Kentucky's 31-6 loss was one of the biggest letdowns of the Mark Stoops era

Kentucky played one of its most important games of the college football season on Saturday, only to play one of its most disappointing games of the Mark Stoops era on Saturday. Kentucky didn’t just lose to South Carolina in a need-to-win Week 2 matchup. Kentucky got dominated, losing 31-6.

South Carolina, which barely beat Old Dominion a week ago, scored first and never looked back. The four-play, 61-yard touchdown drive sucked the life out of an energetic gameday atmosphere in Lexington, where Kentucky fans were eager to open SEC competition with a win over a league rival. Many of those fans exited the stadium in the third quarter when the outcome was clear. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. It was supposed to be the opposite, so we thought. Las Vegas got it wrong, too. Kentucky was a nine-point betting favorite at kickoff.

Let’s talk about what went wrong. Pretty much everything went wrong, but we’ll highlight the biggest frustrations and glaring weaknesses. One of the most apparent was Kentucky’s offensive line. Through two games, the offensive line appears way behind the standard set by the old Big Blue Walls under John Schlarman. Eric Wolford was supposed to bring fire back to that group when Stoops hired him a second time, but line play may be the biggest worry for the Wildcats moving forward. South Carolina bullied them in the trenches.

[Kentucky offensive line must improve ‘detail and focus’ to win SEC football games]

Behind the line, Brock Vandagriff had a bad game. Kentucky’s starting quarterback completed three passes for 30 yards before backup Gavin Wimsatt took over in the fourth quarter. Wimsatt matched Vandagriff in completions, connecting on three passes for 14 yards. They both threw an interception in the game, meaning Kentucky completed six passes plus another two to the other team. Vandagriff’s INT was returned for a South Carolina touchdown.

Vandagriff was clearly rattled by South Carolina’s pass rush. He was sacked four times and lost all composure as the game went on, often scrambling from the offensive line struggles around him. With a passer rating of 35.2 and a fourth-quarter benching following the pick-six, there are early-season concerns around the first-time starter. He did not look like an SEC starter in Saturday’s loss.

Defensively, confusion in Kentucky’s secondary left South Carolina’s receivers wide-open too many times. Quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who completed only 43.5 percent of his throws against Old Dominion a week ago, completed 11 of 15 passes against Kentucky for two touchdowns. Kentucky’s defensive line created some disruption, but Sellers made the plays that Vandagriff couldn’t.

Beyond the players, Kentucky’s coaches are feeling some heat in the postgame reactions, starting at the top with Mark Stoops. Generally speaking, he and the staff failed to prepare Kentucky for one of the most significant games on the schedule. Then there are questions about Stoops’ fourth-down decisions and Bush Hamdan‘s second game with the offensive playbook. Hamdan’s offense went run-heavy, showing a lack of confidence in a passing attack that features three high-level receivers. He’ll have to scheme around offensive line problems and a shaky quarterback. Jet sweeps and running it up the middle weren’t the answers against South Carolina.

[Bush Hamdan, Stoops Weigh In On What Went Wrong with the Offense]

So, what’s next? Not College Gameday. By losing to South Carolina, Kentucky lost its shot at playing host next weekend. There were rumblings around Kroger Field that ESPN was heading to Lexington in Week 3 as long as Kentucky handled its business at home against the Gamecocks. Kentucky dropped the ball on that one, missing out on a rare opportunity to elevate the program to the national conversation.

Gameday aside, it sucks even more for the outlook of the 2024 season. One game shouldn’t derail an entire year, but there is a big difference between 2-0 going into Georgia week and 1-1 going into Georgia week. Kentucky has one of the toughest schedules in the nation, and a home game against South Carolina was one of the best opportunities to win a conference game. A traditional swing game for both teams, the Kentucky-South Carolina matchup often determines how successful each side views their respective seasons. South Carolina has now won three straight swing games, including two wins in Lexington.

It’s unclear if Shane Beamer danced in Kentucky’s visiting locker room this time, like he did two years ago. What is clear, though, is Shane Beamer has Mark Stoops’ number. Beamer is 3-1 against Stoops and 3-0 against Stoops since Stoops made fun of Beamer’s “stupid sunglasses” at SEC Media Days 2022. Before Beamer was hired, Stoops had a run of five consecutive wins against South Carolina. Those wins are distant memories these days.

Moving forward, excitement around the Wildcats is in serious decline right as No. 1 Georgia comes to town. Then, two weeks after playing the Dawgs, a trip to play sixth-ranked Ole Miss in Oxford. Trips to No. 3 Texas and No. 14 Tennessee are also on the schedule, in addition to the annual rivalry with Louisville, currently ranked No. 22.

So, if South Carolina was one of the easier opponents, fans can reasonably wonder if Kentucky’s streak of bowl game appearances is in trouble. The Wildcats have gone bowling in eight straight seasons, but the embarrassing performance against South Carolina has many looking ahead to how a winning record, or even a .500 record, is still possible.

Nobody knows how the next 10 games will play out. There is a lot of football left. Right now, though, there is a lot of disappointment and not a lot of optimism around Big Blue Nation. The 31-6 loss to South Carolina may be the worst loss in Stoops’ 12 seasons on the job, depending on how you felt after that home loss to Vandy two years ago. Statistically, the 25-point deficit was the worst home loss to an unranked SEC opponent since Tennessee beat the Wildcats by 31 in 2015.

A blown opportunity in so many ways and so disappointing. Six points scored. It’s one of Stoops’ biggest, if not the biggest, letdowns.