These days, the UK football locker room is beginning to look more like a hospital emergency room.
The Cats, already mired in a two-game losing streak, will have nine players out of action when they travel to Nashville Saturday to battle the winless Vanderbilt Commodores.
The Cats have four other players who are listed as either probable or questionable for the game.
While injuries are common in the game of football, some of the Cats injuries this season have occurred due to strange or unusual circumstances.
"Several of these injuries have been just freak things, just bad luck," UK head coach Bill Curry said.
Among those injuries include James Tucker's broken eye socket, which he suffered against Georgia while simply being tackled. Kurt Supe broke his arm against South Carolina when he was tackling quarterback Steve Taneyhill.
It has been widely publicized how physical UK's practices have been this season. Some believe the hard hitting in practice has contributed to the Cats' injury problem, but Curry disagrees.
"I think if we were getting bruised up or muscle pulls or just getting battered up, I would have to concede that might be the problem," Curry said. "But the type of injuries we are getting, broken bones, your bones don't get weaker because you practice ...
In fact, it is less likely to happen if you practice hard."
The injuries have taken their toll on several key areas of the team, especially the defensive secondary and wide receiver positions.
The Cats are down to Kiyo Wilson, who is nursing a hip pointer, and Littleton Ward at cornerback because of injuries to Van Hiles, Steven Hall and Carlos Collins. The latter two players likely are out for the season.
At wide receiver, Antonio O'Ferral is listed as questionable for Saturday because of a sprained ankle he suffered against Mississippi State.
Meanwhile, tight end Issac Curtis III is out for the year with a dislocated shoulder, an injury suffered during the MSU game.
Curry said the injuries have hurt his team, but he expects the Cats to respond.
"It's true that we've had an unfortunate run of circumstances," Curry said, "but it's also true that the next guy in has got to step in and do the job.
Some of the players agree with Curry's statement.
"We have to do like what Georgia did to us," Jaysuma Simms said. "The people who are our backups have to step up and perform like a starter."
Defensive end Chris Ward said the team just has to play through the injuries.
"We just have to stick to it," Ward said. "Injuries are part of the game. You just have to work around it."
Curry says he has had some players this season, such as Craig Yeast and DontŽ Key, come in and play big because of the injuries to their teammates.
"What I'm selling our team is the way we finish this year is what we want to say to our teammates who aren't getting to play," Curry said.
"We do it with performance. We can go up and hug on them and say 'Gee, I'm really sorry' and help them get to their car on crutches or whatever. But we can make them feel a whole lot better by going out and winning it for them."