Mizzou DB Martez Manuel shares why he considers Kentucky more of a rivalry game than Arkansas
By Andrew Olson
Published:
While Mizzou’s annual cross-division clash with Arkansas is billed as a rivalry game, Tigers defensive back Martez Manuel feels that there’s a more heated rivalry with division foe Kentucky.
At SEC Media Days, Manuel was asked for his thoughts on the rivalry with Kentucky in recent years. He compared it to the rivalry with Arkansas.
“I feel like Kentucky, to me, is more of a rivalry game than Arkansas,” Manuel said, emphasizing it was his personal opinion. “Arkansas, yeah, we have the Battle Line Rivalry, but we don’t have that (bad) blood there. We don’t like Kentucky. They don’t like us. It’s been that way…”
Manuel recalled the last few Mizzou-Kentucky games, including the pass interference penalty that led to an untimed down for the Cats in 2018, his senior year of high school.
“There’s actually some bad blood there,” Manuel said of UK. “With Arkansas, we want to win that game, but I don’t hate them personally. That’s just me speaking. I don’t hate those guys. But Kentucky, I just hate that white and blue, not going to lie.”
Missouri DB Martez Manuel talks the UK/Missouri rivalry.
Says he dislikes Kentucky more than Arkansas 👀 pic.twitter.com/s4uSQweHGl
— Aaron Gershon (@agershon99) July 18, 2022
Mizzou hosts Kentucky on Nov. 5 and wraps up the regular season against Arkansas on Nov. 25.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
