ESPN broadcast calls out Mark Stoops, Kentucky staff for first-half clock management vs. Ole Miss

With about a minute to go in the first half of Saturday’s game against Ole Miss, Kentucky had an opportunity to put more points on the board and cut into the Rebels’ lead. But without any timeouts, they came away empty-handed, and the ESPN broadcast crew had questions.

Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy pointed out the problems with UK’s clock management in that situation. Mark Stoops used two of his three timeouts early in the half and had to use the final one with 8:24 left in the half. That made for a rocky operation in the final minutes, nearly getting called for a delay of game and failing to score again before half. ESPN’s Molly McGrath later reported there were communication issues with the coach-to-player headsets.

McDonough acknowledged Kentucky’s ability on defense, which showed in the early part of the half against Ole Miss’ high-powered offense. But when it comes to clock management, he had concerns.

“Again, we just chronicled Mark Stoops’ tenure and it’s, for the most part, been a very successful tenure,” McDonough said with four seconds to go. “It’s turned south the last couple of years. But these are kinds of things that if you are on the hot seat, they get you fired. It just does not look like a well-coached football team in terms of the management of the operation.

“They do a lot of things really well. They obviously play great defense, they coach great defense. But for the offense and the game management is an issue, at least recently.”

As McDonough addressed the decision-making, McElroy pointed out Stoops was clearly animated with his offensive staff. The former Alabama quarterback said it was warranted considering how rough the operation looked.

“He is lighting up members of his offensive staff,” McElroy said. “I mean, he should be because he’s not the one calling the plays, calling the formations. That’s coming from Bush Hamdan, the offensive coordinator, and the rest of the offensive staff. That is on the offense.”

More on Kentucky’s ‘self-inflicted’ mistakes

Kentucky took over with 1:05 on the clock and got down to the Ole Miss 40-yard line at one point. However, Calzada scrambled and eventually ran out of bounds with eight seconds left, pushing the Wildcats back to the 45-yard line and likely out of field goal range.

Sean McDonough wondered why a coach wasn’t in the headset telling Zach Calzada to try and spike the ball to set up a field goal or, simply, throw it out of bounds to set up an attempt. That would have given Kentucky an opportunity to make it a one-point game.

“Doesn’t somebody have to say in his headset, ‘Okay, we don’t have another timeout. We can’t run a play in bounds. Just throw the ball, take a snap, throw it out of bounds and we’ll kick a field goal from 57 yards with six seconds to go?” McDonough said.

With coaches now able to talk directly to players on the field through headsets, Greg McElroy said they can, in fact, do that. That’s why he lamented the “self-inflicted” mistakes from UK in the final minute.

“Especially with the direct-to-player communications,” McElroy said. “You can walk your quarterback through it quickly. Just spike it, if nothing else. Just really self-inflicted here down the stretch.”