Underachievers this season, Kentucky football has one last chance to get it right
READ MORE
Preview: Kentucky at No. 10 Louisville
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s UK-U of L football game at noon in Louisville.
Expand All
Saturday’s Governor’s Cup features two teams going in opposite directions.
The Louisville Cardinals couldn’t be flying much higher. Under new coach Jeff “You Can Home Again” Brohm, the football Cards are 10-1. They defeated Miami 38-31 at Miami on Saturday to clinch a spot in the ACC championship game on Dec. 2. They’ve sold out L&N Stadium for this Saturday’s renewal of the in-state rivalry. They appear poised to snap a four-game losing streak to the Wildcats.
Kentucky is coming off another disappointing loss in this disappointing season. After a 5-0 start, Mark Stoops’ troops are 6-5. They lost by 38 to Georgia, 28 to Alabama, 17 to Missouri, six to Tennessee and three Saturday night at South Carolina. With the electronica “Sandstorm” blaring on the public address system in an incessant loop, complete with a 21st century light show, the Gamecocks recorded their second straight win over the Wildcats. This time 17-14.
Stoops once owned the Gamecocks. Before 2022, the UK coach was 7-2 versus the team from the Palmetto State. He was 2-1 vs. Steve Spurrier; 3-1 vs. Will Muschamp; 1-0 vs. interim coach Mike Bobo; 1-0 vs. Shane Beamer. After last year’s home 24-14 loss and Saturday night’s failure, he’s 1-2 against Beamer.
“I’ve been doing this a long time in this league and at Kentucky and that’s very difficult loss for us right there,” Stoops said Saturday. “I’m so very disappointed for our players that we didn’t do a better job of putting them in a position to be successful.”
Top takeaway: Kentucky’s offense wasn’t nearly good enough. Facing a defense that was allowing an average of 28 points per game, the Cats managed a mere 293 total yards and a pair of scores. Only lowly Vanderbilt (with six) put up fewer points on the Gamecocks. Ouch.
“On the offensive side of the ball, we’re taking this one. We just are,” offensive coordinator Liam Coen said afterward. “The defense did plenty for us to win this game.”
Not that Brad White’s defense was without blame. Third down defense has been a sore spot all season. Saturday was no different. After forcing the home team into six straight punts, UK watched the Gamecocks convert a third-and-long and continued 74 yards in nine plays for what turned out to be the winning score with 7:44 left.
Key play: Facing a third-and-15 at his own 21-yard line, South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler found Xavier Legette open in the middle of the Kentucky defense for a 22-yard gain. That’s the same Legette with 65 catches on the season. His presence, or talent, wasn’t a secret. Yet he was wide-open on the game’s key play.
The bottom line on this Kentucky team is no secret. Same mistakes. Same inconsistencies. Same missed opportunities. Not good enough.
Down 10-7 in the second quarter, the Cats had two chances to take a lead into halftime. Devin Leary threw his first red zone interception of the season on the first. Dane Key lost a fumble for the first time this season on the second.
“We came away with nothing,” Stoops said.
There were such high hopes for this offense. Coen’s return as offensive coordinator was celebrated. Preseason buzz predicted Leary, the transfer from North Carolina State, would be even better than predecessor Will Levis, the transfer from Penn State. Coen had a 1,000-yard SEC rusher in Ray Davis and talented sophomore targets in Barion Brown and Dane Key. Alas, it just hasn’t happened.
“We’ve got to dig deep,” Coen said Saturday. “I don’t have all the answers right now. I wish I did.”
So now this: After the 10-win season in 2021, UK appears to be, at best, a program treading water or, at worst, a program in decline.
There is one last chance to get it right. Spoiling Louisville’s party with a fifth straight win over the Cardinals would at least take some of the sting out of a painful 2023. Can that happen? Truth is, not much has happened in this disappointing Kentucky season to make you think it will.
This story was originally published November 19, 2023 at 10:36 AM.
