More than a bad season: Proof that Kentucky football is regressing since 2021

In 2018, the Kentucky football program really felt like it had turned a corner, going 10-3. Even if those wins were vacated, it felt like things were on the right track. 2019 came, and this program put up another impressive year, going 8-5. Though there were nay-sayers who said they didn't beat any good competition, the only SEC wins were against Vanderbilt, Missouri, and Arkansas. The other wins were all non-conference.

Yet, the program felt like it was moving in the right direction. 2020 came, and it was a weird year for everyone, and we can just throw that season in the garbage (they went 5-6 in a shortened season). Then 2021 became the year that everyone points back to. Kentucky went 10-3 and beat Iowa in the Citrus Bowl. It was a huge year, with the only losses coming from Mississippi State, Tennessee, and Georgia.

This is when Mark Stoops entered Mitch Barnhart's office and signed a coach-friendly contract that would keep him here for a long time. Which at the time, felt like such a great thing, the program was on the rise in the SEC. The reality is that there are many fans who are stuck in 2021 and their view of Stoops and continue to point to how far Stoops has brought us. "We were in the gutter, and now we have a 10-win season!" This is true, but since that contract signing, we have only seen regression.

Here's what you need to share with those who can't see beyond 2021. Those who can't see that Stoops is actually taking us back down to where we started when he was hired. Since 2021, things have eroded even while Kentucky was bringing in the top 30 recruiting classes.

In 2022, Kentucky football went 7-6 but a sad 3-5 in the SEC schedule. The only SEC win at home was against Mississippi State. It's fine if that's one bad season. But then, in 2023, things continued the same trajectory with another 7-6 season and another 3-5 finish in the SEC. Once again, they only won one SEC game at home against Florida. Now we are in the midst of a 2024 season in which five wins feels like it would be a miracle, six wins feels impossible, and seven wins is absolutely insane. This could easily be a 4-9 season. There will be ZERO SEC home wins this year, no matter what happens the rest of the way.

It gets worse when you start to look beneath just the wins and losses. You can see the erosion more clearly. Kentucky is 2-11 in its last 13 SEC home games, a new record for Kentucky in the SEC. This is its worst record in any 13-game SEC home game span since 2012-2015 (2-11).

So, to summarize, since Stoops signed his contract extension in 2022, he has gone 11-14 overall with a 4-12 SEC record. Before his contract was signed, he went 18-6 and 9-6, respectively. If this isn't a regression, I don't know what is. It's time to figure out how to either get back to 2021 and before Stoops or move on.