Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said not to make replacing quarterback Brock Vandagriff, above, with Gavin Wimsatt the headline for Saturday's loss to Auburn. (Vicky Graff Photo)
The struggles continued for Kentucky Saturday night.
The Wildcats suffered their seventh straight Southeastern Conference home loss with a 24-10 loss to Auburn. Kentucky, which plays its final two league games on the road, went 0-4 in home conference games this season and failed to win an SEC home game for the first time since 2013.
“(We) just got beat — bottom line, we got beat,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said. “(We) didn’t play good enough in any phase for us to win, and that’s discouraging.”
The Tigers (3-5, 1-4 SEC) snapped a four-game conference losing streak and scored 24 unanswered by using a grinding rushing attack to wear down the Wildcats during the last three quarters. Auburn, which lost three of its four conference games by 10 points or less, finally had a breakthrough. Kentucky dropped its third straight league game since a 20-17 win over Ole Miss on Sept. 28.
“It’s like that every week (and the SEC is) just brutal,” Stoops said. “It’s hard and it’s tough. It’s a tough league and we have to man up and it’s this bottom line. There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and our players know that. And they got to get back to work and we have to do a better job.”
Auburn, which had minus eight yards rushing in the first frame, turned to Jarquez Hunter, a senior, to help avoid another conference collapse. Hunter rushed for 278 yards and two touchdowns to spark the Tigers’ successful turnaround.
Sparked by Hunter’s performance, the Tigers rushed for 326 yards and finished with 498 total yards. Hunter’s final tally was the most rushing yards by an opposing player in stadium history.
The Wildcats (3-5, 1-5) were without veteran running backs Demie Sumo-Karngbaye and Chip Trayanum and relied on freshman running backs Jason Patterson and Jarion Wilcox. Patterson had a 23-yard carry and Wilcox scored his first career touchdown as Kentucky built a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.
Kentucky had 115 yards in the first frame but managed just 109 during the final three quarters. The Wildcats finished with 70 yards rushing.
Auburn scored on two of its final two drives of the half. The Tigers failed to get off a field goal attempt as time expired in the first half, leaving the score in a 10-10 deadlock at the break.
Auburn, which had just 38 yards in the first quarter, including minus eight yards rushing, collected 158 total yards and rushed for 74 yards in the second frame. Kentucky managed just 30 yards and three first downs in the second quarter.
Relying on a rushing attack, the Tigers rushed the ball 11 times on a 14-play scoring drive to take a 17-10 lead with 7:53 remaining in the third quarter.
In desperation mode, the Wildcats replaced starting quarterback Brock Vandgriff with backup Gavin Wimsatt in the second half. Wimsatt threw an interception at the goal line in the fourth quarter.
Brock Vandagriff threw for 120 yards and one touchdown to pace the Kentucky offense.
Stoops said he planned on using Wimsatt and didn’t want the team’s struggles to be placed on either player.
“I don’t need that to dominate the headlines,” Stoops said. “We’re not playing very well. It’s never on one person, you know. So if it’s Gavin or if it’s Brock, whoever it is — they can only do so much. It’s a team effort. I know everybody likes to concentrate on the quarterback position and I know it’s a story. The bottom line is we’re not playing winning football on the offensive side, and I’d rather that be the headline than on any one person.”
Gametracker: Kentucky at Tennessee, 7:30 or 7:45 p.m., Saturday. TV/Radio: ESPN or SECN, UK Radio Network.
9 Responses
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Stick a fork in this outfit.
I can’t imagine any magic words that could be said that hasn’t been said already. Clearly for whatever reason they cannot stand up to the challenge week in and out.
I think it’s in the water. I can remember KY football back 50 years and the problem was always centered around lack of talent, lack of coaching or lack of motivation. I think this team is bewildered. Back in my working days we used to say "the whipping will continue until your attitude improves". Somehow I think the Cats are approaching that point.
What a $hit show!!. This is Joker Phillips 2.0 and probably worse because the talent is supposed?? to be better. Stoops continues to embarrass himself, the university, and I think the coaching profession. He walks around like a penguin, arms folded, stares at the clock and appears to be totally disengaged. You could tell the difference with the energy, emotion that the Auburn players and coaches had all during the game. Hamdan is one clueless individual who shows the world weekly that he is the worse OC in SEC and maybe even beyond. Brock has no confidence and very limited ability to execute any part of his job description. I do think that Gavin offers us a better chance which may not be saying much, but he suffers from maltreatment by coaching staff. This team is very impotent lacking pride and passion and seem content with just playing it out. I think Stoops’s total lack of coaching and control of this team is even starting to wear on Brad White as his star very tarnished last couple of games. The players don’t seem to want to be here and ditto the coaching staff. Need total regime change.
Well…his mother did just pass away. I’m sure his mind wasn’t totally on the game. I don’t think Stoops will be here next year and I don’t blame him. The BBN ( Big Boo-Hoo Nation) will get what they are "entitled" to for years to come.
No offense Jim.. But I’m sure if he needed time away he could have it for bereavement.
This picture is symbolic of the phantom UK OL. And even symbolic
The QB ha no protection in sight but defenders are closing in fast.
This picture is also symbolic of the phantom UK FB team – with only one UK player in action.
Auburn could have easily scored a TD in the last minute if they wanted to do it. That means UK was outscored 31-0 after a rare good start taking a 10-0 lead.
I don’t think Stoops lost the team this season. It happened when Coen left the 1st time. It’s been downhill since the complex scheme OC shredded the well tuned offense under Coen.
I think the coach is wanting out of KY. but doesn’t want to quit and lose a lot of his pay. I think he wants them to fire him.
Coen knew this season was train wreck. If you remember correctly the offensive line actually played good at the end of the year last year against Louisville and Clemson. I don’t think Yenser was a very good line coach. I also don’t think Wolford is any better. The line has gotten worse with more experience? How in the he’ll does that happen? We have a 6th and 7th year senior starting Also a 5th year senior. That’s 18 years of college football between 3 offensive lineman. With all that experience we also have basically a 3 year starter in Burton and redshirt sophomore in Farmer. How is the line this damn bad? We have one of the most experienced lines in college football. With the most penalties? On one drive the defense allowed 5 3rd down conversions. That’s almost impossible. This wasn’t 3rd and 1 or 2 which we do better at. This was 3rd and 9 and 3rd and 8 and 3rd and 12 and 3rd and 9 and 3rd and 5. Most people wouldn’t believe you that a team couldn’t stop 3rd and about 9…..5 times. Why is the defense so bad on 3rd down? This is 3 years in a row of the same problems. With plenty of time to fix it in the portal. Maclin and Chip have been 2 wasted scholarships. I would start Farrier over Maclin. I would start Gilmore over Brown. Of course I would start Key. He is all we have. The defense even double teams Key and he is still the only receiver that usually gets thrown the ball. We never run out routes with our tight ends. Where they block for a split second then run out into the flat and catch a 4-5 yard pass and turn it into 10-12 yards. Why don’t we put 4-5 receivers out there and have them all run 5 yard routes? Kentucky makes football harder than it really is. At the end of the day this team struggles with fundamentals they don’t look conditioned look at all the injuries all the time. We can’t even pitch and catch. Almost every pass is incomplete by a bad pass or if its a good pass its dropped. If we catch the ball and take off running there is a penalty. We can’t play clean football to save our life. Special teams are bad. Why don’t we ever try to block a punt? We don’t try to block it but we also don’t field the punt either. Its a lose lose situation even before we set the offense up. We were mixing it up perfectly the first quarter. Every time Gavin comes in for a play the opposing team loads the box they know he’s going to run the ball up the middle. The play were he threw a bomb to Brown and there was a pass interference was the only good play call with Gavin in the game. Its single coverage when he comes in. You have to let it fly. Then he starts passing the ball and I see why they never let him pass. He’s terrible not accurate. Brock isn’t much better. I would start Cutter for the Murray State game and let him play the whole game. He’s going to need game experience. Also I think Gavin transfers at the end of the year. Brock might transfer back to Georgia so he can watch a real team play football. I think at this point we should turn our focus on Cutter. We are bringing in 2 quarterbacks this spring. We need to grab another in the transfer portal. Have a quarterback competition this spring and whoever is moving the football make them the starter. I would go after a winner in the portal. Someone who leaves it all on the field.