KSR Today: Football, football and more football

The first weekend of football has come to an end, the appetizer before the entree at all three levels. High school football gave us some fireworks — how about Tayden Lorenzen helping No. 10 Highlands defeat No. 12 Frederick Douglass in double overtime on Friday? — but lopsided victories for the heavy hitters mostly stole the show. Then came Week 0 for college football on Saturday, a five-game window that included a ranked conference rivalry matchup. That was a heck of a time with the Guinness flowing in Dublin, along with some other notable finishes. There was the NFL preseason, too, the final week of exhibitions before the real stuff begins on September 4.

We’ll be recapping our final Saturday without Kentucky football to get things rolling on Sunday, then hitting on whatever else comes to mind. You have your cup of coffee ready? Good, me too.

Week 0 gets CFB off to a hot start

Iowa State vs. Kansas State finally lived up to the hype in the second half after a slow start to get things rolling. It was a rainy, turnover-filled mess with both sides struggling to find the end zone, followed by some late chaos that saw O-45.5 bets fall short by a half-inch. Oh, and K-State standout Dylan Edwards got hurt on his first snap, going down on a muffed punt return. Hope you didn’t have an ATD bet on him like I did!

Elsewhere, Dan Mullen survived an FCS scare in his UNLV debut while our friends in Bowling Green won comfortably in their Conference USA opener. Also, how about Hawai’i’s Kansei Matsuzawa learning how to kick on YouTube, then hitting the game-winner at the horn? Electric.

• No. 22 Iowa State def. No. 17 Kansas State 24-21
• UNLV def. Idaho State 38-31
• Kansas def. Fresno State 31-7
• Western Kentucky def. Sam Houston 41-24
• Hawai’i def. Stanford 23-20

FNL Week 1 Saturday Leftovers

Hitting the 100-game mark between Thursday and Friday, the KHSAA schedule was a bit easier to stomach on Saturday with just a dozen-plus matchups. Few were competitive, including the 43-point win for Boyle County in the Rafferty’s Bowl and Tates Creek and Woodford County both earning seven-touchdown victories.

Catch up on those scores as we wrap up the first official week of high school football in Kentucky.

• Boyle County def. Bullitt East 50-7 (Rafferty’s Bowl in Bowling Green)
• Corbin def. Linton-Stockton 42-20
• Fleming County def. Casey County 20-13
• Harlan County def. Clay County 21-0
• Hazard def. Montgomery County 46-14
• Middlesboro def. Breathitt County 50-36
• Nelson County def. Shelby County 40-26
• Oldham County def. DeSales 41-21
• Pulaski County def. Henderson County 44-21
• South Laurel def. Somerset 33-22
• Tates Creek def. Mercer County 66-29 (Fort Harrod Bowl at Alvis Johnson Field)
• Woodford County def. Fairdale 47-7 (Fort Harrod Bowl at Alvis Johnson Field)
• Taylor County def. Metcalfe County 27-0
• Wayne County def. Paul Laurence Dunbar 48-13

Time to put a bow on the NFL Preseason

Speaking of wrapping up weekends of football, the NFL wrapped up three weeks of preseason football on Saturday. 10 matchups took place featuring 13 former Wildcats on the field — several finishing as top standouts for their respective teams.

Jamon Dumas-Johnson (Green Bay), D’Eryk Jackson (Seattle) and Deone Walker (Buffalo) had the best days. Look at the big fella getting after it!

Check out all of the remaining scores and BBNFL stats before things get hectic in the league over the next several days —  teams have to trim their 90-man rosters to 53 by Tuesday, meaning some of your favorite Cats could be celebrating or looking for new homes ahead of the regular season the following week.

• Ravens def. Commanders 30-3
  • Devin Leary (BAL) – 17/23 for 71 yards
  • MJ Devonshire (BAL) – 2 TKL (2 SOLO)
  • Chris Rodriguez Jr. (WAS) – 34 yards on 5 carries
• Colts def. Bengals 41-14
• Browns def. Rams 19-17
  • Brenden Bates (CLE)
• Texans def. Lions 26-7
  • Eli Cox (HOU)
  • Josh Paschal (DET) – DNP
• Broncos def. Saints 28-19
  • Keidron Smith (DEN) – 2 TKL (2 SOLO)
  • Marques Cox (DEN)
  • Luke Fortner (NO)
  • Landon Young (NO)

• Packers def. Seahawks 20-7
  • Jamon Dumas-Johnson (GB) – 5 TKL (4 SOLO), 1 TFL, 1 PD
  • Carrington Valentine (GB) – DNP
  • D’Eryk Jackson (SEA) – 5 TKL (3 SOLO)
  • Quinton Bohanna (SEA)

• Dolphins def. Jaguars 14-6
  • Josh Hines-Allen (JAX) – DNP
• Bills def. Buccaneers 23-19
  • Ray Davis (BUF) – DNP
  • Deone Walker (BUF) – 4 TKL (2 SOLO), 0.5 sacks, 1 TFL, 1 QBH
  • Maxwell Hairston (BUF) – DNP
• 49ers def. Chargers 30-23
  • Bud Dupree (LAC) – DNP
• Cardinals def. Raiders 20-10
  • Lonnie Johnson (LV) – DNP

What’s going on with Kentucky football?

We covered our bases with high school, college and the NFL, but what are your Cats doing before their season debut vs. Toledo six days from now on Aug. 30?

After multiple preseason scrimmages to get ready for the real stuff, they took the weekend off to let their bodies heal after a long, successful camp. We last heard from Brad White, DJ Waller Jr., Jaden Williams and Tavion Gadson on Thursday, then Bush Hamdan, Cutter Boley, Shiyazh Pete, Jay Boulware and Ja’Mori Maclin a few days before on Tuesday.

We don’t blame you if you need a little UKFB in your lives after seeing everyone else have fun this weekend, so catch up on those media opportunities to pass the time on Sunday:

Kick off the 2025 Kentucky football season with KSR Plus! We’re giving you behind-the-scenes intel you won’t find anywhere else. Join the most vibrant online community in BBN ahead of a pivotal season for Mark Stoops.

Soak in the final hours of the offseason now, because all of that is over starting Monday. Mark Stoops will share his very first game week press conference of the season to preview Toledo, followed by his call-in show from 6-7 PM ET. From there, you’ll get the mid-week interviews and KSR podcasts to count you down to kickoff on Saturday at 12:45 PM ET at Kroger Field.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, folks.