Former Kentucky players turned out in Austin to watch UK play No. 3 Texas Saturday. (Vicky Graff Photo)
When a team cannot score consistently, it’s hard to win. When a Southeastern Conference team cannot score consistently, it’s almost impossible to win.
Kentucky dropped to 1-7 in SEC play with its 31-14 loss at Texas Saturday — and is now also 4-7 going into this Saturday’s season finale against Louisville at noon at Kroger Field.
Kentucky had only 232 yards against Texas and gave up 441. The Cats were only 2-for-12 on third down plays and had 55 plays compared to 78 for Texas.
“First downs are big for me,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said. “You can’t leave the defense on the field all day against that (Texas) offense. It puts too much pressure on the D.
“Only 55 plays is not going to get it done. Two of 12 on third down is a problem. I don’t know. Just getting off schedule and too many negative yardage plays and sacks.”
Is Mark Stoops committed to offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan long-term? Hamdan was hired after former offensive coordinator Liam Coen left in January to join the Tampa Bay Bucs. Hamdan inherited the roster Coen had put together to run his offense.
“That’s hard to even answer because I don’t want it to be a headline,” Stoops said about Hamdan. “Of course, he’s coming back.”
The numbers are not good. The Cats have averaged 144 yards per game rushing and 185.9 yards passing. However, against SEC competition, UK’s averages are not nearly as good.
— This is the first time since the 0-10-1 season in 1982 under coach Jerry Claiborne that Kentucky was held to fewer than 21 points in every Southeastern Conference game.
— Kentucky’s offense averaged 12 points per game in SEC play. Kentucky scored 110 points in SEC games but the offense only accounted for 96 of those points.
— Kentucky finished 1-7 in SEC play, it’s worst mark since Stoops’ first season when UK was 0-8 in 2013
— Kentucky’s eight-year bowl streak is over.
“The bowl game streak is gone. It hurts. It’s not fun.” Stoops said. “It’s something we’re proud of as a program. We put a lot of work into it. There’s a lot of people who think it is easy. You can’t take that stuff for granted.”
He noted that only two SEC teams now will have a bowl streak of eight straight seasons or more now that UK’s run has ended.
Stoops knows he’s under fire from fans who are bitterly disappointed with how the team has played this year. However, he’s still insisting he will be back and says UK’s shortcomings “motivate me and my staff” going into next year.
“We are all in this together,” Stoops said on his postgame radio show. “We accept it and have to all be part of the solution.”
3 Responses
With as many O Line problems that we have it is difficult to know just where the offense is. Boley showed that if the QB has more time, he can be successful but that did not result in points. I still remain skeptical that Hamdan is the right guy for SEC competition. Clearly the OLine coach isn’t. I would like to be wrong about that but the offense just seems to be out of sorts. Also, too many penalties for this late in the season. This team just hasn’t learned very much this fall.
Stoops is LOST when it comes to hiring, evaluating and either giving a raise or firing coaches.
How can any coach expect for his players to play with heart and really care when the HC publicly declares that UK does not have the talent to compete because there are enough of those who “pony up” their money for NIL. What a way to make your players feel defeated, disconnected, unwanted and just losers.
The OC is lost, so Stoops can identify with him. The OL coach should be added to the list as well as the secondary coach so Barnie can give them all life-time contracts. Why not continue a losing tradition?
The secondary coach has been a major reason the UK D started to fall down as the year progressed. If any team needed a big play, all they had to do was wait til 3rd & long so they could pass for 15 to 30 yards.
UK FB is at a very low point after having produced TWO 10-win seasons. Now it is producing chjoker type games far too often.
How is Brock not able to move the ball. Why does he always throw it to the other team? I’m beginning to think he left Georgia to ruin Kentucky football. There is no way a redshirt junior who was a 5* recruit is this bad. Missing wide open receivers running outside of the pocket even when he has time. Cutter Boley is a TRUE FRESHMAN who looks much better than Brock does. There is no way Brock gets the start vs Louisville. The game means more to Boley. He’s playing for his state. Brock is here because he was paid to be here. There is a reason he didn’t play much for Georgia except on 3rd and 1 when they needed a yard and didn’t want the starting quarterback to be hit. He could back Boley up next year. In case he gets hurt but there is no way Brock should ever start over Cutter from this point on. Cutter gives us more of a chance to win. I look for Wilcox to have a career game against Louisville setting the tone to have a big sophomore season next year if Stoops doesn’t run him off like he’s tried to do all year. If you want a player to transfer you don’t play them or make excuses why they don’t play. It seems like Stoops has his favorites. Eli. Cox should have been taken from his center position by the red shirt freshman halfway through the season. Also Mincey who was all talk before the season played horrible. M. Cox has also been hard to watch all year. These are 5th 6th and 7th year seniors that are this bad. I would have pulled the plug after the auburn game. I would have already started preparing for next year. All these guys will be graduated and thank God it seems like we’ve had a bad line since these guys have been starting. I’m ready for a fresh start. The problem is next year was supposed to be a down year to develop talent. I think we had to many players with one foot in and one foot out. Before the first snap we heard. It was probably the last year for Key Brown Hairston Walker and maybe Brock and Chip. None of these players performed to a standard that results in being drafted. They all need to come back and prove there worth. Walker had a better year last year. He only player that got better was probably Key and he still isn’t ready. They all need another year. I think Walker is gone. I also think Hairs ton will leave. Even though he didn’t play great this year. He should have picked off 2 passes that hit his hands yesterday. He’s to skinny for the NFL he will get pushed around by bigger receivers. They all need to come back and we need to hit the portal on the o line, receivers and secondary. Maybe a couple of defensive lineman as well. We should be set on our front 7 next year. Just add to a bad secondary. We will have Josiah Hayes back next year and he looked like the best defensive lineman against Texas. Darrion Henry Young my dark horse on the defense this year hasn’t played in one game because of injury. I think he dominates next year. We also have Jayvant Bryant back who is rarely talked about but has played good as a true freshman last year and a true sophomore this year. I think Fearby and Afari will also be much better next year. They improved alot from 2023 to 2024. We had a great freshman class in 2024 on defense. They will take the field next year. We need to see who stays spans who goes. Maclin has played better to the last couple of games. Gilmore Key Brown and Brown Stephens all need to come back and improve. Maclin as well. Then get a couple more receivers in the portal. Rodriguez is the best tight end on the roster and he will prove it next year. He’s a better blocker than any of the tight ends and he actually runs great routes something that hurts Dingle and Kattus. Anderson and Rodriguez should definitely start over Kattus and Dingle. 3 years and they’ve done nothing but they also havent been targeted that much which blows my mind because getting the ball to the tight end is supposed to be easier than getting it to a receiver.