Can Kentucky football rediscover 2021 magic to bounce back from three-game losing streak?
Kentucky football’s season may feel like it’s on the brink, but the good news is the Wildcats do not need to look far for proof a turnaround is possible.
Just two years ago, Kentucky started the 2021 season with six consecutive wins before a three-game losing streak. The Wildcats then rallied in time to win their final three regular season games and the Citrus Bowl.
“I hope so,” UK coach Mark Stoops said this week when asked if there are lessons from the 2021 turnaround that can be applied to the current team. “I think the big thing for us is to continue to really focus on that improvement. … For me, I look at the preparation: Did we have a good plan, was the team ready to play, are we in a good mindset? Hopefully, our team will continue that because they have been working really hard. We need to stay on that path.”
If Kentucky is to draw parallels between the current season, which featured a 5-0 start before three consecutive losses, and 2021 it can look to a possible offensive breakthrough in the third loss as more reason for hope.
The Wildcats totaled less than 350 yards of offense in four of five games from Sept. 25 to Oct. 30, 2021, then exploded for 612 yards in a 45-42 loss to Tennessee. This season, UK failed to top 205 passing yards in its first four SEC games, throwing for 128 yards or less in three of them, before quarterback Devin Leary threw for 372 yards in Saturday’s 33-27 loss to Tennessee.
“I think it took really the Tennessee game that we lost (in 2021) to get kind of back on track,” offensive coordinator Liam Coen said. “Even though we lost that game, it was one of our better offensive outputs of the season. We were a little bit more balanced that game, but the outcome, the result was still the same. We lost, but we improved.
“So, you look to a game like last weekend to hopefully draw from to improve and try to just see the message that we need to put it together. If we can put it together, man, good things can happen and we can win football games.”
Of course, the most obvious explanation for Kentucky’s 2021 turnaround is the schedule.
Only one of the FBS teams Kentucky beat in its 6-0 start that year finished the season with a winning record. The three-game losing streak began with a loss at No. 1 Georgia with much of the college football world watching as ESPN’s “College GameDay” was in town. The sting of that defeat appeared to linger in a loss at a Mississippi State squad that finished 7-6 the next week before the shootout home loss to a Tennessee team that finished 7-6.
Kentucky snapped its 2021 losing streak at Vanderbilt, which did not win an SEC game that season. It closed the regular season with blowout wins over New Mexico State and Louisville, both of which finished the season with a losing record.
While Kentucky’s game at Mississippi State this week brings its own challenges since the Wildcats have not won in Starkville since 2008, it does look like another opportunity to build momentum against a struggling team. The Bulldogs’ only SEC win was a 7-3 victory over an Arkansas squad that has yet to win a conference game. Mississippi State has already lost to South Carolina and Auburn, which have not beaten another SEC team.
The rest of the schedule does not look as favorable for Kentucky as the final month did in 2021. Kentucky hosts No. 8 Alabama in its final home game next week. It then travels to South Carolina when the Gamecocks could still be facing a must-win scenario for bowl eligibility before closing the regular season with No. 15 Louisville, which has its sights set on a New Year’s Six bowl game.
“It’s about getting up, putting one foot in front of the other, staying confident and playing ball,” defensive coordinator Brad White said. “It’s not just going to happen. You don’t just say OK, you’re going to jump to a couple more wins. It starts with one. You don’t get two wins before you get one.
“You don’t get two three-and-outs before you get the first three-and-out. So, we just have to get back to playing it drive by drive. Don’t think about anything else but that drive.”
White was pleased with how his defense took that message at halftime of the Tennessee game. Two of the Volunteers’ first three drives of the second half ended in punts. The other ended in a field goal after the defense stepped up in the red zone following a 47-yard pass earlier in the drive.
Those stops represented progress, but the defense still allowed a season-high 254 rushing yards to Tennessee and has struggled for much of the three-game losing streak. The good news is the 2021 turnaround came after the defense surrendered 45 points and 461 yards to the Volunteers. Kentucky might have already faced its three most potent offenses on the schedule.
White is right, though. A 2021-esque turnaround will not simply happen because Kentucky wants it to this year.
Senior outside linebacker J.J. Weaver noted the 2021 team had more veteran leadership, especially on defense, than the current Wildcats do. That team capped its season with a Citrus Bowl win over a ranked Iowa team thanks in large part to star wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson choosing not to opt out of the bowl to prepare for the NFL draft.
Injuries have tested depth on both sides of the ball in recent weeks. Only four of the projected starters on the pre-Mississippi State depth chart played significant roles down the stretch during the 2021 turnaround.
The veteran Wildcats and coaches who were on that team at least have proof to offer younger players the season is not lost though. That example proves that the sting of a three-game losing streak can quickly be forgotten by fans with a strong finish.
“You felt a similar feeling in the locker room after the game Saturday night,” Coen said. “Although we were all disappointed and really emotional and upset about the loss, I can’t tell you how many kids have said how much fun they had Saturday night. You have kids that are looking at that and saying that, well, they’re talking about the process. They’re talking about how fun it was to get better, to improve, to make plays.
“... Now how do we put it all together? I think that’s the challenge. That’s where we’re at at this point going into this week at Starkville.”
Saturday
Kentucky at Mississippi State
When: 7:30 p.m.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 5-3 (2-3 SEC), Mississippi State 4-4 (1-4)
Series: Tied 25-25
Last meeting: Kentucky won 27-17 on Oct. 15, 2022, in Lexington