An Interesting Week Ahead for UK Football & The Home Stretch

By Paul Novielli, November 10, 2024

Kentucky enters the final three games of the season limping to the finish line. At 3-6, the Cats have to sweep the remaining games to continue their postseason streak. That seems like a daunting challenge considering a visit to Austin and a top-five Texas team looms. This week is interesting on several fronts. Will the Cats get back key players who missed the past few weeks? Will Cutter Boley get a start or extended playing time against Murray State? Will the offense have a true shakeup after the first nine weeks that have seen it sitting in triple digits in overall offensive rankings?

Even with Kentucky facing its worst season since 2015, this could end up being one of the more interesting weeks of the season. Here’s why.

Hope for the Future?

With so many players missing time, younger players who have joined the program have gotten more snaps in recent weeks. The player UK fans are most excited about seeing is 4-star Lexington native QB Cutter Boley. With Brock Vandagriff’s status for Murray State (and possibly beyond) in question, Cutter has been the talk of the fanbase during the bye week. With his size and elite arm talent, many are clamoring for Cutter to get a shot to start against Murray State. Would this move get more fans to attend a game in mid-November against an FCS opponent? It’s possible, but it would also be good—even if Brock is healthy—to give him another week off to rest for the game in Austin.

Cutter Boley isn’t the only player that Kentucky should be getting more involved, and that the fanbase should be very excited about. True freshman Hardley Gilmore has shown flashes of being a superstar, not only for the Cats but nationally. Compared to Jerry Jeudy, Gilmore has demonstrated hands, speed, and route running you would expect from an upperclassman. Could the duo of Boley and Gilmore be exactly what Kentucky needs for the future of the offense? We can only hope.

Make the Season Interesting

A win against Murray State would put UK two wins away from bowl eligibility. Yes, that is a tall task, but we should consider that UK has played some of the best teams in the nation down to the wire. It’s also arguably played better on the road this season than at Kroger Field. With a trip to Austin, sandwiched between two rivalry games (Arkansas & A&M) for the Longhorns, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that UK could sneak into Austin and be in a dogfight in the fourth quarter once again.

Kentucky finishes the season against the Cards, a team that has not beaten Kentucky since 2017 when Lamar Jackson was their starting QB. While UofL has arguably looked better than the Cats, strength of schedule has become a topic of conversation in this rivalry. As we saw last year, a much more battle-tested Cats team went into Louisville and knocked off a top-10 Cards team. Kentucky boasts a much stronger schedule than anyone UofL has faced all season. This should be an advantage for Kentucky going into the final game of the season. If Kentucky does lose in Austin, the final game against our rivals would be the only band-aid on a season of missed opportunity.

Do We See a Response?

Finally, a big question has been whether the staff has lost the players. As we saw in Knoxville, the team responded with a very competitive game. The question is, does Kentucky have one more response in them? For argument’s sake, let’s say the Cats take care of business as they should this Saturday. Winning would uplift the team and take away some of the negativity it has faced in recent weeks. Will they respond in Austin? The staff has done a pretty good job of getting Kentucky ready to play in its top-10 matchups this season. Vanderbilt, Auburn, South Carolina, and Florida have all been head-scratchers, teams UK is arguably as talented as—or more talented than—on paper. If Kentucky responds with another valiant effort in Austin, the staff deserves credit for not losing the locker room and should give fans a bit more confidence in the final matchup against the Cards.

It is also massive for recruiting. No matter how upset the fanbase is, Kentucky responding and showing that even in its losses it’s close can keep a class from imploding. It can also show transfers that this is a team ready to compete now and just needs a few more pieces to get over the hump. In a season that has not gone the way anyone wanted, keeping the wheels from completely falling off is very important to ensure one bad year doesn’t turn into 2, 3, or 4.

This may be the most interesting week of the season for Kentucky in an otherwise disappointing season. Can the Cats give the fans three weeks of happiness? We find out starting Saturday.