There are bad seasons. There are frustrating seasons. And then there are seasons that drop a stat on you that makes your stomach sink.
This year, both Kentucky football and Kentucky basketball lost games by at least 35 points. That’s miserable enough on its own. But here’s the kicker:
Both @UKFootball and @KentuckyMBB have lost a game by at least 35 points in the same school year for the first time since 1924-1925 (football lost to Alabama 42-7 and basketball lost to Wabash 57-10)
— Corey Price (@coreyp08) December 6, 2025
Almost a century since both teams have lost so bad.
Kentucky football and Kentucky basketball both got run off the field in the same year
Fast forward to now, and you’ve got:
- Kentucky football getting blasted by 41-0 by Louisville that caused a shock coaching change.
- Kentucky basketball eating a 94–59 humiliation to Gonzaga on a neutral floor that was basically a home game with all the blue in the building.
This isn’t just an “off night” thing. It’s a program-wide optics problem.
For football the coach has now changed. So, what happened in Mark Stoops' last game really has no bearing on how Will Stein will be perceived. He has a whole off-season to bring in his players and get his message out there.
Basketball is a different animal. Kentucky has one of the most expensive rosters in college basketball, a coach who walked in talking about waves of depth and identity, and a fanbase that measures seasons in March, not November. To lose by 35 in front of a pro-Kentucky crowd while showing no fight, no edge, and no urgency hits differently.
For a lot of fans, this isn’t just about one night in Nashville or one Saturday in football. It’s about the last six years trending the wrong way:
- Football losing its physical identity and now trying to reboot again in a brutal SEC.
- Basketball making only one Sweet 16, with the scars of St. Peter’s and Oakland still fresh.
Now, blowouts on both sides in the same academic year, we have seen since the 1920's.
When you’re Kentucky, you don’t get to shrug that off.
The name on the front of the jersey is supposed to mean something in both sports. When national analysts, former players, and your own fans all start questioning effort, toughness, and pride across the board? That’s when you know it’s bigger than one game, one scheme, or one missed recruit.
Both Will Stein and Mark Pope have a chance to fix it. But the history books aren’t going to wait. They already logged this season next to 1924–25.
That’s the company Kentucky is keeping right now. And that alone should sound every alarm in Lexington.