Vicky Graff Photo
Kentucky football was in true form on Saturday in their 30-23 loss to No. 20 Ole Miss.
Despite Ty Bryant forcing the Rebels into throwing two early interceptions and the Wildcats taking a quick 10-0 lead, Kentucky still managed to find a way to step all over themselves in the first half.
It was 30 minutes of action marked by a painfully conservative approach on offense with little to no sense of urgency to test the Ole Miss defense.
Things got even worse when it mattered most, with the Wildcats burning all three of their timeouts due to confusion or head-scratching decisions in critical moments.
At one point early in the first half, Kentucky had 4th-and-short to go, ran the play clock down to one, called a timeout, and punted the football away.
Why not just save the timeout and eat the five yards if Stoops and his staff were going to punt anyway?
They dearly missed those timeouts in the final minute when they were able to move the ball downfield and into field goal range to try and put one more score on the board.
However, due to being out of timeouts, the offense was stressed and limited to what plays they were able to call.
This led to panic with multiple penalties backing their offense back towards midfield and a missed opportunity.
If they had at least one of the timeouts, odds are Kentucky could have regrouped or at least been able to run the ball up the middle to maintain momentum, rather than spoiling any hopes of a field goal attempt.
So after leading 10-0 to start the game, Kentucky went into halftime trailing 17-13 and quickly fell behind 20-13 after back-to-back three-and-outs on offense to start the third quarter.
Considering the coaching staff had all of halftime to make adjustments and a better game plan against what they’d seen from the Rebels’ defense in the first two quarters, six plays and two punts is inexcusable.
Kentucky finally broke through with a touchdown on their third drive of the quarter, but gave up a TD answer on defense that was far too easy, and then went right back to another three-and-out on offense.
In the fourth quarter, Kentucky turned the ball over on downs twice before kicking a near-meaningless field goal with eight seconds left in the game.
Missed opportunities and mental blunders like Kentucky had today have been the theme of the Stoops era over the last several seasons.
There have been countless moments where fans have been left with their hands on their head, wondering how Kentucky has put themselves in a bind or cost themselves yards/points/turnovers.
Combine all of Kentucky’s struggles, and that’s what has led the Wildcats to lose eight consecutive home games to Southeastern Conference opponents.
Yes – the last time Kentucky fans saw their team beat an SEC school at Kroger Field was nearly two years ago. It was when Kentucky beat Florida, 33-14, on September 30th, 2023.
A lot of these head-scratching moments with Stoops and his staff bring back memories from the final years of John Calipari and Kentucky basketball.
Both coaches brought each program up for air after fans had to go through some of their darkest days.
Kentucky fans and the school should be more than appreciative for what Stoops has done to revive the program over the last 12 seasons.
It’s also important to acknowledge that coaching football in the SEC is far from a cakewalk.
However, consistently being unprepared and not having any sort of identity can’t be excused.
The falloff of Kentucky football over the last three seasons in regards to recruiting, development, and overall record cannot be ignored.
The grass isn’t always greener, and an immediate fix is most likely not in the cards for Kentucky.
But until athletic director Mitch Barnhart decides it’s time to move on from Stoops, things will only drag out further for Kentucky football and its fans.
10 Responses
Absolutely no imagination from the UK coaching staff. Pitiful coaching performance.
There cannot, and yes I will repeat CANNOT, be another OC at least in the SEC that is more IMPOTENT than Hamdan. The man is totally pure vanilla and lacking any awareness of creativity in his game planning. I will not put myself thru any further interviews pre or post game and the same for Stoops. Stoops continues to look totally detached from player connection and actually walks around like a penguin on detached ice.
It has to be Stoops holding back the OC because we have seen this same performance from nearly every OC he has hired.
Stoops hires coaches who will not be a threat to him as the head coach.
No excuse for the coaching performance we have witnessed. It's bad when the announcers poke fun at the coaching staff.
Stoops knows he is finished. He has been sure of this since his flirtation with A&M blew up in his face.
He will milk UK for all the millions he can continue to bank until the UK Braintrust (what an oxymoron) decides to put the interests of the program ahead of Barnhart's unbreakable coaching contracts.
Yes, we have a STOOPID athletic director and a STOOPID coach. If you add those together your get STOOPS!
Motivated
Can you break a contract for malfeasance? God knows there's enough evidence.
I have read that the Calipari contract included a provision that required Calipari to notify Barnhart if another school wanted to talk to him about their job. I also have read that when Ohio State courted him early in that season, he did not notify Barnhart. Later, news of that contact came to public view.
I believe that Barnhart confronted Calipari with this contract violation, and Calipari quickly became a Hog, as if he hadn't been feeding at the trough for years at UK.
Therefore, I believe that Stoops' contract probably contains similar provisions. Makes me believe that Barnhart was aware of Stoops' flirting with A&M, and was OK with it, but no violation occurred.