‘We need to grow up.’ Undisciplined play continues to plague Kentucky’s football team.
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Game day: Missouri 38, No. 24 Kentucky 21
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Missouri football game at Kroger Field.
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Among the chief takeaways from Kentucky football’s blowout loss at No. 1 Georgia was the Wildcats are not good enough to overcome self-inflicted mistakes against quality opponents.
So after the ill-timed penalties that put the Georgia game out of hand early returned as Kentucky wasted a dominant first quarter in a 38-21 loss to Missouri on Saturday, there was no disguising the team’s biggest problem.
“The lack of discipline is really something that’s standing out and bothering me,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said. “We have not been perfect over the years by any stretch, but we’ve had more discipline than we have right now and that is something that is inexcusable.”
Against Missouri, Kentucky was flagged for 14 penalties for 122 yards. The Wildcats entered the day ranked 96th nationally in penalty yards per game then posted their most undisciplined performance to date.
Even as UK jumped out to an early 14-0 lead it had to overcome penalties on each of its first two touchdown drives. After Missouri flipped the momentum with a fake punt pass that resulted in a 39-yard touchdown, the Kentucky penalties remained but the ability to overcome them did not.
An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against safety Zion Childress moved a second-quarter Missouri drive that resulted in a 25-yard field goal into the red zone. A third quarter Kentucky drive stalled after a 25-yard Devin Leary completion to Dane Key was negated by an Eli Cox hold. The drive where Missouri took the lead for good included a pass interference penalty against cornerback Andru Phillips. Kentucky first stopped the two-point conversion attempt after that drive’s touchdown, but Missouri received a second chance when defensive lineman Kahlil Saunders was flagged for two penalties — roughing the passer and unsportsmanlike conduct — on the same play.
“It just goes back to discipline,” Cox said. “Can’t beat anyone until you stop beating yourself. Those penalties just come down to being a disciplined football team, and we were not that tonight. It’s something we need to work on in practice. Whatever we can do. We can get with the guys, get with the coaches to figure out what we can do to fix it, because it’s something that needs to be fixed.”
Stoops acknowledged frustration contributed to many of the penalties, and defensive coordinator Brad White hinted that some of that frustration resulted from Kentucky players feeling like Missouri was not held to the same scrutiny by officials.
White said the two penalties against Saunders on the two-point conversion were a result of Saunders not moving past an altercation with a Missouri player a few plays earlier.
“Guys get their emotions hot,” White said. “They’ve got to understand that sometimes turning the other cheek isn’t a sign of weakness. You’re not getting punked.”
Kentucky’s season-long issue with dropped passes continued with freshman Anthony Brown-Stephens dropping two would-be third down conversions. The Wildcats’ hope of building momentum out of halftime was dashed when Barion Brown lost a fumble on the first play of the third quarter. Any lingering thoughts of a comeback were ended by two Devin Leary interceptions when the offense moved into desperation mode.
Stoops has made no secret of his unhappiness with the way his team dealt with adversity a year ago, hoisting the blame for those struggles on himself throughout the offseason, but awareness of the problem has not yet translated to a solution.
On Monday, Stoops promised his team would not let the Georgia loss carryover as some of his Kentucky teams had in the past after a defeat in a much-hyped matchup against the Bulldogs. He looked to have made good on that promise with the dominant first quarter against Missouri, but the speed at which the game fell apart after Missouri’s fake punt suggests the lesson has not been learned yet.
“It is one of those plays that feels like it punches you right in the gut,” Stoops said. “And we didn’t respond very good after that.”
Kentucky was short-handed against Missouri with linebacker Trevin Wallace, nose guard Keeshawn Silver and right guard Jager Burton among those missing the game with injuries. Brown and fellow wide receiver Tayvion Robinson played but continue to be limited by nagging injuries.
The mounting injury list means Kentucky’s off week arrives at a much-needed moment, but a week without a game will make it hard to erase the bad taste of the undisciplined play of the last two weeks.
“You’d rather go play, but we need the work, we need the time to get better as a unit,” offensive coordinator Liam Coen said.
What happens next will define Kentucky’s season.
The Wildcats figure to be an underdog in the remaining home games against Tennessee and Alabama and in the Governor’s Cup rivalry game at Louisville. Mississippi State and South Carolina have struggled thus far, but both those games are on the road and Kentucky has not won in Starkville since 2008.
None of the remaining opponents look unbeatable, but Kentucky might not be able to beat any of them if the issues from the last two weeks are not fixed quickly.
“Our coaches can say whatever they want,” Cox said. “They can have the perfect game plan and things can not go your way all the time, but at the end of the day the guys are the ones out there on the field. We have to be the guys stepping up. Our leaders have to take accountability for this team.
“We need to play a more disciplined brand of football and we need to grow up, just respond.”
Next game
No. 17 Tennessee at Kentucky
When: Oct. 28 (time TBA)
TV: TBA
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Tennessee 5-1 (2-1 SEC), Kentucky 5-2 (2-2)
Series: Tennessee leads 83-26-9
Last meeting: Tennessee won 44-6 on Oct. 29, 2022, in Knoxville
This story was originally published October 15, 2023 at 6:50 AM.
