Kentucky and Mark Stoops sent a message to Air Raid stans on Saturday: Pipe down.
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Game day: Kentucky 24, Mississippi State 2
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Mississippi State football game at Kroger Field in Lexington.
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Kentucky finally put a number in the win column after spoiling Mike Leach’s return to Lexington with an 24-2 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday.
Let’s take a quick look at what the outcome means beyond the record.
Crisis avoided
Even in Mark Stoops’ first year at the helm, 2013, Kentucky didn’t start 0-2. It did, however, go on a five-game losing streak after improving to 1-1 with a win over Miami (Ohio) in his second game (UK lost its opener that year to Western Kentucky). That five-game plummet was surpassed by a six-game crash to end the 2014 season after a 5-1 start, and was matched in the latter half of the 2015 campaign.
Since then, UK has lost no more than three games in a row under Stoops. It’s done that twice: at the end of the 2017 season (which includes the 24-23 bowl loss to Northwestern) and last year, when a string of defeats gave way to the Lynn Bowden show and a bunch of wins. With Tennessee and Georgia — both ranked and historically dominant against the Wildcats — up next, a loss to the Bulldogs easily could have meant an 0-5 start in 2020.
Kentucky, really, should be 2-1, but at least it’s not 0-3. The win over Mississippi State provides momentum heading into those contests.
Stoops is the right fit
It’s silly that it even needs to be said, given that the guy led Kentucky to one of only three double-digit win seasons in its history and has guided it to four consecutive bowl games (matching the most of any UK head coach), but Mark Stoops is the right guy for the UK coaching job.
Eight years in, some fans still pine for an offensive wizard like Leach to be prowling the sidelines instead of a defense-first skipper like Stoops. There are people who’d have been more OK with last week’s loss if the Eddie Gran had dialed up 400 yards worth of passing yards instead of 400 rushing yards (for the moment we’ll ignore the ugly display by UK’s offense Saturday, but, where’d those yards go?).
Are those folks in the majority? Nah. But they’re out there, and if grounding the Air Raid isn’t proof enough for them that things are working out all right with Stoops, then they never will be satisfied.
Recruiting win
Kentucky does not need to provide other programs with ammunition when it comes to the recruiting game. Despite the strides the program has made, overall history does not favor the Cats, and an 0-3 start is not the kind of top-of-mind stat you want to put in front of potential newcomers.
Prevailing over Mississippi State, with whom UK often directly duels for recruits, is all the sweeter. The Bulldogs have a sexy new offense to sell, and a win over the defending national champs to which they can point. During the past week they offered Frederick Douglass star Dane Key, a junior who has to have an eyebrow raised when he gets a gander at what State does with its receivers.
The Wildcats’ success keeping homegrown skill guys in the state has been mixed, at best. That’ll only get harder with offensive geniuses like Leach and Lane Kiffin a few hours south, so anything it can do to get one over on them is a plus.
This story was originally published October 10, 2020 at 11:07 PM.
