KSR Today: Kentucky's defense motivated to turn season around

Good morning, folks! And a Happy Thursday to the best fans in sports. It might not feel like October outside, but the dates on the calendar don’t lie. Keeneland’s fall meet begins Friday (running from Oct. 3-25), playoff baseball is in the air (sorry, Reds fans), football is all over our TVs, and basketball is right around the corner.

For Kentucky football, it means another challenging SEC opponent. The Wildcats head to Athens this weekend for a showdown with No. 12 Georgia. UK is still a three-touchdown underdog. It’s not an optimistic vibe within and around the program right now. Kentucky needs to build any sort of momentum against the Bulldogs. The players believe it can and will happen.

“We know the last time we won an SEC game.” Junior DB Ty Bryant told reporters Wednesday. “I mean, we don’t go out there trying to lose, you know what I’m saying? Things just kind of happen. The ball doesn’t bounce our way. But at the end of the day, I feel like we’re motivated to make a change for this season, give the season a whole 180-turn and go on a run.”

Saturday on the road will be a great place to prove it. You can hear from Bryant and the rest of the Kentucky defense in the video below. Now let’s dive into the rest of this morning’s news and notes.

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First Availability Report vs. Georgia

The first of several Availability Reports for Kentucky vs. Georgia was released on Wednesday night. It didn’t come with many surprises, although Zach Calzada‘s shoulder injury has healed enough for him to be listed as probable. Seven Wildcats have been ruled out, while starting cornerback DJ Waller Jr., who hasn’t played since Week 1, was listed as questionable. We’ll have an updated report drop tonight, hopefully with good news on Waller.

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Blue-White Game tickets go on sale TOMORROW

UK Athletics announced Wednesday morning that tickets for Kentucky basketball’s annual Blue-White Game will go on sale this Friday, Oct. 3, at 10:00 a.m. ET. Reserved seats start out at $29.65 — which includes fees — and are available exclusively through Ticketmaster (click here). Prices will vary by seat location.

The Blue-White Game, which will feature both the Kentucky men’s and women’s teams, is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 17, at 7:00 p.m. ET inside Memorial Coliseum. UK states it will include “interactive competitions amongst the teams with fan engagement at the core of the event.” It has yet to be announced if the preseason event will be broadcast on TV.

ESPN ranked all Power 4 QBs

And it’s not a fun list to sift through! Why? Kentucky’s quarterback duo of Cutter Boley and Zach Calzada ranked 68th out of 68th among all Power 4 QB situations. Not good! ESPN’s Bill Connelly didn’t mince words with his evaluation of that room, either.

“Boley threw for 240 yards against Eastern Michigan, with seven completions over 20 yards,” Connelly wrote. “Against three defenses ranked higher than 135th in SP+, however, he and Calzada have gone a combined 36-for-75 for 396 yards with two interceptions and nine sacks. And 53 of those yards came on a single dump-off pass. The QB position offered almost nothing for UK last season, and it’s offering even less in 2025.“

Coming in at dead-last does feel a bit harsh, considering Connelly ranked West Virginia, which he described as “two or three square pegs for round holes”, a few spots ahead of Kentucky. But it’s also hard to argue against that ranking after what we’ve seen through four games this season.

Valentine’s Day tipoff vs. Florida

After last year’s offensive thriller in Rupp Arena, Kentucky and Florida will look to put on another show on the day of love. It was announced on Wednesday that tipoff between the Wildcats and Gators in Gainesville on Saturday, February 14, is set for 3:00 p.m. ET on ABC. As someone who loves a mid-afternoon tip-time on the weekend, I couldn’t have asked for a better slot. Just move those Valentine’s Day plans around a day or two, or spend it together watching Mark Pope‘s Cats beat up on the defending national champs — but in a romantic way.

Schedule update: Tipoff at Florida on Saturday, Feb. 14 will be at 3 pm ET on ABC. pic.twitter.com/OzNBkNmbjw

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) October 1, 2025

Auburn’s roster will remain intact

Despite Bruce Pearl‘s sudden retirement, Auburn isn’t expected to lose any players for the upcoming 2025-26 season. On3’s Joe Tipton reports the entire roster will stick around to play for Pearl’s son, Steven. That includes star players such as Tahaad Pettiford and Keyshawn Hall. Bruce’s retirement opened up a 30-day transfer portal window for Tiger players, but none of them plan to use it. It was probably too late in the offseason for any of them to transfer anyway, but keeping them all around is at least a win for Steven.

KSR Happy Hour goes LIVE at 4

What better way to get ready for the weekend than by joining KSR’s weekly Happy Hour? As always, we’ll be going live on the KSR YouTube channel right at 4:00 p.m. ET to talk about anything and everything we can find. We’ll sprinkle in some UK Athletics talk, but we want to get extra weird with today’s episode. Come join us and ask the strangest questions you can think of once we go live!