This is your one-stop location for all significant updates leading up to the Kentucky-Southern Miss game. It will be periodically brought up to speed based on information coming from Hattiesburg or Lexington.
The blog will be heavy on opposition research since you can find all your Kentucky information at Cats Illustrated daily.
SOUTHERN MISS UPDATES (8/30, 7:45 a.m.)
Patrick Magee of the Sun Herald writes that for the first time in several years it doesn't necessarily feel like Southern Miss is on an upward trajectory.
USM coach Jay Hopson says he thinks both quarterbacks, Kwadra Griggs and Keon Howard, will play on Saturday.
The USM student newspaper says Ito Smith gives the Golden Eagles veteran leadership and star power in 2017.
SPOTLIGHT ON SOUTHERN MISS (8/29, 8:25 a.m.)
Southern Miss is still undecided on who will start at quarterback against Kentucky, Jason Munz writes for the Hattiesburg American. In the same update Jay Hopson said he's very excited about USM's cornerbacks from their work in camp.
Continuing with the morning's USM theme, here's a look at the Golden Eagles' strengths and weaknesses. Pretty much just as we've laid it out here.
DEPTH CHARTS (8/28, 1:40 p.m.)
Mark Stoops' program released its game week depth chart in advance of his Monday luncheon. There were some surprises. See the two-deep here.
Along those same lines, here are 10 initial takeaways from Kentucky's game week depth chart.
Also, see USM's depth chart in a tweet from Jason Munz below. The Golden Eagles still haven't named a starting quarterback.
SACK MASTER (8/28, 10:30 a.m.)
Kentucky will need to be aware of defensive lineman Xavier Thigpen at all times. Jason Munz, who writes about the Golden Eagles for the Hattiesburg American, calls Thigpen the next grew USM pass rusher. His 9.5 sacks the last two seasons seem modest, but Munz writes this is his year to step into a starring role.
RELATED: Mismatch Meter measures advantages, mismatches in UK-USM
RELATED: Who has the edge? Kentucky and USM, position by position
LOW ATTENDANCE EXPECTED? (8/28, 10:20 a.m.)
Time will tell but a source close to the USM program tells Cats Illustrated that it's very likely there will be a lot of empty seats in Hattiesburg for the UK-USM game. That will become even more true if the 20% rain forecast increases closer to game time. Roberts Stadium only seats 36,000 and last year's home USM opener drew less than 30,000. Granted, that was for an FCS opponent, but we're hearing there should be some bleachers in view for Kentucky, too.
Less than a packed house, rain possibly clearing out Saturday and manageable humidity... Road dynamics could definitely be worse for the Cats.
WEATHER UPDATE (8/28, 10:15 a.m.)
As of right now the weather forecast for Saturday, according to The Weather Channel, calls for partly cloudy skies, a high of 85 and a low of 66. A light wind but nothing that should impact the game too much. The 74% humidity could be a lot worse, meaning the Cats will miss the worst of the muggy Gulf Coast heat that could have otherwise played a big factor.
What about rain? 20% chance as of right now although that's definitely subject to change. It looks like Hattiesburg will be taking a lot of rain with storms expected every day this week leading up to Saturday. USM's M.M. Roberts Stadium has Matrix (artificial) turf so a bad week of weather shouldn't affect field conditions for the game on Saturday.
