It is officially Kentucky week. Bust out the red and black clothing, put up the car flags and cut-off contact with all annoying friends and relatives.
Beat Kentucky.
The Cats have started the week as 7.5 to 8 point favorites according to the folks in Vegas. That seems a tad high, but it will interesting to see how or if that line moves over the next few days. Multiple folks have told me that the staph infection in Mario Benavides' foot simply is not getting better, which leads me to believe that, short of a miracle, there's no way he goes against UK this weekend. We called him the most valuable player on the team during the summer, and I think the first two weeks of the season have proven that to be the case.
The good news is that defensive end B.J. Butler has returned to practice after missing the first two games because of injury. A huge addition to the defensive front four for a game where that unit can be difference-makers.
J-Bone has worse timing than O.J. Simpson. Literally, immediately after every single extreme low point during Friday night's game, there was the Bone popping up on the big screen. I don't think anyone was comforted.
The screaming of "put in Teddy" at games has now become the equivalent of the people who spend the entire concert screaming "play (insert artist's most popular song)!" You want to see the highly-touted freshman on the field, we get it...we got it the first 55 times you yelled it. Also, that's like right in my f---ing ear, bro.
Some people get into altercations because of "liquid courage," ut the only times I think I ever welcome confrontation are when I'm upset after Louisville losses. I can't think of a clever name for the phenomenon, or I would have labeled it in this sentence. So walking out of the stadium last Friday there was a kid who was talking about how Louisville could never win football games with a quarterback from a program like Trinity. This was his rationale behind making Teddy Bridgewater the full-time starter.
Now I'm usually not one for glory days, but this statement was far too absurd to let slide in these post-UL loss moments. I kindly let the young gentlemen know that Trinity was beating Elder 42-0 at Elder. His response was that Elder was an Ohio team and that Trinity needed to play some Florida schools and see what happens. My response was that Ohio probably plays the third or fourth best football in the country. His response was that me, Trinity and Will Stein should suck his balls. My response was that he has nice acne.
I'm not proud of it.
I'm kind of proud of it.
Have to give some quick love to Dexter Heyman, who was tremendous on Friday. That's the Dex we've been waiting four years to see, and the one who will hopefully be on full display for the next 11 games.
Remember that he started at linebacker in the 2008 27-2 Kentucky loss as a true freshman. He did not play well and only saw the field sporadically after that. This Saturday will definitely be a chance to exorcise some demons for No. 46.
It's been discussed ad nauseum at this point, but Hector Hernandez: You have got to get better, my man, or we're not going to win four games this year. I started watching Hernandez after hearing some complaints early on in the game, and sure enough he appeared completely and utterly lost out there. Left tackle is commonly referred to as the second most important position on an offense, and if Hernandez can't give a better effort than that then this unit is in big trouble going forward.
Charlie Strong will be doing his weekly press conference today at 11:30. You can catch it live on the C-J's website, and will have a recap post up shortly after it's done.