Kentucky fans had no reasons to be happy Saturday.
Kentucky was already shockingly behind 24-6 to 10-point underdog South Carolina going to the fourth quarter when coach Mark Stoops was asked by ESPN sideline reporter Molly McGrath what his team needed to do in the final period Saturday.
“We have got to do something. Right now is an embarrassment. Self-inflicted wounds. It is ridiculous,” Stoops said.
Guess what? It quickly got more ridiculous.
Quarterback Brock Vandagriff threw a pass into triple coverage that was intercepted and returned for a 24-yard score in South Carolina’s 31-6 dominating win.
Kentucky had only 183 yards of total offense. Vandagriff was 3-for-10 passing for 30 yards and was sacked four times. Backup Gavin Wimsatt was 3-for-7 for 14 yards and also threw an interception. He was sacked once.
Kentucky had 11 penalties for 63 yards and most were just careless penalties that one would have thought this veteran team would not be making. Just consider this sequence in the second half:
— UK returned the kickoff only to the 13-yard line.
— A 25-yard pass was wiped out by an illegal shift.
— The next two plays both resulted in holding calls.
— A run lost one yard.
— An incompletion was nearly picked off and would have been a Pick-6.
— Another incompletion.
— An illegal shift even on a punt cost UK five more yards.
Kentucky Radio Network analyst Jeff Piecoro didn’t mince words when he said UK’s offense was in a “tough situation.” Once UK kept five offensive linemen, one tight end and one running back in to block and South Carolina rushed only three linemen and still got a hit on Vandagriff. Piecoro said UK’s offense had very few options because it could not block at the line of scrimmage.
“I am almost speechless and have to talk for a living,” Piecoro said on the UK Radio Network. “They had nine minus plays in the first half and seven in the second half and lost 111 yards. Then the penalties that were outrageous. Just on one drive 46 yards of offense got erased. There were just things you shake your head at with this team that have not happened in a long time.”
Shake your head indeed. This is a team that insisted it had the right pieces in place to be a much better team and was actually irked it was not ranked in the top 25 going into the season.
The Kentucky defense was billed as maybe the best of the Stoops’ era but blew pass coverage twice that resulted in South Carolina touchdown passes. However, overall the defense just gave up 252 yards
“The thing that bothers you here is the defense did not play bad. They had three bad plays and all resulted in touchdowns. They only gave up 86 yards on the ground. Fifty plays for just 252 yards and got an interception but the offense just disintegrated,” Piecoro said.
The offense was so bad that even when South Carolina led 17-6 in the third quarter that you felt the only way UK might win would be if the defense scored twice.
There needs to be a lot of soul-searching by UK coaches and players after this flop, especially with No. 1 Georgia coming to Kroger Field now.
I’ve seen a lot of bad Kentucky losses in the last 50 years but this might have been the most disappointing because of the so-called talent and experience on this team. And Kentucky had felt disrespected by South Carolina after losing two straight to the Gamecocks.
“Nothing against Kentucky but we had great confidence coming in here today,” South Carolina coach Shane Beamer.
He was right — even if South Carolina only beat Old Dominion 23-19 a week earlier to start the season. South Carolina came in confident, played that way and put a big hurt on UK’s season.
31 Responses
Where did this come from? This was supposed to be a Kentucky blowout win! With a blown up offensive line, a shell shocked quarterback, and a pummeled secondary I’m not sure things will get better. If there was ever a time for Stoops to earn his $9 million salary, its now. We can always look on the bright side…basketball season isn’t that far away.
Hope with Pope.
Completely agree… what a let down! Some much for being respectable this season. 3-9 or 4-8 are really looking likely.
The UK athletics program has come full circle over the last 15 years.
Prior to that time, UK fans knew prior to Oct 15 each year that football was over and anticipated Big Blue Madness. Then, since 2010, Calipari and Barnhart took Big Blue Madness down to the point that it was not worth investing the time to even watch, and Stoops elevated the football program to the point that anticipation for the football team extended to Thanksgiving and beyond.
Now, the world of UK sports has returned to its traditional place. UK football season is a bust, and let’s all get ready for Coach Pope’s first edition.
I can’t help but wonder how bad Old Dominion might have whupped our butts yesterday. I also can’t conceal my anger and disgust with Stoops continuing to lead our program. He has had trouble during his tenure getting his teams prepared to play at kickoff, spends more time during the game adjusting his head gear than he does showing emotion for what taking place in front of his eyes. The football world knew that a L by either team was going to be season impacting and yet this is the product the coaching staff put in front of the football world. I am officially announcing that I am off the Stoops train. He hit his ceiling a couple of yrs ago.
UK FB is back!
$9 Million Stoops has brought consistency to the kroger open market.
• players always in a trance/asleep 1st QTR
• 3rd season in a row with a crumbling little blue wall where most teams have an OL
• Another OC with a successful track record locked down by Stoops.
• run, run, run until it’s 3rd down & call a pass play when everyone including the fans know it’s too far to
run
• let Special Teams be UNspecial. Don’t bother to set up plays to return the kickoff with an outstanding returner
• annual Swiss cheese secondary. High school teams could rack up 100’s of yards passing vs UK CB’s
It’s time for Barnie to give Stoops a secret life-time contract
I agree 100% with all the topics at hand. 3 years in a row of wreck less football. The play calling is bad on both sides of the ball. The players look asleep. How many fumbles rolled past Kentucky players who watched it and didnt dive for it or nothing just watched it bounce by them. I think it’s time for a coaching change in football.
Nice post! Most of us are a bit shell-shocked
How can fans be sure that Barnie has not already given Stoops the life time contract after Stoops’ flirtation with A&M
That’s a very good point, Professor!
Line stunk.. passing routes need to be shorter with this line right now. Also if this continues they need to be well versed in the running back screen game.
My son and I have a bet.. I say UK will not score a touchdown vs Georgia. It’s only for lunch. But I feel confident they won’t. They potentially may not score period.. I think it’s going to be extraordinarily ugly.
I think georgia if it wants to and keeps the pedal to the floor can score 50 plus
You cannot run elaborate passing routes when the qb has no time to throw it.. he’s already running before route is complete.
If you look closely you can see some fans clad in blue and white jumping off the Dr. Pepper Hype Train. I never bought a ticket – scheduling problem.
Lol I’m one of them fans.
The Big Blue Wall is now the Big Blue Gate.
So much for a special season. I’ll eat my crow. Pathetic!
The best football team in this state is the Boyle County Rebels. They went to Ohio and beat its #1 ranked (top 15 nationally ranked) and three time defending state champion 38-21 on its own field. The Rebels are the real deal!
Jimmy, you aren’t the only one who bought into this team. Some were thinking it would be a 10-2 season. Now a 2-10 is not out of the question. If Stoops is worth his $9 million salary, he will get this team up for an asswhooping from Georgia, but make it a respectable asswhooping. Then cupcake Ohio comes to town. After that, Murray State is the only sure win left on the schedule. If we were to lose to Vanderbilt on Kroger Field, that could and should earn Stoops a pink slip. This was one of the worse losses in the Stoops era. A bowl bid sounds laughable now. What happened to the team that I thought could go 8-4? Stoops better invest in some asbestos pants because his coaching seat just became one of the hottest in the country. At $9 million, we deserve better and surely can find better for next year if this season continues to implode.
I don’t see a respectful ass whooping coming.. as a matter of fact I don’t see Griffen making it out of this game. I thi k Georgia will destroy UK . If you struggle against SC what makes you think or what did you see that makes you think that?
I think I put my foot in my mouth. Maybe this team isn’t as great as I thought it was. On paper they look great but the coaching was pitiful. Let me also start by saying this we had 2 starting offensive lineman out on a already thin line without Cortland Ford and Ben Christman. So when the 2 offensive lineman went down I knew we were in trouble but I thought it would be a close game. Nope the secondary was back to there old ways. And let’s face it the offensive line has been terrible for 3 years. I thought Eric Wolford was going to push this group to be better. That just isn’t the case. We did a good job on the defensive line. The linebackers played average at best. It all comes down to the offensive line. They can’t pass block and they can’t run block. You can’t win games if your line don’t block. Also I’ve never seen back to back illegal formations in all of my 41 years of watching football I’ve never even seen a high school team or pop warner team have back to back illegal formations. That’s terrible coaching when the players don’t even know where to line up. We also ran 18 times in a row. The defense was stacking the box. What I don’t understand is when the run was working we started passing the ball and when South Carolina seen we couldn’t pass the ball they started blitzing Everytime and game over. This is the most disappointing game I’ve seen from Kentucky. This was worse than even Joker Phillips did in his 2 years of havoc. Stoops doesn’t even look like he cares anymore he used to get fired up now it’s like oh well I still get 9 million. He’s doing the same thing Calapari did. He doesn’t seem as focused and the players dont either we could say the 11 injuries we have is killing this team but every team has injuries demie sumo was the only player who played decent. Brock is a bust. He only looked good for 1 quarter against southern miss. Maybe we need abandon the pass game put in Gavin and run the ball 90% of the time like when Lynn Bowden was here. We can’t hold blocks so you have to put your best runners at quarterback. Georgia is going to blow us out by 40-50 points. I’m upset with Kentucky in every phase of the game. I was under the impression that we had a great offensive line. Because we have a great defense and they were moving the ball well against them in practice. Beamer has out coached Stoops 3 years in a row. Maybe Stoops should have kept his mouth shut about his sunglasses because he’s proved he has more of a football mind than Stoops. You can’t tell me Kentucky isn’t a lot more talented than South Carolina so why do we always lay a egg against South Carolina and that comes down to coaching. All coaches. Maybe Bush Hamdan wasn’t ready for the SEC maybe if he was Missouri would have hired him. Stoops needs to be on the hot seat. It’s been terrible to watch the last 3 years now.
Has anyone yet seen anything at all inspiring coming off the lips or game plan of Hamdan? Also, curious how Wolford has been able to escape culpability for the egg he laid. The guy showed a couple yrs ago that he didn’t really want to be here, and we were apparently dump and desperate enough to go to replay. How did that work out? Didn’t hear his name mentioned or see any comments post game from him.
To all who admit they were duped into thinking & even believing this would be a banner year for UK FB, you are not alone & nearly everyone bought into it, at least a little bit. I sure did and still thought UK had a chance to get 9 or 10 wins, until SC showed up and UK was still walking around 1/2 asleep.
One of the worst UK games I can remember and that goes all the way back to include Stoll Field when Houston beat UK 56-0 at Homecoming!!!
Mental preparation was the absolute worst in at least 60 years.
Stoops could slow UGA down if Smart would let Stoops give them his pre-game “put you in a trance” pep talk!
I’ve donated money to this trash fire. Nobody looked prepared on Kentucky except the offensive line. We looked like we were just going through the motions with no sense of urgency or aggression.
It didn’t appear to these eyes that the OL was least bit prepared. They appeared to be totally helpless and clueless.
I think UK is now at the ceiling of Mark Stoops career. Haven’t seen a loss so depressing since Joke Phillips stunk up the place. KY has 120 football players and no TEAM. I see a lot of selfishness in this locker room and that is on the coach. Further, someone please tell me the name of the last QB that was recruited and developed by Stoops. I can’t think of it either. The only bright spot in yesterday’s game was the defense. Early in the year you expect a few blown assignments and yesterday was not exception where we had three that went for points. But the entire team appeared to be asleep. No one seemed to want to compete. I see maybe two more wins for the remainder of the season and one of them is not Louisville. Based on yesterday’s performance Louisville will be a 3-td favorite.
RJ, that pretty much sums up the Stoops era. He has elevated our program, but now it seems to be regressing and the main reason for that is not having a quarterback to lead the way. Stoops never did have a grasp for the offensive part of the game and you can’t win on defense alone. Stoops has the rest of the season to show that he can right the ship and continue as coach, but that also goes the other way too. If this season ends in a 3-9 debacle, that’s evidence enough that it’s time for a coaching change.
Yup Loose one game this early in the season and it’s game over for Stoops. The pressure that a lot of our fans put on our coaches is unreal. I just wonder how many games will Pope have to loose before he is on the chopping block. If you support our team then you have to support our coaches. After all they are the tip of the spear. Ran Cal out of town now it’s Stoops turn and they are both winning coaches.
Cal deserved to be run out of town and will prove that when he turns in double digit loss seasons for the Hogs. The criticism concerning Stoops does not come from this past game only. This embarrassing loss to South Carolina is simply the straw that could possibly break Stoops back. He has the rest of the season to show that he does belong as our head coach; but make no mistake about it…a 3-9 season will earn him his walking papers. Maybe you should move to Fayetteville where you won’t have to kiss Calipari’s ass from such a long distance.
Steven doesn’t need to go to Fayetteville.
He can pucker up February 1st.
An old friend who played with Johnny U @ UL told me once – “ if you have a guy who can really , REALLY throw you have a chance in any game”. Last one was Woodson, then Couch.