Mailbag: Answering your questions about UK’s offense, coaching after Ole Miss

Kentucky fans are all too familiar with the script the Wildcats followed in a 30-23 loss to No. 20 Ole Miss on Saturday.

The defense led the way for most of the day but eventually made one too many mistakes because the offense was so poor that it forced the defense to play close to perfect. Kentucky never trailed by more than 10 points, but it felt like Ole Miss was dominating the game for long stretches.

After a week of promoting the theory that a team makes its biggest improvements from week one to week two, Kentucky is now left pondering a quarterback switch as the possible solution to two weeks of inept passing performances.

Still, players and coaches saw positives from the performance.

“The things that we have to fix are minuscule, and they are fixable, things like communication and just an overall synchronicity with one another,” running back Seth McGowan said. “But that’s what I’m, at the same time, most excited about, is that we’re this close. And I keep reiterating that to guys, and coaches are reiterating that back to us about how close we are to being a really scary offense and a really good football team.”

It’s fair to say vibes are not quite that positive among the online portion of Big Blue Nation. Once again, I turned to social media to ask for fan questions, concerns and reasons for optimism after the game. Here is a sampling of the responses.

@Wildcats_Braves on X: One word describes things: apathy.

This is the sentiment that has to be most concerning for Mark Stoops and company ahead of a daunting home schedule. Because the Ole Miss game played out like so many recent Kentucky games against Power Four opponents, it would be understandable if some fans adopted an “I’ll believe it when I see it” approach to the season. Kentucky has now lost nine straight home games against Power Four teams and 12 of its last 14 SEC home games. Failing to deliver in front of your home fans after they shelled out a lot of money and accepted the headaches that come with parking, concessions and weather to watch a game makes the judgment all the harsher. The clock is also ticking until Big Blue Nation’s full attention shifts to basketball in October. It feels like Kentucky needs to dominate Eastern Michigan next week and pull off the upset at South Carolina on Sept. 27 to have any hope of creating the type of home-field advantage needed to dream of being competitive with Texas and Tennessee in October.

Gene Vance on X: How much longer can (Mitch) Barnhart justify paying $9M a year for this? Two years without an SEC home win isn’t even remotely acceptable. There is no hope.

No surprise there are more questions about Stoops’ job status this week, but the math has not changed. It might be clear that Stoops is not currently justifying a top-10 salary in the sport, but Kentucky still does not have $38 million lying around to fire its all-time winningest coach. That’s the approximate cost of the buyout in December. It would be due in a lump sum payment within 60 days. Saturday’s loss might have stung, but the fact that Kentucky was competitive actually makes it even less likely Barnhart would consider firing Stoops. The only scenario where I can see that happening is an abject disaster of a season, and losing to a ranked team by one score does not qualify as an abject disaster.

Logan Jessie on X: Who will be the coach next year?

Stoops, unless he decides to walk away on his own. It’s also worth noting that a lot can change over the rest of the season. Think how bad things looked after two games in 2016 (a loss to Southern Miss and a blowout defeat at Florida), and that team still rallied for a bowl. I don’t blame anyone for being pessimistic right now, but there is still plenty of time for Stoops to change the narrative.

Fritz Skeen on X: Shouldn’t we be going for field goals more than we did on Saturday?

Stoops got a little testy when I asked about this after the game.

“I can second-guess myself now, and I think you all would second-guess me if I kicked it,” Stoops said. “… I think analytics would tell me to go for it, and I was studying it carefully on the sidelines. Wanted to be aggressive.”

I actually think he made the right call to go for the two fourth downs in the fourth quarter in field goal range since it seemed unlikely the offense would be able to score again. Kentucky ended up getting in field goal range three times in the fourth quarter, but even converting field goals in each of those situations would not have been enough to win.

The real issue is if they did not bungle the situation at the end of the half when back-to-back penalties moved them out of any hope of a field goal, the pressure to go for touchdowns in the fourth quarter would have been lessened. More on that situation below.

Fritz Skeen on X: Seems like the receivers cannot get open, correct? If so, can we create new opportunities to get them open? Why do we consistently seem to not be able to make substitutions on a timely basis? Every year!

All three of these questions are related.

Two weeks into the season it seems fair to declare all the preseason talk about no wide receiver emerging as a true go-to option was a red flag rather than a sign of increased depth and competition. Offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan acknowledged after the game a lot of the presnap movement is an attempt to scheme receivers open rather than relying on them to beat press coverage. The constant substitutions are an effort to get specific playmakers on the field for specific playcalls because it does not seem the staff is confident there is a set group of starters capable of running the entire playbook to max efficiency.

Those issues are not going away, but the operation simply has to be better than it was in the first half. Kentucky had to burn three timeouts because of substitution or communication issues. Then, the offense was flagged for an illegal receiver downfield on the edge of field goal range just before halftime when the players again were confused about where to lineup and there were no remaining timeouts to fix the issue. Stoops said he directed Hamdan to stop substituting so much in the second half, and the offense did at least seem to operate more smoothly from there. Maybe that’s a sign for hope. If Cutter Boley does take over at quarterback, simplifying things for a redshirt freshman seems essential.

@bpit17 on BluSky: Agree that it’s time for Boley, but replay showed he missed a wide-open receiver on fourth down on the first drive he was in. Not sure he’s quite ready. Do you think Stoops is ready to commit and turn over the reins and live with the learning curve?

It definitely felt like Stoops was ready for a change after the game. He made it clear that there were opportunities for big plays that Zach Calzada needed to make before his injury. Calzada’s shoulder injury gives Kentucky an excuse to start Boley regardless this week, but the question is which quarterback the staff thinks gives UK a better chance to win at South Carolina after its first bye. Eastern Michigan should present a soft landing spot for Boley, but if it’s clear in practice he isn’t ready yet, this week also should be a chance for Calzada to build some momentum, if healthy. My gut feeling is Boley gets the nod this week, and if he plays well keeps the job at South Carolina. Remember that in previous seasons when Stoops has benched his starter, that quarterback has almost always regained the job at some point though. We have not seen the last of Calzada yet.

Robby Knight on BluSky: How many SEC wins this year? Optimistically?

I think you would have to set the over/under at 1.5 right now. Kentucky looks like an underdog in the seven remaining SEC games, but a lot will change over the next two months. Texas and Georgia are the only games I’d categorized as almost certain losses. For all the grumbling about Saturday’s performance, Kentucky had a chance to win the game. Maybe a quarterback switch sparks the passing game, or maybe Hamdan doubles down on the success Kendrick Law had on some gadget plays against Ole Miss to build momentum. The defense alone is good enough for at least one conference win. I’ll predict two SEC victories: South Carolina and Vanderbilt.

This story was originally published September 8, 2025 at 6:45 AM.

Jon Hale

Lexington Herald-Leader

(859) 414-6776

Jon Hale is the University of Kentucky football beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He joined the Herald-Leader in 2022 but has covered UK athletics for more than 10 years. Hale was named the 2021 Kentucky Sportswriter of the Year. Support my work with a digital subscription