Monday Huddle, presented by Eckrich: Beat Idle

Kentucky enters the bye week at 5-2 (2-2) and unranked. Looking back at KSR’s preseason predictions, that wasn’t totally unexpected. In a toss-up game against Missouri on Saturday night at Kroger Field, Mark Stoops fielded a team that melted on the field when adversity hit. That’s not what we heard or thought would happen after an embarrassing loss to Georgia in Week 6.

The Wildcats have a ton of problems to sort out during the bye week. Vibes around this program are not strong right now. Kentucky’s staff must get back to the drawing board before hosting Tennessee in Week 8. Another SEC East home loss could send this season spiraling in a hurry.

KSR’s Monday Huddle is back to take a look at where things stand with the Kentucky football program entering the bye week, but first, a message from our partners at Eckrich.

Eckrich is proud to present the $1 Million Challenge for Teachers! This 2023 college football season Eckrich, in partnership with Extra Yard for Teachers and Kroger, will invite a local teacher (and true hero) onto the field at the Kentucky vs. Alabama game on November 11^th. 

The selected teacher, randomly selected from a list of nominations, will have a chance to throw a football through a target to win up to $1 million dollars in donations to fund local classroom projects and resources in their school and community. Nominate a teacher here for a chance to throw! Make sure to nominate your teacher by October 26^th.

First Down: Getting healthy

No matter the season or the team, the No. 1 goal every year during the bye week for college football teams is the get healthy. Kentucky has avoided any big season-ending injuries to this point, but the Wildcats are banged up. Numerous starters have not been close to 100 percent over the last two weeks. Kentucky needs that to change.

• Jalen Geiger: elbow
• Barion Brown: hamstring
• Tayvion Robinson: ankle
• Keeshawn Silver: shoulder
• Trevin Wallace: shoulder
• Jager Burton: ankle/footb

Kentucky got Kenneth Horsey back in the lineup in Week 7 following a five-game absence, but immediately lost starting right guard Jager Burton. Starters Josh Kattus and Tre’vonn Rybka have also returned to the lineup after missing game action but have been replaced by other players.

The Wildcats played without Jalen Geiger, Keeshawn Silver, and Trevin Wallace in Saturday night’s victory. That caused defensive coordinator Brad White to play some inexperienced players in a big spot.

True freshman Ty Bryant played 52 snaps as Kentucky lost starting safety Jordan Lovett to injury during the game. Northern Illinois transfer Daveren Rayner got the first start of his career at off-ball linebacker. Kentucky also had to go deeper into its defensive line rotation. On offense, Anthony Brown-Stephens saw a heavy workload at wide receiver. The Wildcats even used Demie Sumo-Karngbaye more out wide. Dylan Ray shifted over from left guard to right guard to replace Burton.

Kentucky must use this week to get healthy. With ranked Tennessee scheduled to come to town next weekend, the Wildcats will need to be at full strength in what figures to be the biggest game of the season.

Second Down: Addressing the elephant in the room

We will get to the Kentucky defense shortly, but Brad White’s unit has been nowhere near this program’s biggest issue. Somewhat surprisingly, the offensive line has played winning football for most of the season despite dealing with injuries and having starters miss games. Ray Davis is a couple of big games away from becoming a potential All-American. However, there is one place where the Wildcats are coming woefully short of expectations.

The passing game in Lexington this season has been terrible. After showing some glimpses of potential, through four games we’ve seen Kentucky be the second-worst passing game in SEC play trailing only Auburn. This is not just a Devin Leary problem.

In Saturday’s 38-21 loss to Missouri, we saw the NC State transfer use his legs to extend plays on third down and make some good throws on the move. Unfortunately, true freshman Anthony Brown-Stephens joined Kentucky’s drop party in Week 7. This group cannot do anything right at the moment.

Against a Missouri passing defense with some real holes, Leary finished with an ugly 25.8 percent passing success. Once again, his completion percentage was hovering around 50 percent, and multiple drops showed up in big moments. Kentucky had issues in pass protection, and receivers are struggling to get open. Offensive coordinator Liam Coen and wide receivers coach Scott Woodward are overseeing a train wreck in the passing game.

Kentucky’s passing game enters Week 8 ranking No. 83 in QB rating, No. 101 in EPA/play, and No. 114 in success rate. The throw game is a problem for a roster that was built to be pass-first. Barion Brown and Dane Key are playing below expectations. Kentucky is having issues getting the tight ends involved. There is no depth at receiver. There appear to be no lay-ups once Coen’s opening script dries up. The former NFL offensive coordinator had to pull out the wildcat formation card against Missouri. That appears to be a red flag.

The passing game is a major, major, major problem. If Kentucky ends the season as the worst or second-worst passing game in the season, a ton of losses are coming, and some big-picture philosophy changes could be needed again.

Once again under Mark Stoops, Kentucky has one of the worst passing games in the Power Five. Why does this keep occurring under his watch? It’s a very fair criticism to assign to the Wildcats right now. The lack of throw game success is holding this program back.

Can Coen find a way to fix it during the bye week or are we going to again see another Kentucky offense get extremely run-heavy?

Third Down: A team with poor composure

When you just take a look at the box score, Kentucky did some very good things against a top-20 Missouri offense. The Tigers were held to a season-low in yards per play (4.86). Quarterback Brady Cook, wide receiver Luther Burden III, and tailback Cody Schrader all had ineffective performances. Yet, this offense still found a way to score 38 points in 12 non-kneel positions.

How did this happen? Lack of composure.

Offsides, personal fouls, unsportsmanlike conduct, roughing the passer, and pass interference flags extended drives for Missouri and helped the road team score. In a game where Kentucky’s defense was playing very well against one of the best offenses on their schedule, they could not stop making silly mistakes. The Wildcats had a lack of composure whenever adversity hit.

The offense also had issues. Multiple holding calls occurred throughout the game. Barion Brown received a personal foul penalty after an interception on the sideline. Kentucky unraveled in the loss against Missouri for no real reason.

The game between the Tigers was a true toss-up in every way. It played out like that when Kentucky was not committing silly, undisciplined mistakes. Unfortunately, that has been a disturbing trend for this football team throughout the season.

For the first six games, we have seen numerous undisciplined mistakes. Everything from dropped passes to blown coverage. Kentucky is a sloppy football team that cannot get out of its way. Finally in a game, that all blew up in their face and turned a very winnable opportunity into a blowout loss.

Will this team finally learn from that or will the season continue to unravel? Kentucky is at a crossroads entering the bye week.

The week ahead at KSR

A disappointing two-game performance entering the bye week has let the air out of the balloon. Not many people are pleased with what is going on with the Kentucky football program right now. Mark Stoops and his coaching staff are facing some pressure entering the bye week. The Wildcats have many more toss-up games on the schedule, but there is not a game that Kentucky cannot win if the team plays their A game. Many possibilities are still alive for the Wildcats but some drastic changes in multiple areas must be made.

This bye week is all about getting healthy and attempting to find solutions to problems. Most notably, the passing game and finding a better way to deal with in-game adversity are at the top of the to-do list at the Joe Craft Football Training Facility.

Kentucky has long prep time to get ready for Tennessee. To say the expectations will be low for that team might be the biggest understatement of the season. Mark Stoops has a chance to rally his team and played the underdog car for two full weeks. We’ll see if he can get his guys ready to bounce back.

KSR will have full coverage of Mark Stoops’ radio show on Monday night and will also provide coverage of his bye week press conference on Wednesday. However, KSR is not taking time off from our weekly content coverage.

Join the KSR Club! 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.

There will be two podcasts this week with the party started on Monday night at 8:00 p.m. ET over on the KSR YouTube Channel. We will also have non-stop coverage over at KSBoard. A big week is here for the football program. Kentucky must find a way to respond against Tennessee.