Mark Stoops is sticking with Matt Ruffolo at kicker

The special teams were far from special when Kentucky and Missouri met Saturday afternoon in Columbia. There were penalties that put points on the scoreboard, fumbles, bad snaps and a pair of missed kicks by Matt Ruffolo. Before the game ended, many Kentucky fans were ready to never see a kicker take the field ever again. Mark Stoops is not so quick to pull the plug.

“Matt (Ruffolo) is the starting kicker right now,” Kentucky’s head coach said Monday afternoon. “I think it is fair to say we constantly are working other guys and getting them ready. I don’t know why I use golf a lot as an analogy with kickers, but you know they have it in them and I have trust in him.”

Entering the season Ruffolo had an exceptional kicking record. His 81.6 field goal percentage was the third-best career mark in school history. He only had six missed field goals in 2+ seasons as the full-time starting kicker. This fall Ruffolo has missed six field goals in nine games. In addition to the missed field goals, there are also a pair of missed PATs.

When asked is he’s still sticking by Ruffolo, Stoops spent a couple minutes touching on multiple factors — from snaps to blocking and the wind — that have led to early struggles. One he forgot to mention that Freddie Maggard brought up on the KSR Football Podcast: if the Cats replace the placekicker, they’ll need a new holder too. Chance Poore is the Cats’ current holder and backup to Matt Ruffolo.

Watch the latest Mark Stoops press conference on the KSR YouTube Channel.

Wind, Protection and Snap Problems

Matt Ruffolo missed two kicks against Missouri. The first one hooked hard left and never had a chance. The second one was even further away and into the wind. As you might expect, it got knocked down by a gust at Faurot Field.

“That’s a combination of things. Like I talk about quarterback play or sacks, it’s not just all O-linemen, there are tight ends, backs, quarterbacks, everybody is in it. It is kind of the same with kicking,” Stoops said. “He was afraid to drive it because we have been giving up a little bit of penetration, but the protection this week was really good.”

Justin Rogers and Kiyaunta Goodwin were put up front to shore up the interior protection, but Ruffolo still got under the ball. The extra air made it easier for the wind to knock down the ball.

“I think the first miss, his operation was so fast. We have worked on getting the operation faster, it was just a fraction too fast. The second one, he probably tried to get it up but it got up into that wind. He could have made that, he was confident… he told me point blank, ‘I can go this way 50, no problem.’ You hit a gust, you hit a gust, and he hit it a little high. I can’t blame him for that. I thought it was a good kick. I think he was worried about getting the ball up and not get it blocked because in other games we were getting some leakage.”

The snap was good on the field goal. That has not been the case all season. Cade Degraw sent one snap on a punt sky-high at Ole Miss, resulting in a safety. Dealing with a leg injury, Clay Perry filled in for Degraw to assist in punt team coverage. His fourth quarter snap over Colin Goodfellow’s head nearly cost Kentucky the game.

“Is it OK to snap the ball over someone’s head when the game is on the line? I think we all know that answer is no,” Stoops said. “Again, to Clay’s defense, I think every one of his snaps this year — and I want to say six games last year when Cade (Degraw) got hurt — have been perfect. That is not the same thing. Cade’s been good, he had one field goal (bad snap).

“I want to be 100 percent, certainly when the game is on the line. But to lump it all together, is not right. That is where we have to look at those things. I am not making an excuse for that. It is not good football. That is not something I want to look at. That is not good and not clean. I am the head football coach and they are snapping the ball over our head with the game on the line, that’s not good. “Again, I am not going to bring him in my office and break his arm.”

Reading Through Mark Stoops Coach-Speak

Mark Stoops doth protest too much, methinks. It’s clear he’s unhappy with the execution from the field goal unit. He sees these guys kick everyday. If he thought the other guy was better, Matt Ruffolo would get sent to the sideline.

While the other factors sound more like excuses than an explanation, the overall play from Kentucky’s special teams unit is entirely too undisciplined in almost every aspect. The Wildcats have not played clean football in 2022 and it cost them a win at Ole Miss. It nearly cost them another in CoMo.