Kentucky Wildcats (4 days until)
1. COACH STOOPS – Thoughts on Arch Manning
- “You watch this last game, and I want to say it was a four-point game, and they were backed up. Oklahoma got great pressure on him. Evades the pressure and throws the strike. He did that time and time again. Then, on the first touchdown pass in the pocket, didn’t move, had a good, clean pocket, delivers a touchdown pass.
- “He’s one of those guys that can make all the throws, in rhythm and on time, or buying time because he’s a good athlete. He throws very good on the run.”
- When asked to comment on the preseason expectations around Manning, “He didn’t ask for any of that,” Stoops said of the outside noise. “Everything that I could see, and hearing from him, he’s just a young man putting his head down, trying to get better. And I think a lot of that is unfair, and it is what it is. He understands that, I don’t need to tell him anything that he hasn’t heard from his famous uncles and father and all that, but, you know, he’s just a young man getting better with every rep, and you can see the confidence in him, and why wouldn’t he be confident, he’s a very good football player.”
2. COACH STOOPS – Thoughts on His Own Quarterback (Cutter Boley)
- “I think he has much more confidence,” Stoops said of Boley’s improvement. “He’s a very confident young man. He’s a young player and he’s going to get better with every rep and every game. Again, that’s not lip service, he knows that and he feels that. He feels the confidence with each practice, there’s no question.”
- Stoops added that Boley knows he played better against Georgia than against South Carolina and has to carry that progress forward into the Texas game.
- “We’re playing a very talented, a very good team, and very good defensive team, but we have to control the things we can control. He has a very good presence about him. He has a lot of confidence. He knows with hard work, he’ll see results.”
- “We have to have a good plan for him and make sure he’s comfortable and can execute the things we are asking him to do.”
3. KSR BOARD RESPONDS TO SARKS’ COMMENTS – “We’ve got to be prepared for a war, it’s going to be one.” regarding Kentucky vs. Texas
- Comment 1: He’s paid to say good things about his opponents, regardless how bad they are. (11 likes)
- Comment 2: I wonder how the bow and arrow will fare against the machine gun. (12 likes)
- Comment 3: guys, not all wars are even. some are pretty lopsided. important to remember here. (6 likes)
- Comment 4: There won’t be much of a war it’ll be over all Texas has to do is score more than 10 pts and that won (2 likes)
- Comment 5: If its a war, it’ll be the Battle of Gettysburg, and were the Confederacy and were gonna get mowed down by Cannon Fire. (2 likes)
4. KENTUCKY RELEASES DEPTH CHART FOR (TEXAS vs. KENTUCKY)
*Landyn Watson (9) – MLB from Austin, TX (Hutto)
*Seth McGowan (3) – RB from Mesquite, TX (Poteet)
5. KENTUCKY WILDCAT PFF PLAYER CHECK-IN
- Seth McGowan, RB (3) – 215 lbs – 12 Carries in each game – Averaging 5.5 yards per carry – Averages 4 Missed Tackles Forced per game.
- Dante Dowdell, RB (2) – 227 lbs – 7 Carries in each game – Averaging 2.4 yards per carry vs. SEC – 4 Total Missed Tackles Forced in 2025.
- Kendrick Law, WR (1) – 7 Targets per game vs. SEC – 5th in Yards After Catch (11.7) in the Power 4 – 80% of snaps in the Slot
- Cutter Boley, QB (8) – 73rd Graded Passing Grade in the Power 4 (50.6) out of 77. Former starter Zach Calzada is 77th.
- Jaden Smith, CB (24) – 6’3 208 lbs – 6th graded Coverage Cornerback out of 497 in the Power 4. (Missed Georgia Game)
- Kam Olds, EDGE (1) – 1.33 Pressures per game vs. SEC – 14th graded Pass Rusher out of 271 in the Power 4.
- Alex Afari Jr, LB (3) – 5 tackles per game vs. SEC – 33rd graded Run Defender out of 236 in the Power 4.
- Kahlil Saunders, DL (92) – 1.33 Pressures per game vs. SEC – 165th graded Run Defender out of 269 in the Power 4.
- Kentucky has allowed 22 Super Explosives in 2025 (47th in CFB)
My Week 8 Orangebloods SEC Power Poll
1. Alabama
2. Ole Miss
3. Georgia
4. Texas A&M (+2)
5. Missouri (-1)
6. Tennessee (-1)
7. Texas (+2)
8. LSU (-1)
9. Vanderbilt (+2)
10. Florida (-2)
11. Oklahoma (-1)
12. South Carolina
13. Auburn
14. Mississippi State
15. Arkansas
16. Kentucky
