Party Like It's 2016: The 2025 Kentucky Football Team Feels Eerily Similar

Optimism is hard to find around Big Blue Nation ahead of the 2025 Kentucky football season. However, I’m an eternal optimist. You kind of have to be if you’ve spent most of your fall Saturdays in the stands of Commonwealth Stadium and Kroger Field.

While searching for a path forward, there is a successful path that feels familiar. If things go right for the 2025 Kentucky football team, it will feel a lot like the 2016 season, Mark Stoops’ improbable breakthrough that started the most impressive run BBN has ever seen in Lexington. Let me explain.

Prepare for a Rough Start

It felt like the 2016 season was over as soon as it started. Kentucky blew a 35-10 lead to lose to Southern Miss at home, then got smoked on a sweltering hot day at Florida. Drew Barker was lost for the season to a back injury, and hope was in short supply.

A rough start could be in store for this Kentucky football team. A top 15 Ole Miss team will travel to Kroger Field in week two. The Cats will face Top 25 South Carolina and Georgia teams on the road before Kentucky fans get another chance to see their team at home against Texas, a popular preseason pick to win the National Title. As ugly as it may seem early, there will still be plenty of opportunities for wins in late October and into November.

Kentucky Will Play Multiple Running Backs

Mark Stoops’ most successful seasons have been built on the backs of bell-cow running backs. The 2016 team was the one big exception. Boom Williams provided big-play ability, while freshman phenom Benny Snell got one hard yard after another. Each surpassed the 1,000-yard threshold behind a physical, experienced offensive line.

Kentucky does not have a clear bell-cow back ahead of the 2025 season, but they have a couple of players who could fill similar roles. Dante Dowdell was one of the best short-yardage running backs in the nation last year at Nebraska. Seth McGowan showed explosiveness in his first year of college football at Oklahoma. Kentucky fans fell in love with the juice Jamarion Wilcox brought to the table last fall. If the offensive line rebuild is successful, there will be enough rushing lanes for these running backs to re-establish an offensive identity in Lexington.

Quarterback with the Right Intangibles

Stephen Johnson was not the most physically gifted quarterback we’ve ever seen at Kentucky, far from it. But he is one of the most beloved players to ever take a snap in a Kentucky uniform because he put it all on the line in the biggest moments. Kroger Field came to life when he emerged from the tunnel against Tennessee, then dove into the end zone on his injured shoulder for the game-winning score. He also did this en route to upsetting Louisville.

Watch the smile. He knew. pic.twitter.com/oGdm0MRZUd

— Not Jerry Tipton (@NotJerryTipton) November 27, 2016

Like Johnson, Zach Calzada proved himself by replacing an injured starter at Texas A&M and leading his team to one of its biggest wins in school history over No. 1 Alabama. He has a big arm and excels at throwing the deep ball. The greatest comp between the two is that Calzada isn’t afraid to put his body on the line to make winning football plays. There will be times this year that he wills this team to a first down that gets you off your butt and onto your feet. His intangibles can make him a difference maker when it matters most.

The Pressure is on Mark Stoops

There was a significant portion of the Kentucky football fanbase that was ready to pack Mark Stoops’ bags during the 2016 season. After the loss to Southern Miss, BBN was buzzing ahead of the South Carolina and Mississippi State games. It felt like if he lost either, he was gone. Kentucky won both.

The tension that was ever present throughout that 2016 season has returned ahead of the 2025 campaign. When Stoops was backed into a corner, his team fought its way out. That fight was absent last fall. Stoops has inspired his troops before. If he can do it again, 2025 will feel a lot like 2016.