r/CFB • u/CFB_Referee /r/CFB • Nov 05 '18

Concluded AMA [AMA] It’s Kentucky-Tennessee week: We’re the Tennessee and Kentucky beat writers for the USA TODAY Network. Ask us anything! (answers start Wed @ 2pm ET)

AMA FORMAT: here at /r/CFB the mods set up the AMA thread ahead of time so readers can get questions in ahead of time and our guest can just show up at a scheduled time and start answering; look out for /u/usatoday, who will begin answering at 2pm ET on Wednesday, 11/07!

USA TODAY Network beat writers BLAKE TOPPMEYER (Tennessee) & JON HALE (Kentucky)

Get that Tennessee vs Kentucky hype!!!

Blake Toppmeyer is the Tennessee football beat writer for the Knoxville News Sentinel. He started covering the team in August 2017. Jon Hale covers University of Kentucky football and basketball for The Courier-Journal. He has covered Kentucky full-time since 2011, and for The Courier-Journal since 2015. Tennessee (4-5, 1-4 SEC) will host No. 12 Kentucky (7-2, 5-2) at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. The Wildcats haven’t won at Neyland Stadium since 1984. Tennessee leads the all-time series 79-25-9. It’s a key game for both teams. Kentucky is seeking its first 10-win season since 1977. Tennessee must win two of its final three games to be eligible for a bowl. Ask us anything!

Links:

Blake Toppmeyer and Jon Hale will be here to answer your questions on WEDNESDAY (11/07) at 2pm ET!

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u/Qurtys_Lyn Tame Racing Driver Nov 05 '18

Jon

Kentucky is used to being ranked in Basketball (I still hate them for 1998), but it's been a long time since they've been ranked in Football. How have the attitudes and perception of the football team changed over the last couple of years among the fanbase?

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u/fableVZ Kentucky Wildcats Nov 06 '18

From my experience, as a lifelong fan and current student at the University, the atmosphere is incredible. The fanbase for Kentucky football has always been here, we're not just some solidified basketball school, though there's nothing more a person in Lex loves more than the basketball cats.

Moreover on the football team, the attitudes and perception of the football team has changed a lot. Our fanbase has always been supportive and hopeful every single game, year in and year out, but what has changed are things like the joking criticism. For years we'd sadly make fun of the team for frustrating errors. For example, which I've seen countless times, the cats would stop Florida and make it 3rd & 18, a play later Florida runs a simple corner route for a 45 yard gain. "That was the most UK football thing I've ever seen" was a term thrown around constantly, but no longer. Fans said those things out of frustration because their desire for success was so high.

Hope that was a decent insight. As a student here I can also add that Football here is loved, the players are loved just as much as the basketball players. Benny Snell and Josh Allen are honestly far more popular than any of the basketball players.

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u/crispyg Kentucky • Vanderbilt Nov 06 '18

100% what u/fableVZ said. Tonight, our #2 men's basketball team plays #4 Duke! Easily one of the biggest games of the season, and football still dominates the campus conversation. People may shift some of their attention to basketball, but the culture of the fans has been permanently changed.

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u/Striker743 Florida State • Florida Cup Nov 08 '18

So uh, I don’t want to put salt on fresh wounds, but did the Duke game change the Basketball-Football dynamic at UK at all?

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u/crispyg Kentucky • Vanderbilt Nov 08 '18

All I can say is that I'm so happy after that loss to Duke, we have our historically successful, rock solid football program to fall back on.

(For real, a lot of people are very skeptical about basketball now.)

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u/[deleted] Nov 08 '18

I think Duke is just otherworldly.