The most fitting word as a challenging UK football season ends? Relief.
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Game day: Kentucky 41, South Carolina 18
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday night’s Kentucky-South Carolina football game at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky.
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Relief.
It’s not a word often uttered by University of Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops, but he found it an apt one to use while reflecting on a regular season that tested his program’s resolve more than any other of his eight-year tenure.
And it was not just because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the effects of which were felt by every program this season. That included UK’s final opponent, South Carolina, which traveled with only 46 scholarship players to Lexington and was defeated by the Wildcats, 41-18, on Saturday.
Kentucky’s players along the way dealt with the aftermath of a medical event that sidelined one of their teammates, Chris Oats, for the entire season. They lost a beloved mentor, and its coaches an admired peer, in offensive line coach John Schlarman. The number of other personal anxieties, pains and losses suffered among the hundreds of players and staffers undoubtedly ticked higher than usual in 2020.
There was all that, plus the virus, because of which many sacrificed precious time with loved ones for most of this year out of respect for the game and to one another. Regardless of those sacrifices, some still found themselves quarantined for weeks because someone with whom they came into contact tested positive for coronavirus, or because they tested positive despite taking every possible precaution and found themselves apoplectic about being that guy who spread it around the locker room.
So, after becoming one of only two teams so far to complete its full 10-game Southeastern Conference schedule so far — South Carolina was the other — “relief” fit the bill.
“For coaches, you never really want to feel that way, but this year I think that’s a fair word,” Stoops said. “Just to get through it and persevere through difficult times. We’ll see as we move forward.”
Kentucky never trailed Saturday and built a 24-3 lead before halftime. The Gamecocks got to within two possessions late in the fourth quarter, but a game-sealing touchdown run by Chris Rodriguez — 79 yards and his third of the contest — put the Wildcats up by 23. The final margin was their largest ever in a win over South Carolina.
UK improved to 13-18-1 all-time against the Gamecocks. Six of the last seven wins were earned by Stoops’ teams.
Four of those wins were with Eddie Gran as its offensive coordinator. Speculation has been rampant recently about Gran’s future with the program, but Stoops — who has stoked conversation about the need for UK’s offense to evolve — wished not to comment on staffing decisions following the game.
“Out of respect, please, don’t press me on any of that today,” Stoops said. “It’s not right. Thank you.”
If it was any coach’s final game instructing the offense, it was a good performance on which to go out. Kentucky amassed 492 yards — its second-highest output in a game all year and just the third time it crossed 400 yards this season — and matched its season high with 41 points.
For the third time under Stoops a player — A.J. Rose — climbed into the school’s top-10 all-time rushers. He finished with 101 yards and a touchdown to join Benny Snell and Stanley “Boom” Williams as former Stoops runners to crack the top 10. He also left the night with 2,000 all-purpose yards for his career.
Terry Wilson ran for 46 yards and a score, becoming the 40th player in school history to gain at least 1,000 career rushing yards. He threw for 201 yards on 17 of 26 passing, becoming the first player in school history to reach 3,000 career passing yards and have rushed for 1,000 yards.
Both ran behind an offensive line that featured three fellow seniors — guard Luke Fortner, center Drake Jackson and tackle Landon Young — who’ve been bedrocks for the program as it worked to climb out of the SEC’s basement and become a more formidable opponent on the league schedule.
Altogether, 19 seniors were recognized ahead of the game’s kickoff.
“What they’ve done for us, what they’ve meant to this program for so long, really you can’t say enough good things about those guys,” Stoops said. “They came here when we were going to bowl games every year and taking those for granted and all that.
“Those guys won a lot of football games for us and laid it on the line. They didn’t opt out or check it in like so many people are doing, and it’s so easy to do right now in this day and age, so I just appreciate the way we finished up and the way we played tonight.”
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