Ole Miss experienced a Kentucky-like collapse against Florida State last night.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation and welcome to the Tuesday Morning Quickies.
Today, instead of talking about the Kentucky second-half collapse in Commonwealth Stadium, we get to talk about the Ole Miss collapse against Florida State, wherein they did their very best, and mostly quite convincing, UK meltdown karaoke. Ole Miss went into halftime with a 28-13 lead on #4 Florida State, looking very comfortable. After halftime, the Seminoles hung 33 unanswered points on the Rebels. SB Nation had the predictable, painful observation near the end of the third quarter:
Ole Miss just gave up 30 unanswered points, Kentucky-style
— SB✯Nation CFB (@SBNationCFB) September 6, 2016
Ouch. That still smarts. Bet it smarts for Hugh Freeze & Co., too.
But Ole Miss wasn’t quite as done as Kentucky was. Unlike the Wildcats, they rose up in the fourth quarter and put together a touchdown drive to end the unanswered streak at 33 and get within five points, but two more FSU field goals put the game out of the Rebels’ reach.
I suppose in defense of Ole Miss, we can say that their collapse wasn’t as total as Kentucky’s, because their offense did manage a second-half score and Kentucky’s did not.
Tweet of the Morning
Boy, this FSU-Ole Miss game has Rebel fans seeing UK's nightmare from Saturday. Cept, I think FSU carries little more pedigree than USM.
— Oscar Combs (@wildcatnews) September 6, 2016
Just a tiny bit more.
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
Mark Stoops apologizes for the disaster on Saturday. Yeah, I think something like that is well in order.
Maxwell Ogden writing for Wildcat Blue Nation says it’s time to move forward for Kentucky football. Yeah, it’s just one game. The problem is that it seems like every game has been like this since mid-October of last season.
Jon Hale writing for the Courier-Journal has a how-to-watch for the UK-Florida game. Somehow defeating Florida would certainly do a lot to rehabilitate this team, but somehow I just don’t get the feeling that this is the Wildcats’ year against the Gators. I’d love to be wrong about that.
The one thing Mark Stoops has to change for Kentucky football success:
"The thing that we have to do, have to get coached, is when things go wrong, we have to go back and execute," Stoops said. "When things go wrong, we have guys that start doing some things that are inexcusable. And that’s gotta stop. That’s a losing mentality that we will not tolerate it."
UK football week 2 depth chart.
Stoops says Kentucky team will be ready for Florida, but is that pronouncement falling on deaf ears as far as UK fans are concerned?
I take issue with some of the comments made by the author, particularly that “…Kentucky and its fans have done everything imaginable to put the program in a position to succeed.” Definitely the school has worked diligently on the matter, but I can imagine quite a few more things they could’ve done that they haven’t yet.
Having said that, I think the question, “Can Mark Stoops really get this done?” is a fair one. Stoops has done some really impressive things in recruiting, but I think it can be fairly said that the overall impact on Kentucky’s success has been unimpressive. I think this fact fairly calls into question his ability to coach and inspire the football team. The old saying that “it’s the Jimmys and Joes” comes to mind — if you have them, and still lose, there seems to be only one reasonable conclusion.
Well, you knew this was coming.
Kentucky basketball
Coach Cal has a heartfelt Labor Day message.
Other Kentucky sports
Kentucky picks up a swimming commitment from Nora Fullenkamp of Ohio, a quality sprinter.
Links posts
The Leach Report: Tuesday Wildcat Links
College football
More Ole Miss-FSU fun:
If you’re reading this tweet, you have as many first downs in the second half as the Ole Miss offense.
— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub) September 6, 2016
Jimbo Fisher is halftime bizarro Mark Stoops.
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) September 6, 2016
Now this sounds familiar to UK fans:
ole miss is the boyfriend you stay with bc maybe things will be different this time
— Alex McDaniel (@AlexMcDaniel) September 6, 2016
The SEC’s disturbing opening weekend gives South Carolina hope.
Opening weekend was historically bad for ranked teams.
Yikes!
FSU kicker Ricky Aguayo (21 points) has outscored LSU, Clemson, Wisconsin, Auburn & USC this season via @ryan_s_clark
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) September 6, 2016
College basketball
Western Kentucky could be in for a special basketball season. Rick Stansbury is definitely a quality coach.
Other sports news
The Colin Kaepernick protest continues to make news and opinion, and this doesn’t seem likely to just go away.
There doesn’t seem to be much doubt that Kaepernick has a right to his protests, although how they impact his employer is likely an issue. My feelings on this are complex — I don’t generally like to see sporting events used as political fora, although I refuse to condemn those who use their rights to freedom of expression in an unpopular but otherwise reasonable way.
Without doubt, his effort was effective in getting attention, although the ultimate impact on his career as a football player is unlikely to be particularly positive despite the sudden surge in his jersey sales — the NFL has enough on its plate without having to deal with this. But Kaepernick surely knew that, and if he’s willing to live with the consequences of his speech, I’m certainly not going to condemn him for it.
Other news
The voice of the Star Trek TNG LCARS computer system (performed by Gene Roddenberry’s late wife and former nurse Christine Chapel actress Majel Barrett) may soon be available for your electronic devices.
10 proven ways to clear your mind of stress.
Put up or shut up: The “impossible” EM drive is about to undergo real-world testing in space. I hope it works, I love to see our theories about the universe challenged. Plus, the idea of a viable space drive really appeals to me.
If it somehow does work (and leaving aside what it means for Newtonian physics), it would open up the real possibility of exploring at least the solar system.