Bye weeks are often a time to get extra prep in and gameplan against the next opponent. It's a time to really get things right and reset and go into the next game with renewed vigor. That's what most teams do, but it's not what a Mark Stoops-led Kentucky Wildcats do. Stoops is now 5-8 after a bye. He's led his team to more losses than wins after a bye, a week in which he has more time to prepare.
The hard part of this game was that you could see it clearly. It was a miscued-laden game for the Wildcats. Kentucky committed 12 penalties—12! for 102 total yards. That's insane. That many penalties show an undisciplined approach and a lack of mental focus. It's too many for a team that had an extra week.
It was also mental errors on the special teams. Twice, there were issues with a field goal attempt (one was technically an extra point). One time, sure things happen, but twice?! The first time, not only did it take points off the Wildcats' scoreboard, but it also gave the ball to Vanderbilt on an interception.
Kentucky was lined up for a 23-yard field goal attempt but holder Wilson Berry mishandled the snap. Berry tried to pass in a scramble situation but was intercepted by Vandy's DeRickey Wright.
— Mark Story (@markcstory) October 13, 2024
This has just been a comedy of errors by Kentucky.
Then, on an extra-point attempt to make it a 7-point game in the fourth quarter, there was a low snap. The holder dug it out of the ground and had it ready in time for the kicker to kick, but Alex Raynor pulled up. It was a bad snap, and then Raynor had doubts plaguing him and didn't pull the trigger on the kick.
Turns out it was a snap. And then the kicker didn't want to kick it.
— Wildcat Blue Nation (@WildcatBlueNatn) October 13, 2024
Which IF THE EARLIER MISCUE didn't happen, Raynor wouldn't have had doubts. https://t.co/6YBozMb9kr
Sadly, we have a third problem. I wish it was just a special teams and penalty issue, which already shows that this team can be unprepared out of a bye week, but the offensive game plan was lacking. For a team that had all week to prepare against a Vandy team that is giving up nearly 26 points per game, the Wildcats actually had more offensive yards than Vanderbilt but were way less efficient in the offensive attack.
There's an argument to be made that the drives were often derailed by miscues. The first drive by a Dane Key unsportsmanlike penalty. The third drive was by a fumble, and we could go through each, and there were just too many miscues for a team that had two weeks to prepare. Yikes.