Rout of Florida shows Mark Stoops fixed one of UK’s biggest offseason worries
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Gameday: Kentucky 38, Florida 7
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Florida football game at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky.
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It would be difficult to find many people who saw this turn of events coming for Kentucky football two weeks ago.
The Wildcats had just been embarrassed by border rival Tennessee to extend their home losing streak against power-conference foes to 11 games. Calls for Mark Stoops to be fired reached a new high. Any positive vibes established the week before in an overtime loss to Texas appeared lost when the defense surrendered 504 yards and 56 points to the Volunteers.
But Stoops and company did not accept their fate. They righted the ship with a 10-3 win at Auburn, but that victory was still not enough to assuage the most vocal of Stoops’ critics due to its plodding style and Auburn’s own struggles.
Maybe Saturday’s 38-7 blowout of Florida will change some minds, but even if not, it represents a clear message from Stoops that his team has changed in one major way from a year ago.
It’s a topic that dates back to the first day in pads during spring practice.
“You can’t tell what you have until about Week 5 or 6, because Week 5 or 6 is when adversity is going to hit and injuries come and the weight of the season starts pressing on your shoulders,” defensive coordinator Brad White said that March morning. “And then you really see what kind of team you have, and you really see what kind of defense you have, and you really see, how can they freaking push back against the adversity?
“… Some of it has to be innate. I think some of it is what Coach has really made a huge emphasis on these first couple months, and that’s, it’s got to be about team. One person can’t lean against a whole team adversity. You’ve got to lock arms and push back, and you’re only going to do that with brothers that you feel are truly your brothers.”
White acknowledged that day that Kentucky’s defense in particular was not good at responding to adversity during an abysmal 4-8 season in 2024. The unit had started the year strong but cratered in the second half of the season in the same way it too often collapsed down the stretch of individual games.
So it was no sure thing the current Wildcats would respond to the four-game losing streak that culminated with the Tennessee blowout the way they have. The defense in particular has responded, holding Auburn and Florida to less than 250 yards each. The Florida showing was all the more impressive considering four normal stalwarts on the defense (Tavion Gadson, Alex Afari, Sam Greene and Ty Bryant) were sidelined by injury for all or most of the game.
“For me, it’s easy,” Stoops said. “I think you know me. You swing, and I’m gonna swing back. That’s easy, but it’s not always easy to get everybody to do that, 150 people in our building to do that and be on the same page.
“I’m proud of the group effort. The coaches, players, everybody, we’re all in this together.”
Kentucky’s schedule always appeared to have a stretch of more winnable games once the calendar turned to November. That became more true when Auburn struggled to the point that coach Hugh Freeze entered the game against Kentucky on the hot seat (he was fired after the loss) and Florida fired coach Billy Napier.
But the state of the competition would not matter if Kentucky’s players and coaches were not able to drown out the rampant negativity swirling around the fan base as each SEC loss increased the pressure on Stoops.
“Coach Stoops has kind of instilled that into us and built that up around the team,” quarterback Cutter Boley said. “That’s kind of what our motto and what our mindset is built on. We never give up, we never quit, and we’re going to do the best we can, no matter the circumstances or what’s going on.
“… All the guys in here love (Stoops). All the guys want it in here. Want to fight for him, want to win for him.”
A program that lost to Florida 31 consecutive times from 1987 to 2017 has now won four of its past five games against the Gators. Stoops joined Bear Bryant as just the second UK coach to ever beat Florida five times. The 31-point win was UK’s largest margin of victory over the Gators since 1950.
But even the positive vibes from giving the home crowd its first SEC win in more than two years might not mean much if Stoops and company don’t continue to build on the positive momentum by taking care of business against FCS Tennessee Tech on senior day next week and upsetting at least one of Vanderbilt or Louisville to reach bowl eligibility.
White’s spring assessment adds hope for a strong finish, though. This is a team that does not wilt when adversity hits.
“You think back a couple of weeks ago, that could have been a scenario where they sort of just tucked their tails and ran and looked out for themselves, and it became one of those kind of years,” White said Saturday. “And it wasn’t. They just galvanized, and they just continue to keep getting better.
“Just really proud of their effort on a consistent basis. We know it’s not going to be perfect. The execution is not always going to be perfect, but if you play really hard and you play together, good things happen.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2025 at 12:29 AM.
