Storyline: Losses keep piling up for Kentucky football. Mark Stoops needs to make major changes. Here’s how.
Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops has thoroughly exercised his vocal cords since arriving in Lexington. The younger brother of Oklahoma coach, Bob Stoops, has done a lot of talking about how he’s going to transform the program. But that talk hasn’t translated into on-field success.
Courtesy: Twitter
Kentucky looked like it was on its way to bowls the past two seasons, but second half collapses (worse than the Fall of Rome) kept the postseason out of reach. To rub salt in the wound, the clincher each year was a loss to rival Louisville. Kentucky was 5-6 in consecutive years going into the final game with the Cards.
The failures have continued this year. Kentucky blew a 35-10 lead in the season opener against Southern Miss. Then, last Saturday, Big Blue was ran out of Gainesville by Florida, 45-7.
That FL loss dropped Stoops’ record at Kentucky to 12-26. That’s worse than Stoops’ predecessor, Joker Philips, who was disinvited in 2012 to remain in Lexington.
While Stoops’ trajectory is downward, there’s hope for Kentucky. The ‘Cats face a stretch of games where five wins are possible. The string starts with New Mexico State, at home, on Saturday. (UK is a -21.5 favorite, 9/12.) If UK can capitalize on its schedule, then Stoops may buy time as Wildcat head man.
To do that Stoops needs to right the ship. That requires making these adjustments.
Shore Up The Defense, Especially The Line
Courtesy: wildcatbluenation.com
One of the major selling points on Stoops was that he was “a defensive guru.” That’s exactly the kind of mentality needed to survive in the SEC. But defense has been more talk than result.
Kentucky was one of the worst defensive teams in the conference last season, surrendering an average 27.6 points a game. And it has been a slippery slope this season, too: the Wildcats are giving up an average of 44.5 points and 542 yards a game.
Kentucky’s main problem is that the pressure from the line is almost non-existent. The Wildcats recorded just nine sacks in 2015.
The DL is also weak on defending the run. The Wildcats rank near the bottom of the FBS in run defense. That forces a young, but talented, Wildcat secondary to cheat up. That strategy can lead to explosive plays, as happened last Saturday when UF WR, Antonio Calloway, scored on a 78-yard pass play.
QB Drew Barker Needs To Live Up To The Hype
UK quarterback, Drew Barker, was a 4-star recruit coming out of Connor High School in Hebron, KY. Barker declined offers from Louisville, Tennessee, and ‘Ole Miss before deciding on Kentucky. Big Blue Nation heralded Barker’s arrival as one of the biggest things to happen in program history.
Courtesy: aseaofblue.com
But hype hasn’t been followed by performance. Consider how Barker performed at Florida last week: 2-of-10 for 10 yards with 3 interceptions. (Note: Those numbers are not misprints.)
Meanwhile, the Cats’ quarterback in 2015, Patrick Towles, had a great outing last week for Boston College against UMass. He threw for 191 yards and two touchdowns and added 66 yards on the ground in a 26-7 victory over the Minutemen. While Towles was the scapegoat at UK last season, it’s clear he wasn’t the problem.
Stoops made a major blunder in letting Towles go. Now he’s stuck with Barker. Stoops needs to work with Barker to build up his confidence and improve his performance.
Make Second Half Adjustments
Second half collapses are too common at UK. Look at last season’s finale against Louisville. UK took a 24-7 lead into the locker room only to see the Cards score 31 straight points en route to a 38-24 victory. Then, in the first game of 2016 against Southern Miss, the Wildcats led 35-17 at the half and had an impressive 387 yards of offense. But Kentucky managed just 22 yards of offense and didn’t score in the second half (again, that’s no misprint).
Stoops isn’t able to carry team success into the second half. That must change.
Win Against Mediocre Teams
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After NM State–a downward trending team that has been booted out of the Sun Belt Conference)–the ‘Cats play rebuilding South Carolina. Then there’s an excruciatingly tough road game at Alabama. But the schedule softens again. Kentucky hosts Vanderbilt, then Mississippi State, and plays at Missouri. NMSU, USC, Vandy, MSU, and Mizzou are winnable games.
And UK’s season probably rests on how many of those games the ‘Cats win. That’s because UK has a brutal November schedule: Georgia, Tennessee, and Louisville. The only break in November comes when Kentucky hosts FCS opponent, Austin Peay.
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Stoops has schmoozed UK boosters out of millions of dollars for a new practice facility and has made multiple promises to Big Blue Nation about turning around the program.
For Stoops, the future is now.
