What just happened here? Kentucky football went from whispers of being ESPN “College GameDay” hosts for the first time since 2007 for Saturday’s game against No. 1 Georgia to wondering if a bowl game can be salvaged.
South Carolina’s 31-6 beatdown of UK not only snatched college football’s No. 1 pregame show from Lexington — the broadcast will now head to Columbia, South Carolina, where the Gamecocks are hosting LSU — but it put coach Mark Stoops’ bowl streak of eight consecutive trips in jeopardy.
It may sound a bit drastic to say, but check the schedule.
Stoops has.
And he sees it littered with top-ranked teams.
“We get the opportunity to play four of the top (seven) in the coming weeks,” said Stoops before sarcastically adding, “So, that’s a joy.”
The Associated Press Top 25 and US LBM Coaches Poll both have UGA at the top and Ole Miss at No. 5. They had different opinions on Texas (No. 2 AP, No. 3 coaches) and Tennessee (No. 7, No. 9), but that still adds up to four games UK won’t be expected to win.
Aside from the Bulldogs being at Kroger Field, the Cats play their toughest games on the road before hosting Louisville in the season finale.
From what those four teams have shown so far this season, they have the ability to not just beat the Cats, but embarrass them. Georgia (vs. Clemson) and Tennessee (vs. N.C. State) already posted 31-point wins against ranked opponents.
Texas won at Michigan, 31-12, in a game that wasn’t as close as the score might seem. Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin isn’t known for easing up when the game is in hand, as indicated by the Rebels’ 76-0 win over Furman last week.
That’s no bueno for a UK squad searching for something to build upon after sputtering out just 183 yards in total offense against the Gamecocks. (Even Old Dominion rolled up 305 yards in its season-opening loss at South Carolina.)
The Cats rank 129th out of 133 Division I Football Bowl Subdivision teams in passing offense, averaging just 106.5 yards per game. Some of that is due to their win over Southern Miss being called with 10 minutes left in the third quarter because of inclement weather.
But UGA transfer Brock Vandergriff going just 3-for-10 for 30 yards against the Gamecocks didn’t help either.
UK will probably be favored in only four remaining games, all of which are at home: Ohio, Vanderbilt, Auburn and Murray State.
That leaves two games: at Florida and the Cards at home.
The Gators could conceivably be searching for a new head coach by the time the two teams face off on Oct. 19. There’s no hotter seat right now in America than Billy Napier’s.
The Cats have won four of their last five meetings against Florida, so that’s going in their favor.
UK has also won five straight against U of L, but would have to break a current trend to continue its streak. Since renewing the U of L rivalry in 1994, neither school has ever won six straight. The Cards won five in a row from 2011 to 2015.
The loss to South Carolina makes it difficult to make any assumptions about how the Cats will play, who they should be favored against and how they might be able to reach six wins for bowl eligibility.
UK lost to a bad team.
At home.
And played poorly.
“We didn’t execute very good, we didn’t play very disciplined, we didn’t play winning football at all,” Stoops said.
The Cats have to figure it out fast in the face of an unforgiving schedule or they’ll be sitting at home during bowl season.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky football bowl streak under Mark Stoops in jeopardy after loss
