If Kentucky is going to make a bowl game during the 2024 college football season it will need to win each of its next three games. However, chilly temperatures and an FCS opponent deterred Wildcats fans from showing up to the first of three must-win games on Saturday.
A minuscule crowd showed up to Kroger Field in time for kickoff.
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Kentucky began the year with higher hopes than expected after a one-point loss to Georgia and an upset road win over Ole Miss. It has since lost to Vanderbilt, Florida, Auburn and Tennessee. Head coach Mark Stoops is back on the hot seat. Beating Texas and Louisville to close out the college football season would guarantee that he returns in 2025 if that is not already the plan.
Although it would be cool to take down a top-five opponent on the road and play the spoiler for their biggest rival, neither win will matter if the Wildcats don’t get the job done this weekend. A 1-9 Murray State program rolled into Lexington as one of the worst programs on the FCS level.
As could be expected, there was not a lot of buzz about the unexciting “buy game” matchup in mid-November. To further diminish the excitement, temperatures hovered around 53º at kickoff. The normally vibrant tailgating scene was practically nonexistent because it was even colder during the early morning.
Most empty I've seen the tailgate scene at Kroger Field since 2020.
— Aaron Gershon (@agershon99) November 16, 2024
Chilly conditions, FCS opponent and a 3-6 home team will do that. pic.twitter.com/xyGiy4rMHG
Attendance for the game itself was not much better. Kroger Field was less than 50% full just 15 minutes prior to kickoff.
15 minutes until kick off here at Kroger Field. Smaller crowd for sure as Kentucky gets set to take on Murray State. #BBN @FOX56News pic.twitter.com/dYNXLTdbtQ
— Colby Wilson (@colbyywilsonn) November 16, 2024
To be fair, a late-arriving crowd filled in after the coin toss and helped with the optics. Kind of. It was still pretty empty.
The crowd at kickoff of Kentucky vs. Murray State. The Racers win the toss and will take the ball to start the game.
— KSR (@KSRonX) November 16, 2024
LIVE BLOG: https://t.co/F7A8Qz2Fpi
GAME THREAD: https://t.co/62yBAhUQDU pic.twitter.com/dhQLQsvY3O
There are a lot of different factors at play here: weather, opponent, time of day, and record. If Kentucky was playing a top-25 team (or even an FBS team) with the College Football Playoff on the line, Lexington would’ve been a madhouse. Instead, a six-loss team played an even lesser opponent in the cold at noon.
Although the circumstances involved with the lack of crowd make sense, it does not reflect well on Mark Stoops as calls for his job continue to increase!