If Mark Stoops is leaving, he left Kentucky fans with one whale of a going-away gift
If Mark Stoops is headed for Texas A&M, he left Kentucky football fans a parting gift for the ages.
On a cool, crisp November Saturday, before the largest crowd — 59,225 — to see a college football game in the city of Louisville, Kentucky turned what U of L intended to be the exclamation point on Jeff Brohm’s triumphant homecoming season into another bragging right for the Big Blue Nation.
Getting redemptive individual performances from various players who had faced struggles during UK’s up-and-down season, the Wildcats (7-5) rallied from a 24-14 deficit in the third quarter to score a 38-31 upset of the No. 10 Cardinals (10-2).
On a morning that began with national college football writers reporting that Stoops’ name is in the mix for the Texas A&M coaching vacancy, the UK head man walked off the field at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium with a massive smile on his face to the raucous cheers of the Kentucky cheering section.
Asked afterward about the Texas A&M rumors, Stoops was noncommital.
“C’mon, you know better than that,” Stoop said. “This is a big win for our state, our program, our team. I’ve been keeping my focus and concentration on this team and that’s all there is to that.”
Whatever Stoops’ future, he presently has Kentucky in complete control of its football rivalry with Louisville. The Wildcats have now won five straight over the Cardinals and six of the past seven.
Stoops and UK beat U of L on its home field in 2016, during Lamar Jackson’s Heisman Trophy-winning season.
The Cats did it again Saturday, spoiling for many Louisville fans what had been a joy ride to the ACC championship game during Brohm’s first season as head coach at the school where he once was a star quarterback.
“We wanted to win this game. We put a lot of emphasis on it,” Brohm said. “I give Kentucky credit. They came in here and beat us.”
UK’s winning effort Saturday was full of redemption.
Redshirt senior rush end/outside linebacker J.J. Weaver had returned to UK in 2023 hoping to put on tape enough pass-rushing success to make him a coveted NFL draft prospect.
Instead, Weaver struggled for a good bit of this year. Yet on Saturday, playing in his hometown for the final time, the Moore High School product made eight tackles, set up two Kentucky scores with fumbles recoveries and had a quarterback sack.
“This is my city. Just remember that,” Weaver exulted. “I’ve never lost to these guys.”
Sophomore wide receiver Barion Brown, who did not have the star-caliber season UK expected from him, came up huge at U of L.
Brown scored a touchdown on a 100-yard kickoff return. He rushed the ball twice for 22 yards. Most importantly, the second of his two catches, on a deep slant pattern thrown by Devin Leary, went for 23 yards and put UK at the Louisville 37-yard line on the Wildcats’ final drive.
One play later, Ray Davis took the ball to the house. It was the Vanderbilt transfer’s 20th TD of the season and the game-winner. With 13 rushing and seven receiving touchdowns, Davis exceeded Benny Snell’s previous UK single-season record of 19 touchdowns set in 2017.
Quarterback Leary, who had not played well away from Kroger Field in 2023, threw for 206 yards and three touchdowns. After an inexcusable interception set U of L up with a 25-yard drive to tie the game at 31 with 2:33 left, Leary responded by driving UK 75 yards to the winning touchdown.
“I need to apologize for giving everybody a heartbreak with that interception,” Leary said. “I was trying to throw the ball out of bounds. That was on me.”
Mostly, the victory was redemptive for Stoops.
In a year which began with UK fans dreaming of New Year’s Six bowls and challenging Georgia for the SEC East title, Kentucky instead came to its regular season finale having lost five of its previous six games.
For the first time in years, some UK backers turned critical of Stoops’ coaching. That criticism came in the context of the coach’s salary, a robust $9 million a year, and a growing feeling that the Stoops era ascension in Kentucky’s football fortunes had hit a plateau.
Some claimed that Stoops, 72-64 in 11 seasons at Kentucky, was not producing like the seventh highest-paid coach in college football.
Let’s stipulate, the past two regular seasons, both 7-5, have not met heightened UK fan expectations. But people who dismiss Stoops’ work at UK do not appear to understand the context of the job.
Before Stoops, the prior nine head men at Kentucky all left Lexington with overall losing records.
In a program that has had only four 10-win seasons in its entire history, Stoops has produced two (10-3 in both 2018 and 2021) in the past six years.
From 1977 through 2012, Kentucky won a grand total of 13 games against foes ranked in the AP Top 25.
UK’s victory over U of L, No. 9 in the AP poll, gave Stoops 13 such wins himself.
If Stoops leaves for Texas A&M, the proper reaction from UK backers should be gratitude.
For the best stretch of Kentucky football in six decades.
And for one final victory over Louisville that Cats fans will forever cherish.
