A Thanksgiving Day Guide to Sports

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the Big Blue Nation! We are incredibly thankful for those of y’all that take time out of your week to listen and interact with us at Bleed Blue. While today is about the family and the turkeys, to people like me, Thanksgiving has a whole other meaning: sports.

Kentucky’s Week

The football team is officially two days from starting a true Freshman at quarterback. The last time Kentucky did that in a regular season game (thank you Destin Wade for ruining this stat) was Maxwell Smith at Georgia in 2011. Cutter Boley has been given a vote of confidence from the staff, his teammates, and the Big Blue Nation this week after impressing everyone with his arm talent and poise. The kid has all the physical tools needed to succeed in the SEC, but we will find out Saturday if he is ready to put it together for four quarters and leave with the Governor’s Cup for the seventh time in eight years.

The men’s basketball team won ugly on Tuesday night against WKU, but tomorrow night gets their bounce-back chance against Georgia State. The Panthers come in sub-200 in KenPom defense, so the Cats have a chance to get right and fix the problems we saw earlier in the week. One team who hasn’t struggled this week is the women’s basketball team. Going 2-0 in the Music City Classic, Kenny Brooks looks like he has a top ten team in his first season. A dominating win over Arizona State on Tuesday set up a massive matchup with #19 Illinois last night. All the Cats did was smother their ranked foe with a 26-9 fourth quarter leading to a twenty-three-point win, their second ranked win of the season. Volleyball also added their EIGHTH straight SEC championship last night with a 3-1 win at #24 Missouri, and now begins postseason play on an eleven-match win streak.

Today’s Slate

The excitement of college basketball is in full swing this week with a variety of in-season tournaments being played. Auburn looked dominant once again last night to claim the Maui Invitational Title. Michigan State upset North Carolina in overtime and Alabama hung on against the elite freshman duo in Rutgers. Gonzaga took their first loss of the season to West Virginia and UCONN completed the three-beat (thank you, @BleedBlueCasey) losing to Dayton by eighteen in the early hours of Thanksgiving morning.

While the greatest Maui Invitational of all time has completed, there are plenty of tournaments still going on today. At 11AM CT (all times will be CT), West Virginia gets to show yesterday wasn’t a fluke against a Louisville team that beat Indiana by a million yesterday. Speaking of the Hoosiers, they get a shot at the reeling Gonzaga Bulldogs today at 1:30 in Atlantis. If you find yourself not enjoying the afternoon NFL game (we’ll get there, you won’t), you can flip to my favorite game of the day at 4:30, Ole Miss-BYU, or you can ignore the NFL altogether and hate-watch Arkansas vs. Illinois at 3PM.

What would Thanksgiving Day be without the Cowboys and the NFC North? At 11:30, the Bears travel to Detroit to face the 10-1 Lions. Caleb Williams has been inconsistent for Chicago but has shown flashes of superstardom. Meanwhile, the Lions are cruising with one of the best units on both sides of the ball. In the afternoon game. The Giants will travel to Dallas in a game where nobody in the world should watch (bad teams with bad backup quarterbacks). Miami goes all the way to Lambeau Field for the night game at 7:20. Tua has been great for the Dolphins since returning from injury, but Green Bay is expected to be below freezing and windy tonight, something the South Florida team does not have to deal with often.

Best Bets

I don’t typically bet, but I’m too excited about the slate of games today so I am throwing this in at the end. This is NOT gambling advice, just the quick opinion of a college student who enjoys sports.

• College Basketball:
  • Indiana vs. Gonzaga (-9.5)
  • Arkansas vs. Illinois Under 156
  • Ole Miss (+3.5) vs. BYU
• NFL:
  • Same-Game Parlay:
    • Chicago (+9.5) at Detroit
    • D’Andre Swift Anytime Touchdown
    • Over 47.5
  • Miami at Green Bay (-3.5)

Photo Credits to UK Athletics