Kentucky football loss to South Carolina adds to questions about program’s future
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Game day: South Carolina 17, Kentucky 14
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Kentucky football fell to 6-5 on the season and finished Southeastern Conference play with a 3-5 record with a 17-14 loss at South Carolina on Saturday. Here is a look at the implications of the loss beyond the scoreboard.
Program moving in the wrong direction
The new-look SEC with no divisions already had added worries about Kentucky’s ability to maintain its recent success since it would have to play teams from the current West Division plus new members Texas and Oklahoma more often, but the results of the last two seasons suggest there is even more reason for concern.
Two years ago it looked clear that Kentucky had moved ahead of South Carolina, Missouri, Florida and Vanderbilt in the SEC East pecking order. Now, Florida is the only team in that group to not beat Kentucky in the last two seasons. Vanderbilt looks on its way to another winless SEC season, but Kentucky can no longer assume it is ahead of South Carolina and Missouri. Kentucky is now 7-8 since Mark Stoops signed the contract extension that made him the seventh-highest paid coach in college football.
Since South Carolina is likely to be one of Kentucky’s annual opponents moving forward whether the SEC keeps its conference schedule at eight games or moves to nine games, back-to-back losses to the Gamecocks make it even harder to imagine Kentucky staying relevant in a 16-team SEC.
Kentucky’s previous losses this season had all come against ranked teams. South Carolina still needs to upset Clemson next week to even reach a bowl game.
Unless Kentucky beats No. 10 Louisville in the Governor’s Cup rivalry game next week, it will be impossible to consider the 2023 season as anything but a massive disappointment. The way that disappointment happened means the implications could last beyond one season too.
Worst-case bowl scenarios still in play
Losing to South Carolina was doubly bad for Kentucky’s hopes of reaching a more prestigious bowl since it not only prevented the Wildcats from moving to the seven-win group but also gave South Carolina a head-to-head advantage if both teams are in play for the same bowl.
The SEC’s “Pool of Six” bowls (ReliaQuest, Gator, Texas, Music City, Duke’s Mayo and Liberty) all technically have the same weight in the league’s bowl selection process, but the ReliaQuest Bowl, formerly known as the Outback Bowl, has generally been viewed as the top target for teams in play for those games due to its status as a New Year’s Day bowl played in Florida. The Gator Bowl also carries some additional perks since it is the other game played in Florida in that group.
Both those games were likely out of reach for Kentucky even with a win over South Carolina, but they are certainly off the table now. The SEC has sent West Division teams to the Texas Bowl when they were available under the current selection process, as should be the case this year. Kentucky will not play in the Music City Bowl since it played there last season, and the league office avoids repeat trips in a short window when assigning teams to the “Pool of Six” games.
That leaves the Duke’s Mayo and Liberty bowls as viable options for Kentucky in the “Pool of Six.” Since South Carolina last played in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in 2021, the Wildcats might still have an edge there, but all bets are off if upsets in the final week of the regular season drop any of Georgia, Alabama and Missouri out of the top 10, knocking the other SEC teams down a tier in the selection process.
In that scenario, Kentucky could still fall out of the “Pool of Six” entirely, especially if it loses to Louisville in the regular season finale. Then Kentucky would go to either the Birmingham or Gasparilla bowl. ESPN makes the assignments for those games.
This story was originally published November 18, 2023 at 10:59 PM.
