His son would accompany him when he was little, but they have missed the expe rience the past few years.
Bourland said his son was born into being a UK basketball fan, he and loved watching him expe rience the campout.
“The fact that my son and cousin got to get pic tures and meet (John Cali pari) and everything … was the lightup of my day because I like to bring oth er people to see their ex
UKPD officers and security form a neon yellow line in the middle of the road to monitor and prevent campers from rushing the lawn on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky. At 5 a.m. the campers were released and allowed to set up their campsites.
citement,” Bourland said.
Bourland also ex plained that in so many years of coming to the Campout, he made friends he now talks to “once a week.”
Talking about a friend he made at the Campout, Bourland said, “Me and him came from totally different backgrounds, but we totally clicked.
It’s that Kentucky thing.”
Bourland was thrilled to bring his son back and see his friends again af ter three years. He called the BBM Campout “a top notch vacation’’ and rem inisced on the past three canceled events.
“I haven’t been able to go to that spot that I go to every year, and that’s one of my favorite spots to go
because it’s nothing but love,” Bourland said. “No body angry or nothing, just people helping each other. This got shut down for a couple years and it’s al most heartbreaking.”
For some, the BBM Campout was not a con tinued tradition but a first time experience. Andrew Jones and Debbie Bruhn traveled from Flemings
burg, Kentucky, to get a taste of the excitement.
Bruhn said she came to try something new. She succeeded in her mission and credited the day with “a lot of firsts.” Bruhn got to attend her first ever volleyball game, and neither she nor Jones had been inside Memo rial Coliseum before the Campout.
A sea of tents stands quietly.
Jones attended the Campout in anticipation of another year of suc cess.
“I’ve kinda invest ed in this team, I really believe in them, and I wanna be a part of it,” he said.
The BBM Campout also attracted students, serving as a last hurrah for UK seniors Joey Hur ley, Benjamin Brown, Nicholas Lucy and Lu cas Labrillazo. Best friends since freshman year, Hurley, Brown,
Lucy and Labrillazo do everything together. So this year, they decid ed to pitch a tent at the BBM campout.
“We had heard about the event before but didn’t get to go our freshman, sophomore or junior year, so it’s kinda like our last chance to do it,” Hurley said.“We figured we would check it out, see what it’s like.”
Although spending a weekend camping for tickets to an event might sound outlandish
to some, it is well worth it to the fans who at tend the BBM Campout. Bourland didn’t mind the loss of sleep.
“I get my eight hours, maybe nine, every night, and I ain’t been asleep. And so for me, right now it’s like I’m running on just being here,” Bourland said.
“This place is keeping me awake right now.
And the people around me, I just love them. I just love the whole at mosphere.”
Coming off a 22-19 loss in Oxford against then No. 14 Ole Miss, Kentucky seeks to rebound at home against South Carolina.
The loss was the first of the season for the Wildcats, seeing the team go from No. 7 down to No. 13 in the AP Poll, but it was far from the typical straightfor ward loss that is so prevalent in college football.
No, Kentucky was not sim ply outclassed by Ole Miss in Rebel territory. In fact, Ken tucky had multiple chances to win, and arguably should have easily defeated the Rebels to remain undefeated.
It would be a lie to say that the game against Ole Miss was the first time the Cats had dis played this tendency to shoot itself in the foot, and if patterns are to be followed, it likely won’t be the last time.
This is something that is certain to factor against the Gamecocks this Saturday, de spite many UK fans writing off USC as nothing more than a bottom tier SEC team this sea son.
While, yes, South Carolina was decimated 48-7 by Geor gia and lost 44-30 to Arkansas, since then the Gamecocks have defeated both Charlotte and South Carolina State 56-20 and 50-10 respectively.
While neither Charlotte nor
SC State are even close to elite teams this season, they provid ed South Carolina with some thing dangerous heading into Lexington: confidence.
Kentucky enters the game fresh off its first loss and, while spirits still seemed high after the game, that has to play a role in the confidence of a team, while South Carolina will be well-rested, having played on Thursday instead of Saturday, and confident.
That alone makes the matchup more interesting than many are giving it credit for.
Now, moving on to actual on-paper numbers and compar isons, Will Levis will undoubt edly be the better of the two quarterbacks to take the field on Saturday.
South Carolina starts Okla homa transfer Spencer Rattler, who is no slouch and is unde niably a talented passer, hasn’t been having the season he like ly would have hoped for going in.
Rattler has thrown for 1,121 yards, just under 300 yards short of Levis, for four touch downs, one-third of the amount Levis has thrown.
What paints Rattler in an even more negative light than having one-third of the touch downs of Levis is his intercep tion total.
Levis himself has gar nered a reputation by many for throwing interceptions, despite only throwing four so far this
season, but Rattler currently checks in with seven picks, nearly double the amount of Levis.
To frame that differently, Will Levis throws an average of three touchdown passes for every interception he throws, but Rattler throws nearly two interceptions for every touch down pass he throws.
Moving on to running backs, USC running back Mar Shawn Lloyd currently leads both teams in rushing yards with 324, while UK’s leading rusher, Kavosiey Smoke, cur rently stands with 269 yards, though the comparison isn’t entirely fair.
Lloyd has played in all five games for South Carolina this season and, while Smoke has also played in all five Kentucky games this season, he isn’t UK’s main rusher.
That designation goes to Chris Rodriguez Jr., who has only played in one game, the loss in Oxford, having served a four-game suspension for the first third of the season.
Rodriguez Jr. recorded 72 rushing yards against Ole Miss and, while it doesn’t consider different defenses and schemes, if that number was stretched into five games he would sit with 360 rushing yards, 36 more than Lloyd.
In the receiving department, UK boasts a trio of deep threats including freshman Barion Brown, Dane Key and veteran
transfer Tayvion Robinson.
Robinson leads the trio with 365 yards while Brown and Key follow with 282 and 269 yards respectively, creating a very difficult task of defending all three or risking giving up a 75-yard bomb with little warn ing.
On South Carolina’s side, Antwane Wells Jr. leads the Gamecocks with 309 yards followed by Jalen Brooks with 298 before a steep drop off down to tight end Jaheim Bell, who only has 121.
The Gamecock defense has also recorded four sacks this season and are likely to record more, with Kentucky hav ing given up 19 sacks in five games, over three per game.
Unfortunately for USC’s defense, the Gamecocks have given up an average of 27.2 points per game, with this num ber rising to 46 points per game against SEC opponents.
Compare that to Kentucky’s offense, which has scored an average of 28.8 points per game and that’s a recipe for a lot of UK points in Lexington this Saturday.
Kentucky’s defense, on the other hand, has only allowed 14.8 points per game this sea son, 24 points per game against SEC opponents, while South Carolina’s offense has only been able to muster up 37 total points in its two SEC games, 30 of which came from one game.
JACK WEAVER | STAFFThe “Across the (By)Line” series will give Kentucky football fans an in-depth look at their opponent for this week — from the mind of the opposing school’s sports editor.
This week: The Daily Gamecock, Lawson Murrell, South Carolina
Having decimated South Carolina State over the weekend, do you think South Carolina will be entering the matchup with UK with more confidence than many may predict?
Yes, I believe that the last two wins for the Gamecocks over UNC Charlotte and SC State will galvanize the team. Despite both games being viewed as easy wins for South Carolina it seems like the offense has final ly found its rhythm and the team will be looking to con tinue its momentum on the road against the Wildcats. While many would predict a blowout this weekend, I think that South Carolina will go into Lexington with a reinforced self-belief, and if the Gamecocks can estab lish the run early and keep the game relatively close, they may have a chance to pull off the upset.
Five games into the season, how impressed or unimpressed are you with what you’ve seen out of Spencer Rattler so far this season?
“It’s hard to definitively label Rattler’s performance as good or bad so far this season in my opinion. His stats are not eye-popping but objectively neither in terception against SC State was his fault. It’s important to remember that this is his first year with the team and I think most South Caroli na fans were, prematurely, expecting immediate pro duction. I think he has been holding onto the ball for too long in the pocket through out but as he continues to gain familiarity with the offensive scheme and his receivers there should be continued improvement. In short, I was unimpressed with how he began the year, but I have been impressed with how he has improved each game and I think he will continue to settle in.”
What is it about this South Carolina team that Kentucky is going to have the most issues with on Saturday?
The Gamecocks’ game against SC State was moved up to Thursday to avoid the effects of Hurricane Ian so the team will have extra rest
A group of South Carolina Gamecocks players makes a tackle during the South Carolina vs. Georgia State football game on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022, at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina.
ahead of its road test against Kentucky. South Carolina could get a few key contrib utors on both sides of the ball back from injury which will improve depth and could make it harder for the Wild cats run game to wear South Carolina down. Overall, South Carolina’s offense has been productive this season, aside from the Georgia game, so if Rattler, Marshawn Lloyd and Co. can move the ball consistently and keep the Gamecock defense off the field for stretches then the Wildcats could find them selves in a close game in the fourth quarter.
The line has opened up at UK-10.5, do you think that’s fair? What do you think is going to happen this Saturday?
As far as the betting line, I think it’s fair to think Kentucky will win by dou ble-digits at home com ing off a tough loss to Ole Miss. I think the Wildcats will bring some extra mo tivation into the game with the goal of reminding the SEC that they are one of the stronger teams this sea son and lifting the spirits of the fans. The Kentucky run game has been very produc tive this season and South
Carolina has struggled this year defending the run. In my opinion, pulling off an away win against a Top15 conference opponent will be a tall task for the Gamecocks and the extra rest could end up caus ing more harm than good. On Saturday I think Ken tucky will start off strong and it will be up to South Carolina to try to respond. I think it’s safe to back Ken tucky to right the ship with a win against the Game cocks.
Score
Kentucky
By Cole Parke sports@kykernel.com
No. 7 Kentucky football (4-1) suf fered its first loss of the season, coming up short 22-19 in Oxford against No. 14 Ole Miss (5-0).
The result ultimately came down to UK consistently shooting itself in the foot, costing itself around 20 points with mistakes and turnovers.
“Very difficult loss for our team,” head coach Mark Stoops said. “We didn’t play very precise in certain areas. We left points on the board, but I’m ex tremely proud of our team coming into halftime. Everybody had a calmness about it and they felt like we were going to go back out there in the second half and come back.”
The UK defense held strong for much of the game, allowing just two touchdowns, with one being a four-yard rush, and shutting down Ole Miss in the red zone, forcing two field goals and a turnover on downs.
That said, defensive coordina tor Brad White was unhappy with his squad’s ability to prevent third-and-long conversions, with the Rebels convert ing on third downs 50% of the time, in cluding a third-and-fifteen in the fourth quarter.
“The thing that got me the most was third-and-long,” White said. “We didn’t do well enough on third-and-long, some guys gotta be cleaner in that area. That’s something that has not been an area of concern up to this point.”
The offense, on the other hand, will return to Lexington with more to be disappointed about, being responsible for a number of the missed opportuni
JACK WEAVER | STAFFties.
UK sputtered out on its first offen sive drive after forcing the Rebels to punt to start the game before kicker
Matt Ruffolo missed a 39-yard field goal on the Cats’ next drive, leaving Kentucky scoreless after two drives.
Ruffolo connected on 87.5% of his kicks prior to the miss, with only one miss in Gainesville prior, with that per centage going down to 77% after.
To make matters worse, while Ken tucky was able to score a touchdown on
its next offensive drive, mostly thanks to freshman Barion Brown’ 85-yard kick return to the Ole Miss 15-yard line, Ruffolo’s extra point attempt was blocked by the Rebels as well.
The misses wouldn’t be the only blunders made by the special teams units against the Rebels, with the kickoff return team also costing UK a touchdown after accidentally tripping Brown on another return, turning a likely touchdown into a 54-yard return in the third quarter.
Going back to the second quarter, Kentucky once again faltered when it handed the Rebels two points on a sil ver platter as UK quarterback Will Le vis was sacked in the end zone.
While Levis tried to throw the ball away, he was called for intentional grounding, resulting in a safety against Kentucky.
“(It’s about) knowing the situa tion,” Levis said. “Not being aware of the pressure around you and just not throwing it out of bounds.”
Somehow, despite the mistakes, UK managed to put itself back in good position, scoring late in the second quarter off a five-yard pass to Tayvi on Robinson. The score put Kentucky back within a touchdown of Ole Miss, though it was still not without flaws as the extra point attempt was unsuccess ful due to a bad snap.
Starting the second half with the ball, Kentucky looked to gather mo mentum with a game-tying drive to start the half, but were only able to muster up a five-yard third-and-out.
Luck was in UK’s corner though, and, after forcing Ole Miss to punt as well, Kentucky tied the game on its next drive anyway after Levis connect ed with tight end Jordan Dingle, who ran it 17 yards into the end zone.
Ruffolo also earned a bit of redemp tion on the drive, making the extra point attempt and officially tying the game.
With the teams now tied, Ole Miss soon began marching down field, be fore a strong showing from the Ken tucky defense forced the Rebels to set tle for a field goal, bringing the score to 22-19.
The Kentucky mens bas ketball team officially re vealed its 2022-2023 sched ule on Tuesday, formally showing all the matchups the Wildcats will have this season.
The reveal was the cul mination after several small er reveals that had come in the months leading up to the full reveal including the conference schedule reveal, the announcement of the home-and-home with Gon zaga and the announcement of the second annual “Unity Series.”
Coming off a disappoint ing NCAA Tournament loss to No. 15 Saint Peter’s, the Wildcats look to rebound with the return of consensus national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe, starting point guard Sahvir Wheeler, developed players like Ja cob Toppin and Lance Ware, veteran transfer Antonio Reeves and highly touted freshman recruits Chris Liv ingston, Cason Wallace and Adou Thiero.
The mens basketball fes tivities kick off on Oct. 14 with the annual Big Blue Madness event beginning at 7 p.m.
The men return on Oct. 22 for the annual Blue-
White Game, which is be ing played in Appalachian Wireless Arena in Pikeville to support the victims of the flooding that occured in eastern Kentucky earlier this year.
Following the two scrim mages, Kentucky hosts two exhibition games against NCAA Division-2 schools Missouri Western State and Kentucky State on Oct. 30 and Nov. 3 respectively.
Officially kicking off the regular season on Nov. 7, Kentucky faces off with Howard inside Rupp Arena in the first ever meeting be tween the two schools.
The Wildcats host a sec ond straight home game in Rupp Arena, this time against Duquesne, on Nov. 11, the third ever meeting between the programs with UK winning 93-59 on Nov. 20, 2016.
Moving forward to one of the biggest games of the season, especially early on, Kentucky travels to India napolis for the State Farm Champions Classic against Michigan State on Nov. 15 inside Gainbridge Field house.
Following the matchup, Kentucky returns home to face off against South Caro lina State on Nov. 17, before hitting the road to Spokane, Washington, to face Gon
zaga in the aforementioned home-and-home series on Nov. 20.
Kentucky has two more home non-conference op ponents after the Gonzaga matchup, facing North Flor ida on Nov. 23 and Bellarm ine on Nov. 29, before trav eling to London, England, to face off against Michigan on Dec. 4.
Returning home again, Kentucky hosts Yale on Dec.10 before immediately traveling to New York City to face off against UCLA in side Madison Square Garden for the CBS Sports Classic on Dec.17 in the final regu lar season neutral site game.
Following UCLA, Ken tucky hosts Florida A&M in the second annual “Uni ty Series” on Dec. 21 be fore hitting the road for its first SEC game of the year against Missouri on Dec. 28.
Kentucky has two backto-back home games fol lowing the road SEC game, hosting Louisville on Dec. 31 and LSU on Jan. 3.
The matchup against the Cardinals is noteworthy as it marks the return of one of the most bitter rivalries in college basketball after Lou isville had to pull-out of the match in 2021 for concerns surrounding COVID-19.
From Jan. 7-24 the Cats get into the first big chunk
of their conference schedule that can be read about here:
its conference schedule until it concludes its regular sea son on the road at Arkansas on Mar. 4.
As it stands, the SEC Tournament is scheduled to take place from Mar. 8-12, with Kentucky seeking its first SEC Tournament Championship since 2018.
Following that bulk, the Cats host the reigning na tional championship win ning Kansas Jayhawks in Rupp Arena on Jan. 28 as part of the SEC/Big 12 chal lenge.
Kentucky returns to con ference play on Jan. 31, un dergoing the second bulk of
With the hype surround ing the program its likely Kentucky can expect a bid to the 2023 NCAA Tourna ment, whether that be as an SEC Champion and or an at-large candidate, with the 2023 Final Four currently scheduled to take place in Houston.
Now two days removed from the loss in Oxford, one question still lin gers on the mind of many UK fans: “What just happened?”
The answer is quite simple: noth ing that couldn’t have been predict ed beforehand.
More specifically, Kentucky’s in ability to tidy up little mistakes cost it a victory against a team closer to its own level of play.
Stepping back from just Ole Miss, this has been an issue all season for the Cats. Countless little mistakes that add up, but had yet to be prop erly punished.
Kentucky football has given up 19 sacks this season in just five games, and, while an easy scape goat, not all of that can be blamed on an inexperienced offensive line.
Several of the sacks Kentucky have given up are the result of silly little mistakes like running backs or wide receivers missing assignments, play calls that take a long time to de velop or, in the case of sack No. 19 that ended UK’s hopes of victory in Oxford, quarterback Will Levis just holding on to the ball too long.
It’s not just against teams like Ole Miss and Florida either. Ken tucky gave up three sacks to FCS Youngstown State. That is no longer just a thing that inevitably happens, that is a problem, and it’s far from the only one.
Kentucky left a lot of points on the board in Oxford. Kicker Matt Ruffolo missed a routine 39-yard
JACK WEAVER | STAFFKentucky Wildcats wide receiver Barion Brown (2) is tackled during the No. 7 Kentucky vs. No. 14 Ole Miss football game on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022, at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.
field goal, just the second he missed all season, and had an extra point blocked on his next kicking attempt, leaving four points that would have won the game for Kentucky right there.
Beyond that, the Cats gave up a safety, the second this season against UK, that gave Ole Miss two points without the offense even on the field.
Going back to that first safety, in Gainesville against Florida, it was a high snap on a punt attempt that
saw punter Colin Goodfellow have no choice but to boot the ball out the back of UK’s end zone to prevent a touchdown. Another tiny easy-tomake mistake.
Luckily for Kentucky though, Florida may have been a little over rated at No. 12 entering that match up and UK was able to leave The Swamp with a victory.
Back to the game in Oxford, Ken tucky also lost a touchdown when kick returner Barion Brown was tripped – by his own teammate – on
a return that many feel would have, or should have, been six points.
How did that possession end for Kentucky? A failed fourth down conversion attempt that led to a turn over on downs and zero points.
Perhaps most egregious of all, however, had to be the game-winning touchdown that was nullified by… a simple, easy-to-make mistake.
Levis had snapped the ball too early, in a situation that offensive co ordinator Rich Scangarello empha sized post-game was not one where the Cats needed to rush, leading to an illegal motion call on Brown, who didn’t have time to get set before the snap.
The very next play? The emphasis sack-fumble combo that led to Ole Miss merely kneeling the remainder of the game to claim victory, not even mentioning the fact that the fumble was the second of the game… on back-to-back drives.
That is simply too many mistakes for one team to overcome in one game against a top 15 opponent and still claim victory, but boy did UK come close.
At the end of the day there is nothing else to blame for the loss but those small errors in judgment just finally costing UK a game.
The mistakes have plagued the season as a whole – let’s not forget that the Northern Illinois game end ed as a one-score game after the Cats gave up a 63-yard pass because two UK defenders ran into each other on the play – and it was only a matter of time before Kentucky finally lost because of them.
The time has finally come. Midterm season is of ficially upon us, and for most of us, this period consists of spiraling stress levels, short tempers and overwhelming anxiety.
Many college students experience varying levels of stress for numerous reasons.
I know from personal expe rience that juggling classes, clubs, jobs and social events can affect one’s mental health, especially without ac cess to supportive resources.
The reality is, midterms are stressful. Panicking be fore an exam is a common experience all college stu dents have dealt with at some point in their life. You’re not alone.
With that in mind, there are many strategies and tech niques we can implement in our day-to-day lives to reduce and manage stress during these tedious times.
I have discovered that the most vital step in man aging stress is recognizing that what I’m experiencing is normal. Stress is a reaction that happens to everyone. Our bodies are programmed to react to it.
Stress can be beneficial, a way to stay motivated and meet daily challenges, but
too much can wear down your body and cause you to feel drained.
According to a poll tak en by ACHA 2018, 40% of college students in the U.S. admit to feeling inadequate ly-rested five out of seven days a week.
One in four American col lege students indicates that lack of sleep has affected their academic performance negatively: lower grades missed a paper or project deadline and had to withdraw from a class.
The poll shows that 45% of American college students claimed to undergo “more than average stress,” while 33% of students reported “average stress” and 12.7% said it is “tremendous stress.” Students who answered “no stress” or “less than average stress” combined for 9% to tal.
A strategy I have imple mented in my day-to-day life to combat stress is using a planner effectively. I like to write down everything I have to do. Getting it all out of my mind onto that piece of paper is a reliever, almost setting me free of this never-ending thought train. After I have this list, I can efficiently plan and manage my time.
During midterm season especially, being organized is crucial to success. Making
sure you can manage your time and can set some aside for yourself has an impact on your physical and mental health.
Another approach to tack ling this stress is reaching out for support. Remember that it’s okay to ask for help. You’re not being dramatic or overreacting.
So many students suffer in silence because of the stigma surrounding mental health.
There are multiple re sources on campus students can utilize for this exact rea son. UK’s Counseling Cen ter offers programs like indi vidual and group counseling sessions, massage chairs, drop-in-workshops and so much more.
My last word of advice is to surround yourself with the right people. Surround ing yourself with encour aging, understanding peers will benefit you in your studies and outside of them. Your advisors and mentors are always willing to talk and want to see you succeed.
Amid this crazy season, I hope the struggle of midterm stress becomes more openly recognized and supported. Hopefully, we can all begin to utilize these strategies in the movement toward the right direction and stop be ing so hard on ourselves.
burnt orange tones and a random vibrant magenta, Too Faced has the perfect one for you. If you need even more convincing, it will make your eyelids smell like pumpkin pie too.
If that’s not enough and you feel so inclined to rub pumpkin spice all over your body, Tree Hut created a pumpkin spice latte scented sugar scrub to be used in the shower. Who needs to spend $6 on a pumpkin spice latte when you can pay $7 to literally bathe in it?
By Lindsey Davis opinions@kykernel.comPumpkin spice flavored every thing is basically synonymous with the temperature cooling down and the leaves changing colors for some people. I am not one of them.
I love fall. I would live in the month of October forever if I could, but obtaining anything with the over ly sweet artificial pumpkin flavor is just not on my agenda.
When I think of fall, pumpkin patches, apple cider, haunted houses and scary movies fill my mind. For others, they wake up and long to in ject a seasonal latte into their veins.
I’m not talking about pumpkins
themselves, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread or even pumpkin pie. It’s the artificial flavor that leaves a bad taste in my mouth both literally and meta phorically.
I can see why it appeals to people because, you know, pumpkins, fall and Halloween, but it’s just overdone and overrated. Not to mention, some of the things that companies add this flavor to should be considered a crime, maybe even a felony.
It’s not even limited to just food and drinks anymore. Makeup, hy giene products, candles and even dog treats have fallen seasonal vic tim to companies taking part in lazy marketing for a cash grab. But com panies aren’t solely to blame. They
wouldn’t produce the product if they weren’t making a profit.
The pumpkin spice latte is one thing, but they took the idea, sprint ed a full marathon with it and nev er got tired. It fuels them like AAA batteries power the Energizer bunny.
One flavored beverage was un derstandable, but pumpkin spice soda has absolutely crossed the line. I could defend the pumpkin spice latte. It’s meant to be smooth and rich. It’s warm and comforting on a brisk fall day, but who would pos sibly want to taste pumpkin spice flavored TV static and then actually enjoy it?
If you’re looking for a new eye shadow palette filled mostly with
You can even take it one step fur ther with Native’s pumpkin spice latte scented deodorant. While it is paraben and aluminum free, it’s sim ply not necessary. I guess the worst case scenario would be, if it stops working, you’ll smell like a Star bucks barista working a busy shift.
Just starting to write the words “pumpkin spice SPAM” made me question my sanity, but yeah, it’s real. I sincerely wish it was a joke. Everyday for the rest of my life, I will wake up and hope to live in a world where this product never ex isted. I feel like I shouldn’t even have to defend myself on that one. I honestly just don’t want to think about it anymore.
Overall, I can understand why people would take part in some pumpkin spice foods or the latte to be festive for the fall season, but most of these products are just overkill.
Call me bitter all you want. It’s still better than pumpkin spice.
“Hocus Pocus 2” was just released and took a surprising spin from the orig inal.
The film “Hocus Pocus” came out almost three decades ago and is still a Halloween favorite. On Sept. 30, “Ho cus Pocus 2” was released through Disney+. All three main actors – Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy – returned for the sequel.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that when “Hocus Pocus 2” was announced, there was lots of excitement. Fans were ready to experience the clever, spooky and surprising plot that the original brought to the start of the season. Un fortunately, however, “Hocus Pocus 2” did not deliver.
Like the first movie, “Hocus Pocus 2” starts with an origin story. This time the movie details how the Sanderson Sisters got their power. From the start, the movie seemed to lack a particular focus.
The film then jumps to modern-day Salem. Right off the bat, it becomes a little generic. Becca and Izzy have re mained close friends, while their friend Cassie is no longer as close due to her boyfriend. Each Halloween, on Becca’s birthday, they do a magic ritual.
The Sanderson Sisters’ house has been turned into a magic shop, which is different from the original movie, where it was a museum. The owner gives the girls a candle for their ritual. That night
when they light the candle, the Sisters return.
The sisters break out into song be fore telling the girls that they will take their souls. Becca and Izzy convince the witches that young souls can be found in skin care products and take them to a drug store.
The dialogue used is, at best, uncon vincing and play-like. It is not what was expected out of a big upcoming film. The girls finally escape to find help and end up in the Sanderson home with the Sisters.
The two girls get locked in the base
ment while the Sanderson sisters decide to make a power spell. The Sisters go off trying to find the blood of an enemy for their spell. Cassie’s father happens to be a descendant of the witches’ past enemy, so they go after him. Becca and Izzy enlist Cassie’s help. Cassie recon nects with her other two friends once again when helping them try to defeat the Sisters.
It is fair to say that this movie was a disappointment for many fans. It took a turn from an iconic Halloween movie to a mediocre one.
One of the most significant differ
ences is the contrast with the origi nality of the first “Hocus Pocus.” The relationships in the sequel are overly predictable. The narrative is anything but unique. The light-hearted ending is not necessarily an issue, though it does change the movie’s atmosphere.
The sequel, like most, did not hold surprise or interest very well. The plot kept changing and producing different goals for the characters.
Although it was exciting to see the Sisters back on the screen, it did not cre ate the spookiness and appeal of the first movie.
will be different breakout ses sions to choose from, such as “Esports 101,” presented by Gen.G ESports, and “Captivated Audiences,” presented by Coca Cola.
Then, there will be a mid-day session about the “New Era of Media in Sports” presented by UK College of Communication and Information from 11 a.m. to noon, followed by a lunch break from 12-12:45 p.m.
NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young will host the afternoon session from 1-2 p.m., and the networking session will take place from 2-3:15 p.m.
The conference will come to an end with a closing ses sion about “Women Leaders in Sports,” presented by Ashley Combs, director of marketing at Excel Sports Management, as well as Jessica Holtz, co-head of basketball at CAA Sports. This event will last from 3:30-4:30 p.m.
The goal of the conference is to establish the pipeline that will help students make connections with leaders in the sports indus try in order to make their own way in.
“The UK College of Com munication and Information has been a huge help in all of this, so we definitely want to thank them for that. There is no major for this field right now, but they are helping us to create a pathway for students,” Rodriguez said.
Going off the numbers, it should be clear that UK is the clear favorite and the predictive metrics agree with Vegas putting the betting line at UK-10.5 and ESPN matchup predictor favor ing the Cats by 76%.
That said, the momentum and prior results going into the matchup may play a role in the contest with USC looking to re deem itself with newfound con fidence after beating up on lesser opponents.
Whether or not the Game cocks will find said SEC re demption or UK bounces back from its first loss is to be seen, but it is certainly an interesting storyline heading into the week end.
Kentucky and South Caro lina are currently scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, Oct. 8, inside Kroger Field with the game airing live on the SEC Network.
“In the red zone I felt we played better,” White said. “We forced one field goal there in the second half and made the fourth down stop, so we just have to play better (overall).”
Making the stand even more impressive was the fact that Kentucky had just lost its start ing middle linebacker, Jacquez Jones, to an apparent injury. Jones had previously referred to himself as the “quarterback of the defense.”
Entering the fourth quarter, Kentucky had possession of the ball trailing and was in dire need of a pivotal play.
It very nearly got it on a fourth down rushing play early in the quarter, but Levis fum bled the ball on the attempt and Ole Miss secured the recovery, marking the first turnover of the
game for UK.
Taking over the ball with less than three minutes to go, Ole Miss looked to close out the game, but Kentucky stood tall, forcing the Rebels to punt with just over a minute taken off the clock.
With anticipation rising, Le vis completed a 51-yard pass to Brown to put Kentucky on the Ole Miss seven yard line with plenty of time for a game win ner.
The Wildcats very nearly had just that when a seven yard touchdown pass was completed to freshman Dane Key, but un fortunately for Kentucky, Levis did not allow one of his receiv ers to get set from after motion, nullifying the play and backing Kentucky up five yards.
“It was one of those deals where we had plenty of time,” offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello said. “We shouldn’t have been rushing. It’s our job to make sure (everyone is set).”
Going for goal a second time, disaster struck for Ken tucky once again as Levis was sacked for the third time in the game, this time coughing up the football for his second fumble which, much like the first, was also recovered by Ole Miss.
“I could have done better to secure the ball on (the first fumble), he made a really good play,” Levis said. “The second one I just tried to hit a double move and throw it as he was coming out of his break (but) I gotta get the ball out earlier. I feel like we were the better team out there but we shot ourselves in the foot. I need to be a better game manager.”
With possession back, Ole Miss was content to kneel the ball and claim its first ranked
victory of the season and keep Kentucky winless in Oxford since 1978.
The Wildcats will look to bounce back in Lexington on Saturday, Oct. 8, hosting the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Kickoff between UK and USC is currently scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST and will air live on the SEC Network.
That’s not to say Kentucky is a bad team though, because it isn’t. The fact that the Cats were a field goal away from tying a top 15 opponent, who admitted ly made a number of their own mistakes, after all of those mis takes is a sign that Kentucky is actually probably a pretty good team.
The problem it has, though, is that many games in the SEC, including both of UK’s games against Florida and Ole Miss, ultimately come down to, not who’s better, but who makes the least mistakes and who gets the little things right the most.
So far this season Kentucky has been able to get away with making the most mistakes based on talent and scheme alone, but moving into the bulk of its SEC schedule, that’s going to get harder and harder to do.
Put simply, Kentucky needs to clean up the little mistakes if it wants to reach its full potential this season. It’s hard enough to be successful in the SEC during a normal season, it’s going to be impossible to be successful in the SEC if it keeps shooting it self in the foot every week.
Kentucky football did not get “exposed” this past Satur day like some on social media though it would, but it did lose. The only question now is what does head coach Mark Stoops change now that the first loss has come and gone to prevent a sec ond loss, lest anyone forget that last season’s first loss turned into a three-game losing streak.
It’s unlikely that will hap pen again this season, but work needs to be done to ensure that it won’t, and that work needs to start with cleaning up those silly little easy-to-make mistakes that have plagued UK all year.