Mark Stoops says he wants to see Cutter Boley play. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Maybe Kentucky coach Mark Stoops and most UK fans do agree about one thing after the Cats lost 30-23 to Ole Miss on Saturday.
“I want to see Cutter. Cutter deserves an opportunity,” Stoops told Tom Leach on the UK Radio Network after the loss.
Of course, Cutter is backup quarterback Cutter Boley who lost a battle for the starting job to Zach Calzada even though some might argue that Calzada, a seventh-year player, got the job as soon as he agreed to transfer to UK.
In two games Calzada has completed 25 of 53 passes — a 47 percent mark — for only 234 yards. He has not thrown a touchdown pass.
Calzada completed 15 of 30 passes for 149 yards against Ole Miss but threw only seven passes of 10 yards or more and completed just two — one was a 44-yard strike to Ja’Mori Maclin that did set up a score.
Calzada attempted nine shovel/screen passes that were at or behind the line of scrimmage and nine passes that were no longer than five yards.
So what’s wrong with the passing game? “I don’t know,” Calzada, who left the game in the fourth quarter with a right shoulder injury, said. “I’ll go watch the film. I don’t know.”
Offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan had no answers either. “We gotta take a look at it,” Hamdan said.
Those are not the answers UK fans — or players — want to hear.
Kentucky’s passing game has been inept the last two years, both with Hamdan as offensive coordinator. Quarterback Brock Vandagriff threw for more than 250 yards against a FBS opponent only once last season. This is even worse — Kentucky has 18 interceptions and 15 passing touchdowns in the last 14 games.
Stoops was much more blunt with his postgame comments.
“The plays were there, and again, not easy, and not wide open, or things of that nature. But when you drop back and pass, you’ve gotta throw the ball. And some of it was there,” Stoops said. “There were some opportunities there that we got to be more efficient.
“It’s not easy, those are big guys coming at him (Calzada) and you don’t know what the vision is like and what his windows are like. But as we’re looking at, because I was interested in that and Bush was, we were looking at that after and in between series, and you know there were some opportunities there. We have to be more efficient.”
Calzada is a seventh-year player with 34 starts, so he has experience. Hamdan is a second-year coordinator, so there was offseason continuity. The UK offensive line is one of the most experienced groups in the country. And Stoops is in his 13th year as head coach.
Now Stoops — and Hamdan — have a decision to make before UK hosts Eastern Michigan Saturday night provided Calzada is healthy enough to play. If he’s not, obviously Boley gets the start. But if Calzada can go, do you stay with him or go to Boley, the quarterback of the future who needs playing time. Calzada has had two games to get the passing game going and has not been able to do it.
Kentucky’s passing offense has to be better and now is the right time to let Boley see what he can do.
10 Responses
If the coach says he does not know what is wrong with the offense, that coach is either incompetent or not telling the truth to the fans. Perhaps coaches prefer to not air the team's and player's dirty laundry in public regarding what is wrong, but the comment itself inspires no confidence in the coach.
If Stoops wants to instill confidence in him among the fan base, it is time for total honesty and candor with the fan base.
UK is following a familiar route down the same ole' road and it does not end well. Nature abhors a vacuum. Players respond to coaching and when there is a lack thereof, the locker room starts having divisions. The head coach is the only guy on the team that can get and keep these guys singing from the same page. If Stoops has any "big boy" pants in this wardrobe it's time to put them on and get on with the show if for no other reason than retaining some self-respect.
I agree it's time for Boley. And the next game is perfect for him to shine. Eastern Michigan is ranked about 170 in the Litinhouse rankings, Eastern Kentucky is one step above them, and if he can't show his stellar ability this weekend, maybe it's time for him to look at joining the Colonels next year.
I think it may be time for Boley also but not sure if he has fully recovered from getting shell shocked few opps last year. Couldn't tell from limited appearance last wk but should have played whole 2nd half at least.
Mark Stoops has caused this mess. First it was making the wrong hire at offensive coordinator. After last year's dumpster fire, I expected Bush to come out swinging. I now see it's not in him. He couldn't get Boise states offense ever rolling. So what made Stoops believe he could make a bottom of the barrel SEC program thrive? He should have fired Bush and hired someone who has a great offensive pedigree. Someone who simplifies the offense so these guys understand how to run the play and how to run it efficiently. We don't even know how to line up for the play half the time. The offensive line can't be blamed this year. Overall they have played fabulous. It's the QB and the WRs are not on the same page. Boley should have gotten reps against Toledo when the offense was stagnant. The problem with Boley is that he's not ready. Yes he will pass for 200 yards on eastern Michigan but what is he going to do against South Carolina after the bye week? As bad as Calzada is playing he still beat out Cutter for the starting QB position. That either makes Cutter the worst QB in the SEC. Or it means Stoops and Co are the worst at evaluating QBs. Everyone says Cutter is to young he's 19. He's actually older than Ole Miss starting QB. Age is just a number. You either have it or you don't. Even players that aren't ready can still make plays and show what the future will look like. I would let all 4 QBs play against Eastern Michigan. I would start Boley. If he plays great and we move the ball during the first quarter then he should get to play the second quarter. If we don't move the ball efficiently put in Beau Allen and let him play a series or 2 and see what he can do. If that doesnt work you can put in Stone Saunders the Coen recruit to see if he can get the chains moving. Whoever plays the best would get all the first team reps in practice during the bye week. Then against South Carolina the starter would be whoever played the best against Eastern Michigan. If Calzada can play he would get to play a quarter too. Another problem is we didnt get a tune up game. The first game was against a conference champion and a playoff contender. Then we go right into a top 20 playoff contender. We needed the eastern Michigan first. It's ok the season is still young. Some of these mistakes can be patched up. The receivers do worry me but when I watched them game again I noticed we missed a ton of open receivers. We had 5-6 drops. Right in the hands of the receiver. If these would have been caught Calzada would have broken 200 yards passing against ole miss.
I think the Stone man would be my choice if Cutter can't get it done. Still hard to fully comprehend how Calzada can have come on board with a ton of experience and some good credentials and then implode in 2 given opportunities. Obviously something going on between the ears. We, again, could not possibly have a worse OC than we do in Hamdan. He is worse than a embarrassment and another bad reflection on the coaching vetting ability of Stoops and Barney. My disgust with Stoops does increase daily.m
The only way Boley pays is if Calzada is hurt. Stoops puts more value on loyalty than Donald Trump does.
Stoops is the total problem on Offense. He has many of the same problems offensively nearly every year, no matter who was the OC, the QB, the OL coach, the receivers coach, the OL players, etc. The only common denominator every year is Stoops. Good looking receivers and tight ends come in every year and leave without leaving a mark. The same can be said with multiple positions and players.
No successful OC would want to work with Stoops because you bet there is a lot talk behind the scenes among assistant coaches and they all know Stoops ties the hands of his offensive coaches.
What ‘cha got to lose 🤷♂️
The passing game has never been a strength for the Kentucky football program under Mark Stoops. The Wildcats have churned through both offensive coordinators and starting quarterbacks in search for solutions. There have been scheme changes and transfer portal experiments. Yet, the passing game is consistently one of the worst in college football.
That has not changed in 2025. We are early in the season but Kentucky is towards the very bottom in just about every passing statistic through eight quarters of football this season.
・Completion Percentage: 46.4% (No. 134 overall)
・Yards Per Attempt: 4.9 (No. 123 overall)
・QB Rating: 83.66 (No. 132 overall)
・EPA/Dropback: -0.56 (No. 136 overall)
・Passing Success Rate: 27.6% (No. 132 overall)
・Yards Per Dropback: 4.62 (No. 122 overall)
There are 136 teams in the FBS this season. Arguably no one is worse at passing the football than Kentucky in the early going. This comes just one year after offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan led an offense that ranked No. 89 in success rate (40.6%), No. 107 in yards per play (5.25), No. 109 in red zone touchdown percentage (52.94%), No. 115 in points per drive (1.61), and No. 118 in EPA/play (-0.08). That passing game ranked sub-100 or worse in everything but yards per attempt (No. 79 overall). Last year’s group had the threat of explosive plays. We have not seen this year’s group present that yet.
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