Kentucky coach posts worst SEC record since 2013

They will need as much time as possible to try to answer it.

Kentucky’s 2022 season started strong, then withered after an injury to starting quarterback Will Levis, who was never the same even when he took the field again. Last season was a similar story: a good start (5-0) and an unforgettable end (2-5). But those seasons had some highlights: wins over Florida and U of L. Extending what was already the longest bowl bidding streak in school history.

This season has been a total disaster in every area.

An answered prayer – a fourth-quarter Hail Mary-style heave and 7 at its own 20-yard line against Ole Miss – is the only result separating UK from an 0-8 mark in the games in the SEC in 2024. , Kentucky’s 1-7 conference record has improved just one team in the 16-school league: Mississippi State has lost all eight SEC matchups this fall.

The difference: The Bulldogs are rebuilding under first-year coach Jeff Lebby; Stoops just completed his 12th season with the Wildcats, making him the longest-tenured active coach in the league.

The excellent first halves of the last two seasons, followed by collapses in the second half of those respective campaigns, gave the UK little positive momentum as it entered a newer, even tougher version , of the SEC with the additions this fall of powers Oklahoma and Texas. Now, after their worst conference performance since going 0-8 in Stoops’ first campaign in 2013, the Wildcats aren’t just fighting for a rebuild.

They are battling the perception that they have become a cellar dweller again – a place where they have spent much of their history since the SEC’s first season in 1933.

Looking back on the Wildcats’ 2024 run, there’s probably one lasting picture: They just couldn’t score touchdowns on offense against stiff competition. Removing the three games against power non-conference opponents (Southern Miss, Ohio and Murray State), first-year coordinator Bush Hamdan’s unit has totaled just 12 touchdowns in nine games, an average of 1.3 per exit. And the Wildcats’ offense has never scored more than two touchdowns in any of their nine matchups with Power League opponents.

No matter how stingy a team’s defense may be, fielding an offense as anemic as Kentucky’s is not a winning formula in modern college football.

The root cause?

Not just anything, as is often the case.

Brock Vandagriff arrived as a transfer from national titan Georgia with the reputation of a five-star prospect — albeit a grade based on his excellence in high school, not what he produced in just 21 pass attempts with the Bulldogs. Although he struggled with injuries throughout the fall, Vandagriff also had a tendency to take deadly sacks because he held the ball too long.

But that’s the other side of the coin: the offensive line was far from being a strength. The UK has had issues with pass protection. He struggled to open lanes for running backs. And he routinely committed costly penalties that negated explosive plays on the field.

In the backfield, expected starter Chip Trayanum has been injured more often than not, limited to just three games after transferring from Ohio State. Demie Sumo-Karngbaye established himself as the best option in the first half of the season but became increasingly less effective as the dismal campaign dragged on. The most dynamic option, redshirt freshman Jamarion Wilcox, played when he touched the ball… but his role in the offense completely disappeared from time to time as he tried to get out of the Stoops niche.

Then there are the wide receivers.

Junior Dane Key was by far the best and most reliable option. But his junior running mate, Barion Brown, had stretches in which he was seemingly invisible (while his persistent issues with dropped passes caused his head to pop out at inopportune times). Ja’Mori Maclin started to find his rhythm in the final month of the season – but by then, it was far too late to save the ship of a sinking unit.

At the same time that Maclin finally began to emerge as a consistent target in the passing game, the player responsible for getting him (and others) the ball varied. Vandagriff started the first 11 games. But Gavin Wimsatt intervened on occasion. And freshman Cutter Boley took on a bigger role over the final three weeks of the season before finally earning the QB1 title heading into the Governor’s Cup.

Playing this many quarters, this late in the season, is a sign of an offense that is trying to find itself.

The Wildcats never did.

To get the program back in the right direction, Stoops promises Kentucky will rely on two pillars that have changed the landscape of college athletics: name, image and likeness agreements and the transfer portal.

Despite grumbling from the fan base over his frequent calls for more NIL money to be pumped into the program, as well as having to “recruit” his roster every season due to the portal’s influence, Stoops says the UK is “in a better position, isn’t it”. now” than ever. In both directions.

“I hope this continues,” he said. “That doesn’t mean it’s an end in itself, but we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to put ourselves in a position to try to catch up.”

Obviously, Stoops and his team will attempt to meet various needs through the portal.

Still, there’s value in recruiting players who started their careers elsewhere when a program already has some elements in place through its high school recruiting classes.

Boley is positioned to be the quarterback of the future. If Wilcox doesn’t get lured out of the portal, he has a chance to continue building on a strong 2024. Freshman Hardley Gilmore IV is an immensely talented receiver; so is fellow 2024 signee Willie Rodriguez, a tight end.

Regardless of other players who might leave this offseason, this is a young quartet to build around offensively.

Although the defense will lose experienced contributors at all three levels, coordinator Brad White generally orchestrates a team that can compete with the nation’s best. (Ask Ole Miss or Georgia what it’s like to face the UK defense.)

But the whites must stay.

His name has been linked to Florida State’s defensive coordinator vacancy.

White moving on is the last thing the Wildcats need. After the lopsided loss to the Cardinals, Stoops stressed the importance of continuity on the coaching staff, specifically referring to the offense. Hamdan is the fifth offensive coordinator in as many years for Kentucky; The last time the program had the same coordinator in consecutive seasons was Eddie Gran, who held the position from 2016-2020.

For all the talk about talent and NIL money, additions and subtractions to the roster, there is a larger intangible at play.

“A lot more leadership,” Maclin said after the loss to the University of Los Angeles, when asked what needed to be changed to improve British culture. “Holding guys accountable for things. A lot more discipline from all the guys.”

But he wasn’t done, adding that the leadership missing this season was “everywhere,” both among players and coaches.

Call it “the million dollar question.” Or don’t put a price at all.

For Kentucky, addressing the culture that permeates the program is paramount.

Only then will the Wildcats return to winning ways.

Contact Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.