Monday Huddle: Bye Week Reset

The Big Blue Nation enjoyed a Victory Sunday this week to close out the final weekend in September. Boy, was it a sweet one. Kentucky’s win in Oxford on Saturday will be one many will re-watch countless times and discuss as one of the best wins in program history.

Remember all those manufactured win stats regarding Mark Stoops versus top-10 opponents or SEC teams that finished the season with a winning record? You probably need to throw those out the window. Kentucky has recorded its highest-ranked road win since 1977 and its highest-ranked road win in SEC play since 1964. What folks saw on Saturday was a “first in a lifetime” type victory.

Now we get to soak in the win for just a little bit longer as Kentucky begins the first of two bye weeks this season. KSR’s Monday Huddle is using this time to reset. Let’s look at where the offense, defense, and overall program stand with seven games remaining.

First Down: A clear offensive identity

Following the loss to South Carolina, a clear reset was needed for offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan in year one. The Wildcats were stunned against the Gamecocks and went two SEC games without scoring a touchdown. Kentucky made some clear strides after the Week 2 loss but a different path was needed after getting exposed by South Carolina’s edge rush.

Following the loss, I published a column at KSR+ that identified that this offense must do two things well to score some points and help hide some of the clear protection issues: run the football with efficiency and create explosive plays in the passing game. We saw the former against Georgia, but Ole Miss found ways to be more effective in run fits (41% rushing success rate allowed), limiting the Cats to only 3.7 yards per non-sack rush. However, Kentucky established the run, and that ultimately led to some big plays in the explosive passing game.

Want more Kentucky football intel? Join KSR Plus for the most comprehensive coverage of the Cats on the internet. With a KSR membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.

Brock Vandagriff had four completions of 20-plus yards and those chunk gains helped lead directly to the points. The go-route bomb to Barion Brown down the visiting sideline in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium will be remembered forever, but the other chunk completions to Dane Key helped extend drives and create scoring opportunities.

Kentucky is never going to be an efficiency machine in the passing game this season but the offense needs to create big plays to counter an effective rushing attack. Hamdan’s unit achieved true balance in the win and that allowed the road team to pull the big upset.

The Wildcats now have a clear identity on offense and that will give them clear opportunities to win football games this fall.

Second Down: It’s time to talk about how special this defense can be

The 2018 Kentucky defense will be remembered as one of the best units in program history. That defense helped shatter a program ceiling and created the current standard and expectations the program has today. Josh Hines-Allen was the best defensive player in college football and the secondary had multiple pros. That group will always be remembered fondly.

In 2022, we saw a Kentucky defense that finished inside the top five in ESPN’s SP+ rankings thanks to a strong pass defense that ranked inside the top 25 in passing success rate and passing EPA/play. That unit was a big part of the team winning games that season as the offense took a big step back.

The 2024 unit feels like it might just be the best defense of the Mark Stoops era and that is not some crazy statement. Kentucky has played three SEC teams that rank inside the top 30. The statistical data is starting to paint a clearer picture: this defense is for real.

• Havoc Rate: 17.8% (No. 2 overall)
• Yards Per Rush: 3.31 (No. 8 overall)
• Success Rate: 33.5% (No. 12 overall)
• Adjusted EPA/play: -0.18 (No. 18 overall)

The pass coverage can still be leaky (No. 93 in yards per dropback allowed) but this defense is creating havoc and getting offenses behind the chains at a very high level. Against the best opponents, we’ve seen this team rise up to the challenge.

Carson Beck threw for 439 yards against Alabama but struggled to get anything going against Kentucky. Jaxson Dart had thrown for at least 370 yards in his last five starts but had only 217 passing yards entering the final drive against Kentucky. The pass rush affected each quarterback and both offenses struggled to run the football. Each offense was expected to be a top-10 unit this season. Every performance outside of the Kentucky game tells you that those units will reach preseason expectations.

Kentucky is winning at the line of scrimmage consistently, forcing quarterbacks to play off-platform, and is winning in high-leverage situations ranking No. 19 overall in third down conversion rate allowed (30%) and No. 16 in red zone touchdown rate allowed (38.5%).

The Wildcats have built a top-10 defense. Deone Walker leads one of the best defensive lines in college football. D’Eryk Jackson and Jamon Dumas-Johnson are a top-10 off-ball linebacker duo, and improved depth in the secondary is helping the Wildcats cover much better this season.

Brad White‘s unit has built-in answers for every offense and has arguably been the most impressive unit in the SEC through the first month of the season. It’s time to start talking about this group like they are one of the best in college football and in program history.

Third Down: This program got its swagger back

When Kentucky had it rolling under Mark Stoops, the Wildcats won games with a ball control offense that could dictate the terms of the game. At their best, UK had a defense that could play at a top-15 level. Add those factors together, and it led to two double-digit win seasons and ranked finishes in four years, along with a 19-9 one-possession game record from 2016-21.

We saw some of that identity dissolve as the offensive line took a big step back, and the program tried to ramp up the passing game by building around accomplished college football quarterbacks. That transition led to a 2-5 one-possession record from 2022-23 and consecutive disappointing seasons.

Stoops, offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan, and offensive line coach Eric Wolford talked about the need to run the ball efficiently constantly this offseason. They wanted that to occur so Kentucky could control games and outlast opponents by forcing them to play on their terms.

Kentucky’s ball control offense and stingy defense forced Georgia and Ole Miss to play out of their comfort zone and to get into the mud to play a game where mistakes would be magnified. Kentucky let UGA off the hook but found a way to finish the deal against Ole Miss.

Mark Stoops is at his best with a team like this Kentucky one is built. The Wildcats are a gritty, blue-collar college football program that has to earn everything. That DNA matches this team’s roster composition. Kentucky has a tough-as-nails quarterback, an offensive line that has weaknesses but plays with an edge, and a defense loaded with pros that is top-10 caliber. An argument can be made that this is the most Stoops team ever. Kentucky is getting creative on offense by using glorified wildcat formation looks and constantly using seven or eight-man protection schemes to give the passing game a true chance to find completions. They make it work by forcing opposing teams to play at their pace due to an efficient run game and an outstanding defense. That style of play has led to two outstanding performances in a row.

Kentucky has rediscovered its swagger since the Week 2 loss to South Carolina. This program isn’t going to win games playing the most pretty football, but it will win a lot of games by turning contests on Saturdays into true back alley brawls between the whistles. That can now be accomplished thanks to the personnel on both sides of the roster.

After getting away from the program’s winning DNA the last two years, the Wildcats have rediscovered that secret sauce and it’s going to give this team an opportunity to go on a run over the last two months of the season after a huge upset win in Week 5 got the year back on track.

The week ahead at KSR

Kentucky does not have a game in Week 6 but that does not mean our coverage will stop at KSR. Throughout the week, we will be taking a look back at the historic Ole Miss win but also looking to the future where Kentucky has numerous winning games left on the schedule.

Mark Stoops is scheduled to meet with the media on Wednesday after practice. We will have full coverage of his only scheduled meeting with reporters outside of the weekly teleconference. However, KSR’s podcast lineup is not changing. Stay tuned for the KSR Football Podcast on Monday afternoon and another episode of 11 Personnel on Wednesday night.

The Wildcats flipped the script in Week 5. What will the team do with this new opportunity? We will find out soon and keep the Big Blue Nation up to speed by covering every angle.

What a sport.