Five and Oh !!?!!?!

What a very odd year in college football. For University of Kentucky fans, we are accustomed to talking basketball by this point. It is October after all. Midnight Madness is 10 days away. The Billy Gillispie era is about to begin, right? But stop the presses.

Rich Brooks has put together a 5-0 Kentucky team that has a chance to win its first two SEC games for the first time in 30 years. Kentucky has a chance to start the season 6-0 for the first time in 67 years. The Cats are ranked #8 in the polls -- the football polls. Quarterback Andre Woodson is a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy.

This is an awful lot of early success to throw at a fan base whose team is used to losing on Hail Mary's and last second touchdown passes. We are fans of the program that has mastered the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory -- over and over and over. Yet, we Kentucky fans still tune in, still support Big Blue, still keep coming back.

As I was discussing this alternate reality we find ourselves in with my friend & fellow UK fan Dave O, we concluded that tonight's Kentucky/South Carolina game is probably the biggest Kentucky football game of our adult lives. How crazy is that! A Thursday night ESPN game which is only the second league game of the season is arguably the biggest Kentucky game in years. The only game that comes to mind that could be bigger is the Louisville game in 1994 that re-established the UK/UofL rivalry after laying dormant for decades. Either way, tonight's game is huge if Kentucky wants to make the leap into the national scene.

Our crew will be glued to the TV tonight. The boys are practicing their "C-A-T-S" cheer. Here's hoping Kentucky can win tonight so next week's LSU game becomes the biggest game in recent Kentucky football history. Go Big Blue!

BTW, the beverage of choice for tonight's game is VICTORY Hop Devil Ale. Cheers!