It is no secret that Kentucky has struggled during games coming off of a bye week. This week was some more of the same to add. Kentucky fell to 3-3 on the season and 1-3 in the SEC after last night’s embarrassing 20-13 loss to Vanderbilt at home. During Mark Stoops’ tenure, Kentucky is 5-10 in games coming after a bye week, per Corey Price of UK Sports Network.
In what should be a week to get rested up and to have an extra week to prepare a game plan for the upcoming opposing team, Stoops has struggled to have his teams prepared when that time comes. If you do the math, that is only 33% of the time Mark Stoops has been able to come away with a win following the bye. This is just an unfathomable stat that I don’t see how you defend.
After the loss took place on Saturday night, Mark Stoops was questioned about the team’s performance.
Mark wasn’t the only one disappointed in the lackluster performance. There were many members of the Big Blue Nation voicing their opinions on social media, even going as far as calling for Mark Stoops’ job. This isn’t the first time we have seen this, as to right after Kentucky’s disappointing 31-6 loss to South Carolina in the second week of the season, fans were doing a bit of the same and airing out their frustrations.
Former players even had comments on social media showcasing their frustrations after the game.
Both Kash Daniel and Garrett “Juice” Johnson are justified in their feelings, it was a downright all systems failure by everyone who suited up last night and there has to be some accountability somewhere. Kash went as far as to say that there are no leaders on this squad and that it’s becoming evident. At the end of the day, throw talent aside, teams who ultimately win football games are the teams who want it the most. Having mindless penalties pile on top of you to make it that much harder are things that can be avoided no matter if the talent is there or not.
It wasn’t just the former players that played for Mark Stoops, you also had current players such as Jamon Dumas-Johnson talking about things needing to change. When he was addressed by the media last night, he said, “We’ve got to make some changes. Not try to, got to make some changes. I’m not used to this feeling (losing) and I don’t like this feeling.”
Adding insult to injury long after the win by the Commodores, some of the Vanderbilt players stuck around at Kroger Field after the game. They took this time to pose for pictures at midfield on Kentucky’s logo and even a couple of players took turns kicking and stomping on the midfield logo.
At the end of the day if you don’t want to see the opposing team disrespecting your home field then you have to stop it. Vanderbilt could have easily come into Kroger Field last night riding high after their best win in program history just seven days before. However, they did quite the opposite and they brought the same fight to the Wildcats who looked like they did against South Carolina, seemingly not ready for a battle.
There are still six games remaining in the season. Kentucky has to travel to Florida, Tennessee, and Texas, and also host Murray State, Auburn, and Louisville at home.
Hopefully Mark Stoops and the staff can turn this season around but time is running out quickly it feels.
Thanks for reading! We hope to see you again. To not miss any breaking news, follow us on Facebook and X/Twitter to see our daily content in real time.
Leave a Reply