Listen up, Kentucky football fans.
Advice for dealing with Saturday: Forget about it.
Erase it. Erase if from the memory bank. Erase it from the DVR. Don't dwell on it, analyze it, fixate on it or complain about it. Hit the delete button and move on. It is what it is and it was what it was.
Yes, Kentucky's 63-3 defeat at the hands of Alabama on Saturday was a shield-your-eyes affair. Viewer discretion advised. For Big Blue Nation, it was the return of a recurring nightmare. Examples: 73-7 at Florida in 1994; 65-0 at Florida in 1996; 63-5 at Florida in 2008; 54-3 at South Carolina in 2011.
"I thought we were past that," UK coach Rick Brooks said in 2008.
"We are over that," UK head coach Mark Stoops said in 2020.
At Kentucky, maybe you're never really over it. Warning: Rockslides can happen at any time, and you're powerless to stop it. Deal with it.
But in the grand scheme of things, it means nothing. Nada. Zilch. It's one loss. Just one. To the No. 1 team in the country. To a team coached by Nick Saban, the best in the history of the game. To a team with ridiculous weapons and a smart coordinator on offense. To a team, because of the circumstances of our ever-growing pandemic, had three weeks to prepare.
Let's talk about those circumstances, shall we. To its credit, UK had held the coronavirus at bay. Then last week, the virus hit. Hard. At the worst possible time. Blame COVID-19 itself. Blame contact tracing. Stoops said Saturday players that practiced all week couldn't board Friday's plane.
Missing was the team's best running back (Chris Rodriguez), a starting linebacker and best tackler (Jamin Davis), a starting offensive guard (Luke Fortner), starting tight end (Justin Rigg), quarterbacks coach (Darin Hinshaw) and an All-American punter (Max Duffy) who also holds on field goals and extra points. Saturday, UK lined up for three field goals. It botched two.
Even with its full complement of players, Kentucky doesn't win at Alabama. Tide's previous 2020 scores: 38-19, 52-24, 63-48, 41-24, 48-17, 41-0. Even before news of the COVID-19 problems, the Cats opened the week as a 30-point underdog. But Bryant-Denny Stadium is not where you want to be this season without a full roster.
It's easy to worry if the specter of 66-3 will hurt perception and recruiting, or if it will nullify the program's accomplishments of the last four years. Personally, I tend to think that stuff is overblown, especially this asterisk of a season.
Besides, Saturday was not even Kentucky's worst loss of 2020. By margin, yes. By impact, no. That dubious distinction belongs to Oct. 24 at Missouri. Fresh off a historic 34-7 win at Tennessee, their first since 1984, the Cats inexplicably showed up flat at Mizzou. No offense. No ability to get off the field on defense on third down after third down. Result: Missouri 20, Kentucky 10. Reverse that score, and the Cats are 4-4.
Instead, they are 3-5. No more, no less. This has been a difficult season. The pandemic. The protocols. The lack of fans in the stands. From week to week, the overall uncertainty. For Kentucky, add the summer loss of linebacker Chris Oats, out for the season with an undisclosed medical condition, plus the death of offensive line coach John Schlarman at the age of 45 after a two-year battle with cancer. Remember, it was just last Monday — five days before traveling to Alabama — that this football team was attending Schlarman's funeral and memorial service.
The show must go on, of course. It doesn't get much easier. A trip to sixth-ranked Florida is on the calendar for Saturday. Dan Mullen's Gators have all but clinched the SEC East title. Quarterback Kyle Trask is a Heisman Trophy candidate. The Florida defense, shaky earlier in the year, might be finding its footing at a good time.
Will Kentucky take a deeper roster to Gainesville? Who knows? Such is college football 2020. Take it with a grain of a salt. And move on.
