After a 35-13 humiliation at the hands of South Carolina, Kentucky coach Mark Stoops stepped to the podium and delivered a message that felt completely disconnected from the reality fans had just witnessed.
"We're a better football team," Stoops claimed. "We're doing some good things. We just gotta be better."
The statement is staggering when juxtaposed with the facts: Kentucky has now lost 14 of its last 16 SEC games, including seven straight. It has been a full calendar year since the Wildcats’ last conference win. This sentiment echoes the institutional delusion articulated by Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart back in April, who called the team's previous 4-8 season a "one-year blip."
For a fanbase that has moved from anger to apathy, the words from the coaching staff are starting to sound like a broken record. But the AD isn't helping.
"A one-year blip is not what I would call ‘not sustaining it.’ Now, if we go two or three more, a couple more years, and we’re still not back where we want to be, sure, then you have to have a conversation about, what are we trying to get to here?"Mitch Barnhart
Now it is definitely more than blip, but what can Mitch do? He locked in with Stoops being owed a 35+ million dollar buyout due within 90 days of his firing.
"That's not coach speak, that's the truth"
Another familiar refrain emerged when Stoops discussed the team's repeated failures in crucial situations.
"We gotta execute in critical moments and we're not doing that on either side of the ball," he said. "...That's on all of us. That's not coach speak, that's the truth."
While Stoops may call it the truth, for fans, it has become meaningless coach speak. The inability to execute has been the defining characteristic of the program for years. The "truth" is that the team consistently crumbles when it matters most, and the coaching staff has yet to find a solution.
An offense in name only
When asked about potential changes, Stoops said, "We got a look at everything. What we're doing coaching wise."
That look should start with Bush Hamdan’s offense, which was once again anemic. Running back Seth McGowan was the entire offense, accounting for 112 of the team's 232 total yards. After Kentucky’s first two drives, the offense generated just 91 yards for the remainder of the game. In fact, Hamdan's offense has still not scored more than two touchdowns in any single SEC contest.
On Cutter Boley, who finished 10-of-19 for 124 yards with two interceptions and a lost fumble, Stoops offered encouragement. "He understands that it's tough... These guys when they get their reps like that, they're only gonna get better."
It 'got away from us'
Perhaps the most telling quote of the night came when Stoops reflected on the second-quarter collapse that turned a 10-7 lead into a 28-10 deficit.
"That is not where you wanna live," Stoops said of the disastrous turnovers. "It just got away from us in that second quarter."
For the fans, the feeling is mutual. But it didn't just get away in the second quarter. It got away long before this game ever started.
Drew Holbrook is an avid Kentucky fan who has been covering the Cats for over 10 years. In his free time he enjoyes downtime with his family and Premier League soccer.You can find him on X here.Micah 7:7. #UptheAlbion