Want to be optimistic about UK football? Mark Stoops has rallied from bleak moments before.
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Preview: No. 1 Georgia at Kentucky
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Georgia football game at Kroger Field.
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To be clear, the moment is bleak for Kentucky football.
Last week’s game against South Carolina was supposed to be an opportunity for Mark Stoops’ team to send an early message that the disappointment of the last two seasons was a thing of the past by snapping a two-game losing streak against Shane Beamer’s squad. From there, Kentucky could use that momentum to prepare for a daunting schedule in the weeks ahead.
Instead, the Wildcats posted one of the worst performances of the Stoops era as a comedy of errors snowballed into a 31-6 loss. Now, with No. 1 Georgia traveling to Kroger Field and road games against three top-seven teams still on the schedule, there are legitimate fears that the program’s eight-year bowl streak might end.
To right the ship, Kentucky must fix the myriad issues on display against South Carolina quickly. But the good news is there have been moments during Stoops’ tenure before where the season looked lost and the Wildcats still rallied to reach postseason play.
Here are three recent examples to hope Kentucky’s season is not already doomed.
2016
Coming off back-to-back 5-7 seasons that featured a combined 1-11 record in the second halves, Kentucky opened the 2016 season by blowing a 25-point lead in a 44-35 home loss to Southern Miss. Things got worse before they got better with a 45-7 drubbing at Florida in Week 2 and a closer-than-expected 62-42 win against New Mexico State in Week 3.
That start led to no shortage of calls for Stoops to be fired ahead of a Sept. 24 game against South Carolina. Kentucky righted the ship with a 17-10 win over the Gamecocks. A 34-6 blowout loss to Alabama followed, but Kentucky then rattled off close wins over Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Missouri to move within one win of bowl eligibility.
UK clinched the first bowl berth of the Stoops era with a November win against Austin Peay then closed the regular season by upsetting No. 11 Louisville and Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson.
Of course, reaching a bowl in 2016 was seen as a major step for a program that had not played in one since 2010. Getting to six wins and a bowl this year will not be viewed as favorably, even if it is preferable to seeing the eight-year bowl streak snapped.
2019
Kentucky’s 2019 season looked lost after a three-game September losing streak that featured losses to Florida, Mississippi State and South Carolina. By the time the off week arrived in the first weekend of October, Kentucky had lost its top three quarterbacks to injuries.
With the only healthy quarterback options a sophomore who had spent two years rehabbing from shoulder and knee surgeries and a freshman who had not mastered the playbook, Kentucky moved wide receiver Lynn Bowden behind center. What followed was one of the most improbable turnarounds in program history.
Bowden, who had played quarterback in high school, led UK to a win over Arkansas after the bye week by rushing for 196 yards and two touchdowns and throwing for 78 yards and another score. The Bowden-led offense was shut out the next week at Georgia but won four of the final five regular season games despite lacking any credible passing attack.
As a cap to one of the best individual seasons from a Wildcat, Bowden, who was named an All-American as an all-purpose player, led UK to a come-from-behind win over Virginia Tech in the 2019 Belk Bowl.
2023
For as annoyed as Stoops was with his team’s performance Saturday, he might never have looked more dejected than he was after last season’s November loss at South Carolina.
“I’ve been doing this a long time in this league and at Kentucky,” Stoops said after the game. “That’s about — that’s a very difficult loss for us right there.”
This year at least South Carolina arrived in Lexington with what was viewed as a strong defense. Last season, the Gamecocks entered the matchup with Kentucky ranked 106th nationally in yards allowed per game (413.6) and held Kentucky to just 296 yards in a 17-14 win.
Despite that dismal performance, Kentucky rallied to upset No. 10 Louisville a week later, extending its Governor’s Cup rivalry winning streak to five games. Even reports Stoops was on the verge of accepting the Texas A&M coaching job that night was not enough to lessen the buzz created by spoiling what had been a breakout season for the Wildcats’ archrival.
There will be no rivalry emotions to spark Kentucky this week against Georgia, though. The more apt analogy might be the 2022 home loss to Vanderbilt, which Kentucky followed with a 16-6 loss to No. 1 Georgia and another win over Louisville.
But in both 2022 and 2023 the turnaround proved short lived with disappointing bowl results. It is the lingering questions from those seasons that made Saturday’s loss to South Carolina so worrying.
Next game
No. 1 Georgia at Kentucky
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
TV: ABC
Records: Kentucky 1-1 (0-1 SEC), Georgia 2-0 (0-0)
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Series: Georgia leads 63-12-2
Last meeting: Georgia won 51-13 on Oct. 7, 2023, in Athens, Ga.
This story was originally published September 11, 2024 at 7:00 AM.
