The UK football season always starts as a drama and turns into a farce | Opinion
University of Kentucky football reminds me of a mockumentary. The set up is stern, music blaring on the loudspeakers, dramatic posters of ferocious looking defensive ends, the VERY SERIOUS press conferences, the hype. Then, like the classic Stonehenge scene in “Spinal Tap,” the drama is whittled down to a comedy of errors: the hyped quarterback fumbles the ball, the scary looking defenders give way, and suddenly instead of a ferocious SEC team, we see a bunch of boys running around the field.
That, my fellow football fanatics, is UK gridiron in a nutshell. I am not diminishing the work put in by the coaches in the offseason, the two-a-days in the hot summer heat, or the underpaid marketing department hyping up the season, I’m simply referring to how the story will end come late November.
UK missed their window of glory five years ago when by some happenstance, found themselves outpacing the likes of Florida, Tennessee, and Ole Miss. The conference was thought to be down outside the dominative Georgia and Alabama. Kentucky had the opportunity to grab fate by the bridle and pull away from the bottom tier teams, as well as the middle of the pack.
We know the story that followed. Cumulatively speaking, the carousel of offensive coordinators, consistent underperformance of lineman, the allure of Name Image Likeness (NIL), and the corrosive transfer portal led to an abysmal demise. In a swooping hurry, UK fell right back to where its perpetual bed resides, the basement of the Southeastern Conference.
According to ESPN, Kentucky was picked to finish second to last, just in front of illustrious Mississippi State for the upcoming 2025 season. This prediction even considered the fact UK has the longest tenured coach in the conference. Consistency is king, but it clearly does not correlate into wins when playing in the country’s toughest conference.
Mark Stoops believes in traditional, ground and pound, controlling the clock football. There is nothing wrong with this if it in fact he was winning games. Take Iowa football, similar in style to UK, who set the NCAA record in 2023 with 4,479 punting yards that season, yet they still won 10 games with a tough nose defense. Stoops’ stalwart defenses have become porous over the years, causing his anemic offense to fight uphill, for which it wasn’t made.
Last year I took my son to the South Carolina game in Commonwealth Stadium. It was the second outing of the season, and fans were riding high from a senseless beating of Southern Miss a week prior. Conference play started early, and the Cats had an opportunity to set the season tone that beautiful September day. UK lost 6-31 and my son may have started cheering for the Gamecocks by the end. The air was sucked from the season in only their second game.
Any fan could replicate my example over the last four years. UK used to hang its hat on winning the games they should win and having a puncher’s chance against the higher caliber conference opponents. Time has shown that this is not the case anymore. Despite the facility upgrades, swanky box seats, NIL money, season ticket price hikes, and the ridiculous beer revenue, the product on the field is as mediocre as it has ever been. I am hoping for a serious drama this season, but I am fully prepared for a farce.
Jim Jackson is a writer in Franklin County. He can be reached at jackson.m.jim@gmail.com
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 10:59 AM.