Welcome, UK football lovers – it’s opening weekend at Commonwealth Stadium.

The Cats move from one major intrastate rival to another – wait, UK and Western Kentucky isn’t really a rivalry?

Oh. Awkward.

Actually, the lack of opposition between the teams is obvious, and for good reason. The two have only played each other once, primarily because WKU has only been competing as a Division I program for a year. But they will face each other for the next four years, two in Lexington and two at LP Field in Nashville.

The only real reason much of the Blue and White faithful is remotely interested in this weekend’s game is because it’s the first home game of the season. It is everyone’s initial excuse to get plastered in public, stumble into the stadium and shout from the top of Section 200 at the micro-sized players running around on the field. Woot, woot.

If UK Athletics is going to pay a team $250,000 per game to come take a beating from the Cats, it might as well be a team who will make the game interesting. Building a rivalry with a team on a 21-game losing streak (which WKU currently faces) is difficult. There is simply no appeal.

Saying that, WKU did play Nebraska well last Saturday. So fans won’t likely see a repeat of the 41-3 trouncing UK put on the Hilltoppers in the team’s first meeting in 2008.

At least one thing has potential to keep fans occupied – trying to figure what the hell that red blob dancing on the sidelines is (and why everyone adores it so).

But when the beloved blob stops dancing, a less-than-entertaining football game will likely be all that’s left. When it does, fans will be ecstatic, yet bored in the same instance.