Mark Stoops says Kentucky “didn’t look like a team that wanted to respond” in blowout loss to South Carolina

Brock Vandagriff’s SEC debut at Kentucky couldn’t have gone worse. The Georgia transfer quarterback finished 3/10 passing for 30 yards with an interception in the Wildcats 31-6 blowout loss to South Carolina. However, Mark Stoops laid the responsibility at his own feet in the postage press conference. 

“Today it didn’t look like we were a very well-coached team, and it didn’t look like a team that wanted to respond,” Stoops told reporters in Lexington, “No coach-speak here, that’s 100% on me.”

Kentucky gained just 183 total yards and averaged 2.9 yards per play. The Wildcats also cost themselves 63 yards with 11 penalties. 

“We didn’t play very good, we didn’t coach very good,” Stoops continued, “we have a lot of work to do and it’s up to our team, how we respond and how we bounce back.”

""There’s no way to sugarcoat it, we got our butts beat""

- Mark Stoops, Kentucky Head Coach

Saturday was the first test for Vandagriff and new offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan, who replaced Liam Coen after he departed for the NFL, again. It’s safe to say that Stoops wasn’t thrilled with the early returns. 

“There’s some calls I wish we could go over again, some reads,” Stoops said in response to a question about the struggles of his offensive line against South Carolina’s pass rush. “We talked about not getting the ball on the perimeter early and letting those guys get up the field and hit big tackles for loss. That’s on me again, I have got to reemphasize that. When we run it for nine yards on first down, on 2nd-and-1 I’d like to go that way again.”

Stoops has struggled for an answer at quarterback since the departure of Will Levis to the NFL after the 2023 season. Last year, Devin Leary led the Wildcats to 7-6 after transferring to Kentucky from NC State, and on Saturday, Stoops got a look at both Vandagriff, the former five-star, and Rutgers transfer Gavin Wimsatt. Wimsatt finished 3/7 for 14 yards and one interception. 

In the presser, Stoops revealed that Vandagriff was banged up, but that’s not the only reason he was removed from the game. 

“Borck took a shot on the shoulder down there on one of those plays, and then, just trying to get Gavin some reps. We wanted to get him some last week as well,” Stoops said of his two quarterbacks. “Clearly we were having a hard time with pass-protection and so Gavin could scramble a little bit as well.”

Things will only get tougher for Kentucky and its quarterback as the Wildcats will face Vandagriff’s former team and the No. 1 team in the country at home next Saturday.