Even after latest offensive clunker, Mark Stoops is confident UK is improved
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- Kentucky's offense faltered again, scoring 13 points in a 35-13 loss to South Carolina.
- Two Boley turnovers returned for touchdowns erased an early Kentucky lead.
- Coach Mark Stoops praised effort but acknowledged execution and coaching failures.
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Gameday: South Carolina 35, Kentucky 13
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-South Carolina football game at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C.
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The reasons to be optimistic about Kentucky football are running out.
Two weeks of growing hype for redshirt freshman quarterback Cutter Boley after an encouraging performance against an overmatched Eastern Michigan team failed to translate into improvement for the Wildcat offense in its second SEC test of the season at South Carolina.
In much the same way a 31-6 loss to the Gamecocks last year led to early alarm bells about the Wildcats, Boley and company were dominated 35-13 in Columbia on Saturday.
“I understand the frustration. I really do,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said when asked what he would tell fans growing more concerned about the team’s outlook. “I know our team is a good group of guys that work really hard, and we’re a better football team. I know it doesn’t always show up, and I know that doesn’t mean a whole lot.
“Bottom line is winning, and we’re falling short of that, and that’s frustrating for all of us.”
To Stoops’ point, Kentucky does look noticeably better in multiple areas than a year ago.
The rushing attack is much improved, as evidenced by a second straight 100-yard performance for New Mexico State transfer Seth McGowan on Saturday. The interior offensive line play has been key in paving the way for that rushing success.
Kentucky’s tight ends remain a factor in the passing game in a way they have rarely been in more than a decade. The defensive line continues to cause opponents problems with consistent pressure on the quarterback.
But those improvements feel like window dressing when the results continue to trend in the opposite direction.
For all the issues on display last season, Kentucky ended September with a road upset of a top-10 Ole Miss team. This Kentucky team has already lost to the Rebels.
Cutting the margin of defeat against South Carolina by five points will do little to build hope on a night when the Gamecock defense (14) outscored Kentucky’s offense (13).
“I’m proud of their effort, their want-to,” Stoops said. “They’re a good team. They care about each other. We didn’t execute in critical moments, and that’s on all of us. That’s on the coaches, and that’s on the players.”
It is unlikely Stoops could have said anything after the latest embarrassing loss that could have assuaged the portion of Kentucky fans already convinced the season is lost. He has little option but to continue to preach positivity to his team with the challenges only to grow in the coming weeks.
South Carolina, which was coming off back-to-back losses to Vanderbilt and Missouri, felt like a must-win game if Kentucky was to reach six wins and bowl eligibility because the Wildcats now face a four-game stretch against teams ranked in this week’s Associated Press Top 25. Kentucky is likely to be an underdog in each of its remaining seven games against power-conference competition.
Before the South Carolina loss, Boley’s ascension to the starting job at least offered hope for offensive improvement. Instead, he offered a stark reminder of the risks of playing a young quarterback on the road in the SEC.
Kentucky actually started the game strong, marching down the field for an eight-play, 65-yard touchdown drive on its first possession. The Wildcats led 10-7 at the end of the first quarter.
Then disaster struck as two Boley turnovers were returned for touchdowns in a span of three plays. Suddenly Kentucky trailed 21-10. No UK team had rallied from 11 points down to win a game since 2019.
“Cutter is a very good quarterback that’s going to have a very bright future,” Stoops said. “You guys know when you start on the road for the first time in the SEC you’re going to go through, take some lumps. We have to be good enough around him and as a team to overcome that, and we weren’t tonight.”
Zach Calzada, who struggled while starting the first two games of the season at quarterback before suffering an injury to his throwing arm, was available in an emergency situation only against the Gamecocks. Stoops acknowledged after the game Calzada has done very little throwing down the field since his injury three weeks ago, so he does not appear to be an option to regain his job soon.
That means Kentucky will almost certainly stick with Boley ahead of a trip to Georgia.
“This is a crazy atmosphere out here,” McGowan said. “I think this was a great experience for him, before next week, to kind of get his feet wet, see what this level of ball is really about. Still super confident in him, still super confident in all of the quarterbacks, in the plan that (Bush) Hamdan has for them.”
Kentucky has not scored more than 23 points against power conference competition since 2023, but Stoops, Boley and the other Wildcats available for interviews after the South Carolina loss continued to insist the unit is close to a breakthrough.
But Kentucky’s only three points in the last three quarters at South Carolina came after Gamecocks coach Shane Beamer elected to try a fake punt from his own 29-yard line, essentially betting UK was incapable of mounting a comeback from its 18-point deficit. While Kentucky stopped the fake punt, Beamer was not punished for his bravado as the UK offense gained just one first down before settling for a 42-yard field goal.
That’s hardly concrete evidence for a sleeping juggernaut, but Kentucky has no choice but to hope the experience Boley gains against the upcoming gauntlet pays off in better performances against the more manageable part of the schedule in November.
“I’m with them every day,” Stoops said. “I definitely know (we’re better). I like the way our guys have a great mentality. The guys are playing hard, they’re playing tough, they’re playing physical. We need to execute better. We need to coach better, and we’re all in this together. But I know it could turn at any time.
“Listen, nobody’s going to feel sorry for us. We just got to get our butts back to work and get back at it and keep the same mentality that the guys have had.”
This story was originally published September 28, 2025 at 12:55 AM.
