In the wake of Kentucky’s 31-6 loss to South Carolina at Kroger Field in Lexington last Saturday, there was plenty to dissect.
How did the Wildcats seem so overmatched against a South Carolina team that was a 9.5-point underdog (per FanDuel Sportsbook)?
Why was the passing game so brutal, with Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff completing 3-of-10 passes for just 30 yards and an interception on his way to being benched in the second half?
How was the defense unable to shut down the South Carolina offense in crunch time (the same offense that struggled for four quarters against Old Dominion only a week earlier)?
In the aftermath of all this, one veteran college football analyst believes Kentucky coach Mark Stoops has “lost his mojo.”
Regarding Stoops, Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde included Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart on his weekly list of college football’s “12 Angriest Men.” Forde used the piece to take shots at Stoops and even wondered if his tenure in Lexington was beginning to resemble that of former Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari, who left Lexington for the Arkansas job back in April.
Forde wrote of Barnhart and Stoops:
“The Kentucky Wildcats athletics director could be finding himself trending back to where he ended the basketball season—with a once-popular coach who has lost his mojo but would cost a fortune to fire.
John Calipari bailed out Barnhart by bolting to Arkansas. Mark Stoops tried to do the same last year, on the verge of getting the Texas A&M job before rich and important Aggies squashed the move. So Stoops stayed on for his 12th season at the kind of place where it isn’t easy to keep winning. … Kentucky now has lost three straight to South Carolina and seven of its last eight SEC games.
In late 2022, Stoops agreed to a deal paying him $9 million a year through ’31. He’s 15–13 since the start of that season.”
RELATED: Is Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops on the hot seat?
To be fair, Kentucky came into the season knowing it had one of the toughest schedules in the country. But that wasn’t supposed to include South Carolina, a team that finished 5-7 a year ago and is no one’s idea of an upper-echelon SEC program.
The Wildcats still have the unenviable task of facing Georgia, Texas, Ole Miss and Tennessee in conference play this year, in addition to its annual rivalry with Louisville. Four of those programs are currently ranked in the Top 10; the Bulldogs, Longhorns and Rebels are all currently in the top five of the US LBM Coaches Poll. Louisville, a dark horse contender for the ACC title, is up to No. 21.
One game shouldn’t put a coach on the hot seat. But as Forde pointed out, Stoops has now lost three straight to the Gamecocks. The Wildcats’ 10 wins from 2021, which were all vacated over the summer, are also beginning to feel a lot longer ago than that as the gap widens between Kentucky and the top-tier SEC programs.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday when they host No. 1 Georgia at 7:30 p.m. ET at Kroger Field. The game can be seen on ABC.
Follow us @UKWildcatsWire on X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Kentucky Wildcats news, notes and opinions.