Kentucky Football vs. Southern Miss Preview: Will Kentucky cover -28 vs. Southern Miss?

it's football time in the Bluegrass and today ladies and gentlemen we are going to break down the cats matchup with those golden eagles of Southern Miss that's going to be the conversation on today's episode of the wild cats Today podcast I'm your host Andrew stanc writer and editor over at Kentucky Wildcats on SI joined as always by my co-host Carson Nash and Carson you know these last few times we've talked about the whole Tuesday versus Thursday move there is no such thing as a Tuesday mood this week because it's not cater day but it's cater week and that is a damn good feeling Carson how we feeling oh I'm fired up I mean I I physically cannot wait it's been too long and I am ready to get to Kroger field and ready to party oh yeah I I don't we'll leave it at that we'll leave it at that um so hopefully we'll see a lot of y'all um listeners there it'd be great because guess this is the first event really since you know the pope thing and we've actually got a little bit of little bit of traction um so if you come see us Carson will buy you a water out of the um I'll fill up your water from the free water there you go he'll go fill up your water from the free Waters that yeah there you go that that's the plan um but course I this Southern Miss team they lost a lot from a bad team and you can look at that two different ways is that a good thing is that a bad thing I don't think losing Frank Gore Jr is ever a good thing because I mean his father won me a lot of fantasy championships so I mean him and Ray Davis are gonna be a nasty Twan down up at Buffalo is he in Buffalo I I didn't know where he went um no he's gonna be he's G to be holding Ray Davis's helmet when he's running in touchdowns actually but he's a great player I'm kidding no disrespect to Frank G Jr like I love frank G Jr that was a that was a uncalled for shot that was a stray that was a stray he caught a stray he did not deserve um but what's interesting about this Carson their coach I wrote down his name because I just have no idea will hall right their coach will Hall comes in and just lights the world on fire year one at Southern Mich going three and nine and then um all I mean what what is wrong see now I feel bad I don't I'm gonna dial back I'm there's just no need I'm being you're setting us up to look horrible if we lose this game I'm not well I'm just I didn't say we're gonna beat him by a million or anything I was just kidding around then um last year I'm getting actually ready to say we need to pay more attention to this than is what I'm getting at here so just just let me do me pal um in year two he goes seven and six take that if you're a golden eagle fan and then last year unfortunately takes a Mondo step backwards and goes three and N again and I feel like the dudes coaching for life this year and listen I know it's a new regime it's a new players but Southern Miss I mean it's a name that holds a little bit of weight in the back of the brain of Kentucky football fans you lose to him at home in 16 then you go to Hattisburg and in 17 play him close and you know what I mean I I'm not say I don't know how you could ever agree to that game yeah after losing it I bet you one of those was already scheduled like away which is weird it was kind like how Alabama played ridiculous in itself because who goes who like our name brand who goes on the road to Southern Miss you don't ever see that well it was like Alabama in Sabin last year played USF on the road last year I remember that because I remember I was getting ready to hop on the weekly SEC Conference thing with the coaches and I was like getting ready to ask Sabin a question about something and I was like it did do they play it at USF and then I just didn't ask him a question because I was like I don't want to be on bar stool in an hour because I'm talking about something stupid which I often do but you know so um but that that is weird we played that game but so this coach is gonna be playing for coaching for his life a little bit not as much in this game as their conference you know what I mean like but you just you never know there's history there there's narratives and as I've always said I don't like them when they're against you I like when there's narratives you know the whole oh Mark Pope's going to beat Coach Cal in year one um oh it's George's coming it it the cats are hopefully gonna be two and 0 it it's gonna be a great game maybe can the wild cats pull off the Imp impossible you know those are in your favor you like when narratives are in your favor not against you there's Cameron he just got home because his car sounds like a shotgun um and but I don't like when narratives are against you so I mean Carson I me lay this out for me with the coach you know coaching for do you have any do you have any at all concerns no okay that's completely fair I don't really either I'm just saying I wanted you if you did to be able to say I don't because the other point there too is that was 2016 Kentucky this is yeah that yeah it's very very different Kentucky football program no so no I I agree Kentucky fans you're allowed to be worried because it's the first game of the year you don't know what we have you're allowed to have that back of the head anxious you know what if but more of an anxious you know excitement not a worry yeah kind of feels the same but it's not exactly but if this game is close we have more significant issues that we need to deal with um so they're playing mind games at quarterback Caron Southern they're trying to get cute on us it is so the two quarterbacks they deciding between we got Tate roadmaker who transferred in from Florida State they played great last weekend by the way um and what is up with me man I mean I'm just tossing them out don't get me started on Louisville because we'll we'll get wild um or Ethan Crawford is the other quarterback so now their coach coach Hall he knows who's starting nobody else does and um so I I that's kind of I respect it that's kind of cool if I had a quarterback battle I'd probably pulled the same thing hey you can't get prepared for our guy good luck I tell you who doesn't care who doesn't care our defense oh I know I'm not saying they do but I'm saying if we were playing like Clemson week one or somebody super relevance and they were like is it gonna be this guy or this guy be a little different then but um you know I mean I I I it doesn't bother me at all I'm just L we're currently listing things that maybe are bother people so Carson this quarterback thing doesn't have any any concern yeah well my thing is like I wonder if it's a actual battle or if they're just doing it for theatrics like me and you might assume because if if it's an actual battle then they're in trouble in my he's he's listed that it's he their coaches quoted saying we've made our decision okay no not they're just saying yes they're they're they're scheming they're going Mind Games okay well then that's different in my opinion it's going to be the uh kid you agree yeah that's what I think I I agree I think it's gonna be the FSU kid um but we'll just have to see the last thing I'll say about sou M before we're going to talk about our depth a little bit and then we're GNA talk about will Kentucky cover this line cover the spread we're going to discuss those two things here in a moment but um you know they did bring some guys in via the portal they lost a lot they're they're top um receivers not listed on the from last is not listed on the dep chart obviously Frank Gore Jr's gone they're starter from last year at quarterback plays at appalachin State now they um they've lost a lot on this team but still they brought some guys in I'm not concerned about it but but what I will say do not make this interesting you know if you want to be a team where if you wanna well I tell you I'll give you this real quick yeah when you lose your quarterback your running back and your best pass catcher all in the same year most likely you're probably going to take a step back and it's GNA be hard taking a step back taking a step back from three and nine is kind of hard to do well for all you flat earthers that might be straight down into into space right yeah you like that one those but um but you know I'm not I'm not concerned about this game I'm just not I'm just not um I think the cats take care of business here they're the better football team by a very very very very wide margin it's at home bbn's fired up I'm fired up fired up we're going to be there Rowdy it I'm not concerned about this game and if this game is close or or if you do lose this game then we have a lot to discuss next week about this basketball team I'm just yes um but that's not gonna happen but no but go take care of business because hey if you blow the doors off so the miss them blow the doors off South Carolina I haven't looked at the week three slate but you never know could that work end up being the potential type of game day I'm fairly confident that there's a better game well I actually looked into it and I I think it could get close if you if you do what you just said I think it could get close to where they maybe they're like oh we haven't gone to Lex since 2007 maybe we give them a game day because you know if we if we Crush both these teams we should jump into the top 25 exactly and then you're looking sure but you'd rather be the real thing the real real real thing um so I mean that's really the thoughts on on Southern M we'll probably we we'll do another show um later in the week obviously we'll come back at you with some more notes and some stuff but that's kind of how we're looking at this team right now but Carson when it comes to ky's depth chart what stood out anything surprise you anything like that on ky's depth chart well I will say one thing um I like I like our offensive line right now it's looking really good and you've got a bunch of dep um with younger guys that are kind of exciting me because you got Malachi wood is the two deep on as the left tackle he's a 68 guy he's from I think he went to Madison Central I could be wrong I think he is yeah he is from Madison Central um 68 and then on that other side you got Right Guard you have uh Jaylen farmer who is the transfer from Florida I'm uh pretty sure um and he's a sophomore and everyone on our o line is 64 or bigger so you're gonna have a whole lot of size you got guys who have already proven it other places I think that that room's going to take a big step up for us and I think this game will showcase that because I think we're going to be a whole lot bigger and a whole lot more physical than Southern Miss will be and I think we should be able to open it up by running the Rock and then of course you got great great skill players so then you should be able to get them the ball and I think it should be work out well for us yeah I I'm fully with you on that um I saw a quote yesterday speaking of one of our guys um that we talked about on last show talking about hey maybe some guys we were not talking enough about did you see coach stops' quote about Demi Sumo Carn yeah I did see that you can tell him that he was he was talking about how even before chip hurt his hand that this was like a 1 a one b situation um and that gets me fired up because well like I said on last pod or two pods ago he had a higher broken tackle percentage than Benny snow and Chris Rodriguez did through his games and through what he play I mean he didn't have as near nearly as many snaps but having just that rate is pretty good yeah I'm with you and he was also talking pretty good about some of um the young guys at running back that you were breaking down last week which was great to hear you love hearing that your your young guys are doing well because they're the future and with some injuries they could be the now so you want them to do well anything else stand out on the depth chart Carson any any defensive stuff yeah I I think with the uh cornerback situation I was thinking uh DJ Waller would have been a little higher up I was too but what Stoops had said about him last night kind of made sense so they said he had been banged up through fall Camp so maybe he wasn't getting all the Reps that these other guys were getting so I think progressively as the season prolongs I think he'll he'll work his way into a one I do too I mean I just I'm a Believer now skill I mean if he's getting back to being DJ Waller I get it but if he's 100% you need to just put him out there and forget about it you know what I mean like when you get too cute with like if you got like Dak Prescott and Jared gof and you're like well this week you get too cute they're the same thing just pick one and go with it man yeah don't do it and I just think he to I think he's too good of a player to get cute I think you got to have him out there if he's healthy if he's 100% healthy um so that a way better game manager than Dak Prescott though okay well game manager doesn't win fantasy football games Carson asy it just doesn't win real games I don't care about real games cam B might because we're talking about Jared G but I well I just want the Cowboys to lose that's it oh fair enough fair enough um and then uh what about kicker news we had some kicker news shared to us via speaking of Cam off you remember that oh yeah Jacob Ka um is that how you fres kicker what I wonder how you say that because that is a tough one his I'm pretty sure that's how it's pronounced it could be a little little different I'm not calling you out I'm just give me some Grace on that um but he hit three 60 yard field goals 60 plus yard field goals in practice with a live Rush coming at him which is absolutely insane for a fresh kicker and then you already have Alex rer who's money with anything inside 50 yards so in my opinion you got a little you got a little something you know you know what they are I've got a great analogy I mean this is an alltime they are the perfect scramble team they are the perfect scramble team that's what they are if you go longer you get your guy who's got the the uh you know good driver The Big Driver then you got your short game then you got your short game guy right then you got your 40 your 45 and in he's putting it down right down the pipe yeah that's what you need you know what I mean you got be able to open the door and say all right Jacob you come up in here and I'm safely in the Fairway you let it eat that's what that's what you say to him 62 y to win versus the Georgia Bulldogs oh man can you just imagine if we have like our Tennessee Alabama moment oh I want it where would we take polls where would we carry them uh you couldn't take them to St State Street screw it I mean we're to the point now of being I think I mean we are grown men now I think we have to say that and I'm I'm going to State Street they can kick me out I don't care I'll be there I think every grown man that's a Cats fan should go to State Street yeah saying you can kick me out that's fine there's only a certain number of times you get to do that you exactly exactly so um but that's all that I noticed on the depth chart Carson there really wasn't anything that I was like wait a minute I was a little surprised punter Wilson Barry ended up beating out Aiden uh let me make sure I don't butcher this guy's name I think it's like ly or lose or something like that let's see where's the punter leros Loos Loos yeah leros you're right because we brought in leros to be like a boom leg and we he was um a really good punter out of the transfer portal so it kind of surprised me a little bit that our what it says or yeah but Mark Mark STS on on his calling show last night was saying that Wilson has been better so because it said the or well but if he's been better that's the thing if he's been better he's better you know I mean I trust our coaching staff well he said he's been more consistent so okay then that's not that's yeah that doesn't get me fired up either way more consistent it's like that's like the the middle of the compliment sandwich it's like you Su you're consistent and I hate you what we gotta hope is that we don't punt much so we don't that'd be great let's just not let's just let's just I want to forget the name of our punter I don't want to know who he is I don't want I want to yell at him when I see him yeah over there I don't see you Dam it but um that's my only thoughts I think really on this everything was chalk to me I mean it pretty not everything yeah pretty much I mean it is exciting and Alex okay this did this did surprise me a lot so they had switched they had switched Alex Safari who was like a nickel um Corner over to be the strong side linebacker it's him or tyres feby and I discuss Furby as one of the guys that might break out this year but both of them could um I think having both those guys off the edge is crazy because that's a whole lot of speed and I think they're really trying to work in getting pressure on the quarterback and that's exciting yeah I agree that that's gonna be a fun part of this um I'm with you on there on that so now I think the most fun conversation of all conversations because it gets we get to break down a spread a line and I'm excited about it Carson I think we agree 99% we agree here but we'll um let's talk about this so you say your thoughts I'll say mine the line is minus 28 in favor of our Kentucky Wild Cats do the cats cover this spread I I don't think they do and I think it's I think it's close I I really do believe it could they could I if they did it would not surprise me at all um but for me we've seen us come out in these first games and just we'll win but it won't be like a blow out we it'll just be a comfortable game the whole time we won't really be worried at all but we won't end up blowing them out because I think once you get up well I say we'll get up probably 21 points and then we might throw in some of our younger guys some guys to get some more reps and it'll end up they'll end up scoring a garbage time touchdown or something and I think we'll end up winning by over 20 points but I don't think it'll be 28 yeah I I look at this and I think that yeah I I I'm with you I think it's be something where we're up 21 with like seven or eight minutes left in the game maybe they take out vaner Griff maybe they start doing that maybe they don't but still it's like okay well we need a touchdown here and even a touchdown just pushes the line and then if if we pull out our defensive if we go up 28 then you pull out your defensive starters and then all they got to go do is go kick a field goal and come would would you feel comfortable betting it down alt spread to 21 yes I would feel comfortable betting it down to 21 I think Kentucky wins this game I I've said my two score predictions I have two different ones I have um 283 and I have 35 5 10 those are my two score predictions and both of those don't they both add up to 25 right or no yeah right yeah yeah okay good quick math well I wasn't even paying attention so I said yeah so someone check him because I I defin didn't do it okay it's uh 35 25 the first one checks out yeah okay well then we're good we're good yeah yeah we're good we're good we're great we're great we're grand um but I that's what I feel me like that so 21 I'd feel fine you know and I think Southern Miss Southern Miss is also not are they a great football team no but they're also not the you know what I mean like you can play no offense to EKU and once again we I mean my goodness we almost lost to EKU last year not really but kind of yeah I'm point being it's not one of those spreads where it's like 49 points for a reason it's because this team they're gonna hang around a little bit it's not going to be ever this game will never in my opinion be in question or close yeah but I don't think Kentucky's gonna win this one 59 to three it's not going to be like one of those opening week games I mean for example look at last year um Let me let pull this up last year they lost to okay hold on I gotta go back here we need to find a player that's still on this team here we go last year they lost to Mississippi State who was now remember Mississippi state is very very very very bad not in any way saying Mississippi state's good but they lost to Mississippi State 41-20 I mean that that's 21 points that you know I mean they Mississippi State wouldn't have covered this line point being that maybe might might want me to change my mind oh so we will cover it or we won't cover it I don't know if if I'm torn because I could easily see it going the I'm say we don't just because we haven't done it in the past but I could easily see us doing it and I'm with you now okay here but look at like this they lose to Florida State 66-13 last year in week two yeah see so you know and because here's the thing Andrew because I think our defense is good enough to hold him under 10 it just depends on if the offense can score that many points yeah I don't think they I've said I think the most points they scored now if we get a defensive touchdown we're covering I agree with you on that actually or even even even special teams like if we run a kickback I think we cover I almost if you can bet on Baron Brown to return a kick off I I might put two dollars on that because I I could see that happening yeah um so that's our take on the spread let us know in the YouTube comments I didn't get to get my score prediction well I haven't given a score oh I guess I did I did not thinking I did okay well give your my official no you give yours okay well I was going to say I think it's going to be 31 to7 I think we're going to score four touchdowns and a field goal and then I think they're just gonna get a garbage time touchdown okay so 31 I think I think we'll be covering by the time that they score and then they'll score and you're gonna go yeah yeah I can I can feel that coming too maybe Al how about this what what about alt spread it down to 23 and a half I would like that that would probably be where I'd be most comfortable I think that's the line I think past that I'm probably not jumping on it 23 and a half I think is where you grab it and run I think the cats win I I'm locking it then I think Kentucky wins 3510 I think they get an early crazy play where they get a and and it leads to a a field goal and then I think you get a garbage time touchdown I think the cats win this one uh five touchdowns I think they win it 3510 don't cover the 20 but cover the alternate you could do at 23 and a half which is that excite me too because that means we wouldn't be taking any field goals exactly which that's just my that that's my score prediction Carson any other thoughts before we call it a day no I'm absolutely super excited to get the year kicked off I think I'm starting to buy in more to this team by the day just by doing more research and more talk and it also might just be because the season's getting closer but um I really really like this defense like really like this defense so if they can if they can keep us in games I I don't see why we couldn't do something great a good defense will always keep you within Striking Distance and that's what you need is to be within striking I'll give you this Andrew what was our best team probably with who Josh and Benny right sure so you got a game wrecker on the defensive defensive side who literally just destroyed the game every time you got that you got Dion he's your game wrecker you you got even better than with Dion you got Maxwell hariston best had five interceptions last year first team All-American you got you got barion on the other side he was the All-American Return Man he's the fastest player in college football you got danne who's been a who's been great for us every year I mean the more and more you talk about this team the more you can get excited about the tight end room's un unreal it's elite it's best tight end room we've had it all depends on Brock and Bush hamon I think are the two that really decide where this team goes agreed and I and I don't think we'll find out on Saturday what this team's made of I think we'll find out in two Saturdays no plus yeah You're Gonna Wanna You're Gonna Want To Hide plays from South Carolina and Georgia so I don't think I don't think they'll open up the full Playbook I think they'll be content with what they know um and then they'll show they'll show more than that on South Carolina and then they'll show even more against Georgia yeah I am with you on that um yeah but leave that in the comments leave us a score prediction do the cats cover which I guess your score prediction would tell us that but you know what I mean um and and oh have Carson player of the game let's do give me give me a player of the game oh that's good that's good Brock Vandergriff he's getting player of the game first game and we're going to get excited we're gonna be excited and we're gonna be ready player of the game I think Deon Walker starts His Highest that's a good pick that would have been my second pick because you gotta remember though I think I if you want to be really good you need to um you need to stat pad in these games you know what I mean if you want to have a chance and I'm not saying Deion Walker's one highest than highest when I'm kidding about that but like if you want to be one of the you know defensive player win some of these Awards right you got a stat pad in these games you got to go get dark who's your Dark Horse player of the game my dark star player of the game um a crazy one give me my guy I'm Gonna Roll with give me give me Demo Sumo carb he's gonna go I like that I would obviously I don't think he's a random P that would be good for us because that means offensive lines cooking um I like DQ Jackson because I think that the quarterback that they have is going to run the ball a little bit so they're going to open up the Run game and I think he's going to fly all over the field and I think he's really really good so I could see him ending up with a really high stat sheet yeah I'm with you all right well I gotta go do a challenge at the Reds game which we will discuss if Cameron and I are able to do it on the next show we'll break that down then but that is gonna do it for today's episode be the lookout out we might have we're working on some things behind the scenes we might have we are working on behind the scenes we might have something special for you at the end of the uh for our next show so just bear with us on that we'll see stay tuned for that but that's going to do it for today's episode of the Wildcat Today podcast really appreciate y'all being here if you haven't already hit that subscribe button helps the show a ton appreciate y'all it's almost Cat Day get pumped up we'll see y'all at Kroger field on Saturday