KSR Today: A win is a win and 1-0 is 1-0

The good news is that Kentucky was never truly threatened by the likely winner of the MAC, controlling Toledo most of the day at Kroger Field with stellar defensive play, strong special teams and 221 rushing yards to stick to the script Mark Stoops knows and loves, a winning combination for much of his tenure in Lexington. That formula led to a season-opening win in a year the Wildcats are only projected to win four or five more games, at most — over/under win totals for the year ranged from 4.5 to 5.5, so you gotta get ’em where you can.

The bad news is that after the high of football returning in the Bluegrass wore off in the first couple of possessions, it was yet another comedy of self-inflicted errors keeping things unnecessarily tight and a chore to watch. Kentucky threw for an abysmal 85 yards on 10/23 passing with receivers catching four balls for 11 total yards while losing the turnover battle. Take away Dante Dowdell’s 79-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and the team only earned 3.4 yards per carry overall (after 20 rushes for 60 yards in the first half) as the lone bright spot of the offense.

But, again, 1-0 is 1-0 and you’d rather learn from mistakes in an ugly win than a momentum-crushing loss to open the season.

“We will take the victory at any time. Our players are appreciative to be 1-0,” Stoops said after the 24-16 win. “We all know what Toledo is capable of.”

Coaches and players react to the win

The postgame theme was all too familiar, self-inflicted wounds killing the offensive rhythm and forcing the defense into uncomfortable positions. The latter unit took advantage for the most part, essentially all the way through the seven-play, 95-yard touchdown drive allowed to wrap things up in the fourth quarter.

Mark Stoops

“Offensively, I felt like we were going to get in rhythm, and we hurt ourselves,” he said. “… We all know we need to get better. We all know the competition’s going to improve, but it’s one game. It’s a step in the right direction and we have to go back to work.”

Bush Hamdan, Zach Calzada and the UK offense

“Every time we were about to get something going, there was a self-inflicted wound that hurt us,” Hamdan said. “We gotta make a big jump from week one to week two.”

Brad White, Alex Afari and Steven Soles talk defense

“There were some good things and some bad things, obviously,” White said. “… I thought the guys did a nice job with the pocket. We knew what kind of quarterback Gleason was going to be and he was able to buy some time to throw down the field a little bit, but overall, I think we did a decent job.”

KSR’s Rapid Reaction

We know what the coaches and players had to say, but what did the KSR crew think of the performance? Drew Franklin, Nick Roush and Adam Lucket gathered outside Kroger Field to break down the good, bad and ugly of Kentucky’s 24-16 win.

The rest of the CFB/SEC scores

Arch Manning got stuffed in a locker while LSU came back to beat Clemson in the Tiger Bowl — oh, and the Finebaum Show is a must-listen on Monday after Alabama took a beating against unranked Florida State.

• No. 3 Ohio State def. No. 1 Texas 14-7
• No. 2 Penn State def. Nevada 46-11
• No. 9 LSU def. No. 4 Clemson 17-10
• No. 5 Georgia def. Marshall 45-7
• No. 7 Oregon def. Montana State 59-13
• Florida State def. No. 8 Alabama 31-17
• No. 11 Arizona State def. Northern Arizona 38-19
• No. 14 Michigan def. New Mexico 34-17
• No. 15 Florida def. Long Island University 55-0
• No. 16 SMU def. East Texas A&M 42-13
• No. 17 Kansas State def. North Dakota 38-35
• No. 18 Oklahoma def. Illinois State 35-3
• No. 19 Texas A&M def. UTSA 42-24
• No. 20 Indiana def. Old Dominion 27-14
• No. 21 Ole Miss def. Georgia State 63-7
• No. 22 Iowa State def. South Dakota 55-7
• No. 23 Texas Tech def. Arkansas-Pine Bluff 67-7
• No. 24 Tennessee def. Syracuse 45-26
• Mississippi State def. Southern Miss 34-17
• Arkansas def. Alabama A&M 52-7
• Vanderbilt def. Charleston Southern 45-3

*SEC results in bold

Two big-time Sunday matchups

The weekend fun isn’t over yet with three ranked teams taking the field in two games this afternoon and evening to continue the streak of five straight days of college football.

Up first? The Beamer Bowl, Shane Beamer and the No. 13 South Carolina Gamecocks taking on Virginia Tech at 3 PM ET on ESPN. Beamer, as you know, played at VT from 1995-99 where his dad, Frank, was a Hall of Fame coach from 1987-2015. Cool storyline there as the LaNorris Sellers hype train picks up speed on national television.

From there, a top-10 battle to close out the night between No. 6 Notre Dame and No. 10 Miami (FL). That’ll be a fun one with Carson Beck making his debut as a Hurricane and the Irish coming off a national championship appearance back in January.

Barion Brown had the best incompletion of Saturday

Dane Key was the star of Nebraska’s season-opening win vs. Cincinnati, and Barion Brown was nearly that for LSU in the win over Clemson. The former Wildcat pulled down a wild back-shoulder 29-yard touchdown pass that would have put the Tigers up 17-10 late in the third quarter.

Instead, they ruled it incomplete, leading to a missed field goal and keeping it a tied game at 10-10 entering the fourth.

An incredible throw from Nuss and effort from Barion Brown but it's ruled incomplete

LSU misses the ensuing field goal. wow pic.twitter.com/2FOqr1Aybz

— Matthew Brune (@MatthewBrune_) August 31, 2025

LSU made up for it with a go-ahead score to open the fourth and held off Clemson the rest of the way to finish the 17-10 upset, but it was a missed opportunity for the former Wildcat. He would finish with five catches for 25 yards in the win.

Cats vs. No. 1 Nebraska in Nashville

It’s not all about football on this beautiful Week One weekend — Kentucky volleyball gets to perform on the national stage, too.

And, lemme tell ya, that’s pretty darn exciting.

The No. 7 Wildcats got the season rolling with a 3-0 sweep vs. Lipscomb on Saturday (25-12, 25-20, 25-23), defeating the Bisons on their home floor. Eva Hudson and Brooklyn DeLeye were superstars, as expected, while Lizzie Carr, Kennedy Washington, Asia Thigpen and Molly Tuozzo made plays, too.

That was expected, though, the appetizer ahead of the entree on Sunday. The real stuff is today’s nationally-televised top-10 battle vs. No. 1 Nebraska in Nashville inside Bridgestone Arena. It’s the first-ever NCAA volleyball match televised on ABC, live at 12 PM ET. Over 10,000 tickets have been sold and we’re all gonna have a heck of a time watching our Cats.

Can Skinner’s Winners pull off the big-time upset in the Broadway Block Party?

Wake up, #BBN! It’s time for a Broadway Block Party🏐🥁#WeAreUK x #BBN pic.twitter.com/gPFaPUc5dX

— Kentucky Volleyball (@KentuckyVB) August 31, 2025

Let’s have a day, folks.