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KSR Today: Christmas leftovers, bowl madness and game-winners

Jack PIlgrimby: Jack Pilgrim12/27/24
uk-fans-santa-hats
(Photo by Dr. Michael Huang | Kentucky Sports Radio)

It’s a weird week for Christmas with festivities spread across the entire week thanks to the holiday falling on a Wednesday this year. Those off for Christmas Eve and Christmas still had to go to work on Monday, then back on Thursday and Friday before the weekend — no long or extended weekends to take some extra time before or after. For us, some out-of-towners aren’t even getting in until this weekend due to those aforementioned work conflicts, so half of our Christmases haven’t even begun and won’t until Saturday and Sunday. If you’re in that first group who already wrapped things up with a bow and are moving on to New Year’s Eve and Day celebrations, I hope you had the happiest of holidays. If you’ve still got festivities to come like me, keep sipping coffee out of that Santa mug and leave those lights up. There is plenty of leftover cheer to go around.

Until then, we’ve got plenty of sports takes to share and news to enjoy as we wait for Mark Pope and the basketball squad to return to action on December 31 — this 10-day break is brutal.

Bowl Mania Continues

Need something to scratch that itch now? Just turn on your televisions and leave them on ESPN all day. Bowl season is popping and the supply of games to enjoy is essentially endless.

We’ll run through Thursday’s results first before sharing the weekend schedule.

Thursday, Dec. 26

  • GameAbove Sports Bowl – Toledo 48, Pitt 46 (6OT)
  • Rate Bowl – Kansas State 44, Rutgers 41
  • 68 Ventures Bowl – Arkansas State 38, Bowling Green 31

Friday, Dec. 27

  • Armed Forces Bowl – Navy vs. Oklahoma (12 p.m. ET, ESPN)
  • Birmingham Bowl – Georgia Tech vs. Vanderbilt (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
  • Liberty Bowl – Arkansas vs. Texas Tech (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)
  • Holiday Bowl – No. 21 Syracuse vs. Washington State (8 p.m. ET, FOX)
  • Las Vegas Bowl – USC vs. Texas A&M (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Saturday, Dec. 28

  • Fenway Bowl – UConn vs. North Carolina (11 a.m. ET, ESPN)
  • Pinstripe Bowl – Boston College vs. Nebraska (12 p.m. ET, ABC)
  • New Mexico Bowl – TCU vs. Louisiana (2:15 p.m. ET, ESPN)
  • Pop-Tarts Bowl – No. 13 Miami (Fla.) vs. No. 18 Iowa State (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
  • Arizona Bowl – Colorado State vs. Miami-Ohio (4:30 p.m. ET, CW Network)
  • Military Bowl – NC State vs. East Carolina (5:45 p.m. ET, ESPN)
  • Alamo Bowl – No. 17 BYU vs. No. 23 Colorado (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
  • Independence Bowl – No. 22 Army vs. Louisiana Tech (9:15 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Vince Marrow turns down Bill Belichick

As Mark Stoops tries to right the ship in Lexington, he’ll have his co-captain by his side. The Big Dawg will not be taking a job at North Carolina to coach with arguably the greatest football mind in the history of the sport, six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick.

According to FootballScoop, who broke the news of Belichick’s interest in the Kentucky associate head coach, Marrow will remain in Lexington after turning down the job.

“For a couple of weeks, Vince Marrow had pondered an offer to join Bill Belichick’s inaugural coaching staff at North Carolina. Now, Marrow has made his decision,” the report said. “Sources with direct knowledge tell FootballScoop that Marrow intends to remain on Mark Stoops’s Kentucky staff.”

There you have it, folks.

How one play changed everything for Kentucky football

Remember that time the Cats were No. 7 in the country going into their matchup at No. 14 Ole Miss in 2022? It was the peak of Kentucky football, a time we all thought an unimaginable breakthrough into national glory was coming.

Then one play and one flag changed everything.

KSR’s Steven Peake retold the story beautifully, specifically what could (and maybe should) have happened instead. And now I’m sad.

Tyler Herro sends the Magic home with a game-winner

The Bucket is having a career year with the Miami Heat. It’s gotten to the point where trade rumors are flying with Jimmy Butler — Pat Riley had to publicly shut down any talk of moving the six-time All-Star — because Herro has been that good, averaging a career-high 23.8 points on 47/41/85 splits while playing 35.1 minutes per game.

The next trick up Boy Wonder’s sleeve? A game-winner to send the Orlando Magic home, closing out the 17-point comeback victory with a pull-up jumper from the right wing. Bang.

Jim Larranaga whines on his way out

Speaking of Miami, the head coach of the Hurricanes is no longer the head coach of the Hurricanes. Jim Larranaga, just over a season removed from leading The U to its first-ever Final Four in 2023, announced his abrupt retirement at the age of 75. He stepped down after starting the year an abysmal 4-8 with losses in eight of his last nine games.

The reason? “I’m exhausted. I’ve tried every which way to keep this going,” he said before telling the story of eight players from his Final Four team telling him they were going to enter the transfer portal after the season. “… The opportunity to make money someplace else created a situation where you have to begin to ask yourself as a coach, what is this all about? The answer is it’s become professional.”

Reminder: Larranaga led George Mason to the Final Four in 2006 and used his meteoric rise as a coach to accept his first high-major gig in 2011. It’s always okay when coaches leave for better opportunities, but when players do it, it’s bad for the game.

Never fails.

Happy Holidays. Go Cats. Let’s watch some bowl games.

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2025-09-14