Stoops: Cats prepared for rainy game in Hattiesburg

Hurricane Harvey has been dumping rain all over the great state of Texas at a devastating pace and it isn’t slowing down. The tropical storm is expected to continue through the weekend, and it will likely have an impact on Kentucky’s game at Southern Miss as the storm moves slowly across the coastline with Louisiana and Mississippi in its path.

“If it takes that track, there could be a substantial threat across west Mississippi and up into the Delta. If it takes a more easterly track, the amounts could be higher,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Daniel Lamb.

The current forecast calls for thunderstorms in the Hattiesburg area Saturday evening, which, of course, is when the Cats are scheduled to kick off the season on the Golden Eagles’ home turf. So we can expect that game to get a little muddied up, but Mark Stoops’ team is prepared for a wet one.

“We had some days where it was a little bit wet; we had some days where we went inside in the afternoon and got a little bit of humidity in the indoor,” Stoops said during his Monday evening call-in show, when asked about the possibility of rain during Kentucky’s season opener. “But it will be different for sure. We’ve worked hard to acclimate our players as best we can. I feel like we have a deep football team — certainly the deepest since I’ve been here — and you’ve gotta be able to trust those guys that they’re going to go in and play.”

For what it’s worth, Southern Miss plays on a synthetic turf that can drain out the rain and prevent puddling on the field.