Mark Stoops has to figure out why Kentucky has not been able to win coming off a bye week. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Normally, a bye week is supposed to be a good thing for a college football team.
It not only gives players a week to rest and rejuvenate, but it also gives coaches an extra week of preparation for the next opponent, as well as an additional week to correct mistakes from previous games.
Kentucky is 2-1 after its win over Eastern Michigan last week and has this Saturday off before going to South Carolina for its first Southeastern Conference road game. There was a time when coach Mark Stoops seemed to have the UK program on a level above South Carolina, but the Wildcats have lost two straight to the Gamecocks, including a one-sided beatdown in Lexington last year.
For most teams, the bye week would be a perfect setup to hopefully get a win that could be a springboard for a better 2025 season than expected by most. However, for UK, the game after a bye has been a disaster.
Vaughtsviews.com reader Richard Cheeks shared just how poor Stoops has fared in games after byes during his UK coaching career:
2024 — Loss at home to Vandy 13-20
2023 — Loss at home to Tennessee 27-33
2022 — Loss to Tennessee 6-44
2021 — Loss to Mississippi State 17-31
2020 — Beat Vanderbilt at home, 38-35
2019 —Beat Arkansas at home 24-20
2018 — Beat Vanderbilt at home 14-7
2017 — Loss to Mississippi State 7-45
2016 — Beat Mississippi State at home 40-38
2015 — Loss to Auburn at home 27-30
2014 — Loss to Louisville 40-44
2013 — Loss to Mississippi State 22-28
That means Stoops has a 4-8 record in games after UK’s bye week and has lost games the last four years after UK’s bye week. Stoops knows UK needs to reverse that trend, and hopefully, he has some new ideas in mind for the off week.
“We’ve got to have a great week (of practice). Much like last week, we’ve just got to really attack the week and worry about us and get better,” Stoops said after the Eastern Michigan game. “The early part of the week, we will play ball, play fastball, we will have a normal practice on Monday and give Tuesday off, and coaches will prepare, and we should have a full game plan and be ready to put that in for practice on Wednesday and Thursday, and that would be a Tuesday and Wednesday practice.
“We will have a good week. Get one extra day with Tuesday, you know, getting in the weight room and trying to get their bodies right for the next game and for the season. Keeping their weights up and really lifting and trying to get them as healthy as they can be.”
Okay, maybe not a lot of changes are planned because I am not sure one extra day in the weight room is all that Kentucky needs to get ready to break this bye jink. I prefer the promise defensive coordinator Brad White made after his unit gave up 290 yards in the first half and 460 overall to Eastern Michigan when he said this would not be an easy bye week for his defense.
15 Responses
Thank you Larry for pulling that record back into view.
The Proof will be in the pudding.
We will find out in a couple of weeks. USC has not played well the first 3 weeks. UK has not played much better, but UK has played better than USC. IMO, UK has played about 5-6 ppg better than USC through 3 games. That should be enough to overcome USC's Home Field Advantage IF UK PLAYS ITS AVERAGE GAME OR BETTER!!! This is why Stoops' Bye Week game performance becomes the issue.
Some, perhaps 1/2 but not all, of those eight Bye Week losses involved opponents that were weaker on paper than UK entering the game, yet UK laid an egg and lost the game. Those inexplicable bye week losses show a deep-seated problem with the Stoops' program, while wins in those few games would have distinguished Stoops' contributions to this program as much more significant, and it would have placed those affected seasons into a different light for evaluation of Stoops' tenure at UK.
But, the bye week lack of preparation and readiness reflects a more significant problem that Stoops has had at UK from the beginning, it persists again this year, LACK OF PREPARATION, LACK OF INTENSITY, LACK OF URGENCY during too many games every year, nearly always starting with the opening game.
A dear friend of mine, who is a regular VV poster, has been animated over this since Stoops' first couple of seasons here. Try as I might to discount his concern, time has demonstrated that Stoops either does not regard emotional preparation as part of his job description or Stoops has no clue what it means or how to do it.
I saw a post in another thread yesterday reflecting on Coach Brooks, especially his relationship to the players. I recall being so impressed by those relationships, and how his players, without exception, showed respect and admiration for Coach Brooks. I have not seen Stoops with that type of play-coach interactions.
Finally, USC is the weakest SEC opponent on this year's schedule. Lose this one, and I see little to no hope of a winning season, much less even 4 wins on the season. Win this one, and this team has a boxer's chance to get to 6 wins with some earned confidence and focus that a road SEC win should provide.
I agree. I also believe if Stoops wins this game it will shut alot of the "experts" up. He will get a much needed win away from home. Plus he will beat someone Beamer that has dominated him since he made smart comments about Beamer. Win this game and no longer has South Carolina passed us up. We will be 3-2 in the last 5 games against them. Nobody needs this win this week in the SEC more than Stoops. South Carolina will be the last winnable game for awhile. If we do beat South Carolina we might be motivated to knock off a top 15 team. If South Carolina beats Missouri which I think Missouri wins but if they do win they will be back in the top 25 when we play them. They are ranked #28 now. Missouri is #21 I think. If Sellers is out they don't stand a chance in any game this season. There defense is terrible and there running backs are terrible. All they have is Sellers on offense. The offensive line for South Carolina is also terrible.
Thank you Professor for the research
LaNorris Sellers, the Gamecock quarterback, was knocked out of the Vandy game with a head injury. More than likely, he would not have been clear to play this Saturday, but chances are much better for him playing against Kentucky. We can't seem to catch a break.
Excellent post by Larry V.
Excellent post by TheProfessor.
Lack of preparation has been a season starting and game starting issue since the very 1st game of stoops tenure when WKU beat UK.
The first couple of series of nearly EVERY game is a display of a team in a trance. It takes a series or two before UK players are jolted out of their pre-game lull.
Whatever is done in the locker room before a game gets magnified when UK has 2 weeks to prepare before the next game. The 4-8 record with so many blowouts is definitely a reflection on the lack of PRODUCTIVE communications & relations between all the coaches and the players.
The last 2 losses to SC emphasize how the program is declining since Coen left. Coincidence? Not likely,
Stoops problem is that he cannot and will not change, no matter what is going on in front of him. Stoops has one way to do things and that is how his whole coaching career has been. He still wants things to be done as they were when he was playing; that's all he knows and he wants to micro-manage every facet of the game.
Stoops just can't let others "do what the do," and he can't make up his own mind as to what type of offense he wants to run. He looks back at a loss and says we should have run the ball more or we should have gotten this one more involved. Those are "in game decisions" that must be made, not after it is all over and done.
I don't care what offense Stoops runs, but he needs to decide and be dedicated to that style. If he wants to run smash mouth football, hire the coaches that can teach that and let them go get the players they need, and he needs to get out of their way.
The last 4 years after the bye week we have looked flat. Like the players have no interest. They don't look pumped up. I know when I played football my adrenaline was doing backflips. I think one of Stoops biggest problems is getting the team motivated. Jon Sumrall and Tulane are 3-0 with wins over duke from the acc and some other low ball power 4 team. I will be watching the Ole Miss vs Tulane game. Now Ole Miss should blow Tulane out. The recruiting is on 2 different levels. The problem is I think Tulane plays Ole Miss and keeps the game close but they will run out of steam in the 4th quarter and Ole Miss will run away with a small win. I think I will take the 11 points they are giving Tulane. I actually got into a argument with a guy the other day who said Sumrall doesnt have enough experience to coach Kentucky. The guy already has a better overall record than Sunbelt Billy. If Florida could take a chance on him which clearly isn't working out. The problem is it isn't all on Sunbelt Billys shoulders. Florida has been down in football now for about 7-8 years they havent been the Florida they once was and we can even go back farther than 7-8 years. I think Kentucky beats Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt. 8-4 (4-4) will be our final record. If we can get some stability at the QB position. All these teams have overated QBs except Vanderbilt. I just don't think they have the firepower to beat us this year. Our recruiting has been night and day better than Vanderbilt every year if they do beat us. Give Clark Lea the job.
You are right Terry. It's not just the losses after the bye but the uninspired play UK has had in those games that is so perplexing
We had a chance last year to get Bobby Petrino as our offensive coordinator. Yes he's a prick but he's a very talented prick at running a great offense. If Arkansas had any kind of defense they would have beaten ole miss last week. They just couldn't stop them. Why did Stoops pick Bush Hamden over Bobby? I will never understand that move. Bobby would have been happy to move back to Kentucky and prove he belongs in the SEC. We are a good offensive coordinator away from being a playoff team this year. We won't get it done running ole Bush Hamdens plays.
Beamer has Coach Stoops number since his dumb sunglasses comment. Run the QB. The Cats have never been able to stop it.
I am not sure Stoop's has the same mental dedication to his job that he did in early and more successful years. Seems to be a steady decline.
Boley seems to have a great connection with Kattus and Rodriguez. That could lead to some easy completions for some tough yards. I think if he can get even better at hitting his tight ends and get 6-12 yard gains and then take a shot if it's there every 4-5 passes. Instead of taking a shot down the field with every pass. Hamden and Boley have great chemistry. If Stoops does happen to be the coach in 2026 unless we are terrible at the end of the season on offense I think Hamden will also be back in 2026. We need to recruit elite playmakers. Something that has been missing the last couple of years. Someone that is going to get you a touchdown every 6-7 times they touch the football. Wandale Robinson was like this. Lynn Bowden was also like this I dont think we've had anyone since Wandale Robinson who is clearly superior at getting yards and yards after the catch. Stoops needs to go all in on 2 of the best receivers who will be ready in 2026. We have a small nucleus ready now. We just need more depth.
Its almost like nobody plays for the team or the University anymore…just the NIL money.
That is the conclusion I have reached as well. I don't see changes in law coming any time soon to settle some of the turbulence that NIL and the Transfer Portal have created. However, Congress needs to act to make these fields of play as level as possible.
So much of our world has devolved into turmoil, almost exclusively due to either incompetent or devious leadership. How sad.
All so true!