Tennessee walked into Kroger Field and ate a 50-Burger. Kentucky fans have experienced plenty of home losses to Power Conference foes over the last two years. This one sadly felt different, but sadly it wasn’t. Last November, Big Blue Nation watched another rival spend the fourth quarter celebrating a blowout win in their stadium.
Mark Stoops is facing an unprecedented amount of heat. Following last week’s overtime loss to Texas, he acknowledged the outside noise for the first time. The winningest coach in Kentucky football history is fighting for his job. He was asked to sell fans on why things may not be as bleak as they seem.
“I understand. I mean, it’s a results business, and the results have not been there. For me, I can’t get caught up and worried about all that,” said Stoops.
“I’m frustrated. I hurt for our team. I hurt for the fans. There’s a lot of people that invest a lot, including all of us. But I understand that, that fans and anybody else has every right to be frustrated, mad, you know, whatever it is. But for myself, I hurt for the team. We’ve invested a lot. Again, I think we are getting better in certain areas, but it was a tough matchup for us tonight. And again, I give (Tennessee) a lot of credit. They’re very, very explosive offensively. We didn’t play good enough, and they had a lot to do with that.”
It is an unequivocal fact that Kentucky is getting better in certain areas. The offense that hadn’t scored three offensive touchdowns against a Power Conference foe since 2023 had five against the Vols. Cutter Boley‘s five touchdown passes were the most by a Kentucky quarterback since Andre Woodson in 2007. His steady growth over the last month has been a bright spot during dark days for the program. The redshirt freshman is doing his best to block out the outside noise.
“I’m taking it day by day. We gotta go 1-0,” said Boley. “These guys are in here working their tail off every single day, coming to the facility regardless of the circumstances. I’m really proud of these guys. I’m really proud of the coaching staff. They’re busting their tails upstairs and putting us in the best position to try to win.”
Every time one part of the program takes a step forward, another takes a step back. The defense held Texas to 179 yards. One week later, Tennessee had 239 in the first half. The Vols’ offense presents a greater challenge, but this team, this program, simply can’t seem to put all of the pieces together.
“I know our guys are fighting and playing hard,” said Stoops. “We’re making improvements in an area that it’s been a while. Offensively, we’re making some serious improvement with our quarterback and that’s encouraging.”
Right now, Boley’s play is the only thing that’s encouraging, but is it enough to get BBN to buy in? Probably not.
First Appeared on
Source link
