Kentucky reverts in blowout loss to Vanderbilt

Kentucky was riding some legitimate momentum heading into the final SEC game on the penultimate weekend of the college football season. Vanderbilt stopped that surge right in its tracks on Saturday afternoon in Nashville.

The Commodores showed why the are potentially one win away from a College Football Playoff berth. The Wildcats showed why they have a losing record heading into the final game of the season.

UK was not ready for the moment for the first time since the ugly home loss to Tennessee to finish off October. The Cats got embarrassed on Saturday afternoon in a 45-17 blowout loss.

A huge rivalry game against Louisville is on deck where Kentucky will be playing for bowl eligibility for the third time in the Mark Stoops era. But there is no glossing over what just happened in the final SEC week of the season. Kentucky got embarrassed by Vandy.

Kentucky’s offense plays its worst game of the season

Kentucky’s defense had a long day on Saturday. We will get to that side of the ball shortly, but Vanderbilt scores points on everyone. To beat this team, your offense must be locked in and finish drives in the paint.

The Cats did not do that on Saturday.

Bush Hamdan‘s offense finished the game with 17 points in 12 possessions on 68 games. Kentucky finished the game with a 36.8 percent success rate on just 4.6 yards per play. The Cats only got to these numbers because of three successful drives in garbage time. On the first nine possessions of the game, UK went punt (x6), interception (x2), and field goal. The Cats had five three-and-outs among those nine possessions and only rushed for 45 non-sack yards on 2.5 yards per rush. This was a disastrous performance.

For the duration of the game, Kentucky struggled to block at the point of attack with the offensive line and wideouts on the perimeter struggling to eliminate penetration. Vandy’s pressure-heavy scheme had a ton of success getting to Cutter Boley and never allowed the Cats to establish a rhythm on offense. Kentucky looked nothing like the offense we’ve seen since October.

The Cats were whooped by Vanderbilt. There is no denying this. In a game where 30-plus points were going to be needed to win, the offense came up way short and let the team down. It all started in the trenches where Kentucky lost the physicality battle against Vanderbilt. A solid offensive line had its worst performance of the season. That leaked into the rest of the offense.

This was regression from Hamdan’s unit. Vandy made Kentucky one-dimensional and the pass-heavy approach led to three turnovers and a lot of quick possessions.

Another SEC offense posts ridiculous passing numbers against Kentucky

Vanderbilt is in the College Football Playoff hunt because of Diego Pavia. The former New Mexico State quarterback is a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate because of what he is doing in Nashville. Pavia showed everyone why he is one of the best players in college football on Saturday.

PAVIA ➡️ RICHARDSON = 6️⃣ pic.twitter.com/qGAgX5Tyzp

— #14 Vanderbilt Football (@VandyFootball) November 22, 2025

The star quarterback set a Vanderbilt record for single-game passing yards (484) as he completed 33-of-39 passes and posted 12.4 yards per attempt with six total touchdowns. Vandy accumulated just 81 non-sack rushing yards on 3.9 yards per rush. The Commodores did not have offensive balance but did not need it. A short-handed Kentucky secondary could not hold up.

Vandy became the fifth SEC offense to record at least nine yards per attempt against the Wildcats. South Carolina (80%), Georgia (66.7%), Tennessee (76.9%), and Vanderbilt (84.1%) all recorded extremely high completion rates. Kentucky is very thin in the secondary right now, but every cornerback in the game allowed a huge explosive play in this game. Kentucky simply cannot hold up in coverage when teams decide to get vertical. Vanderbilt saw the Tennessee tape. They took swings on shot plays. It felt like they hit on all of them.

This Kentucky defense has responded to adversity well this year and continued to get off the mat. However, styles make fights in college football. Whenever UK faces a run-heavy team, the Cats look like a top-15 defense. This same group held three SEC foes to one touchdown or less. But when teams can challenge them in the passing game, things get ugly fast.

Kentucky had no answers for an SEC passing game — again. No matter what happens in the offseason, UK has to find a way to fix all of the coverage problems that they are having this season. The Wildcats have had multiple embarrassing performances where they simply look like they can’t matchup physically in coverage.

UK has done some good on defense this year but their flaw is a fatal one. Vanderbilt attacked that flaw aggressively. It led to a fourth game where an SEC offense scored 30-plus points against the Wildcats. This program is not built to overcome this. The entire winning strategy for UK evolves around playing good defense and playing games in the teens and 20s.

Kentucky has been unable to accomplish that for most of the SEC slate. That is a concern moving forward.

What comes next?

Kentucky (5-6, 2-6) has finished an SEC season with two wins or fewer for the fifth time under Mark Stoops. UK has never made a bowl game when they lose more than five conference games under Stoops. The program will look to change that next week.

Louisville (7-4, 4-4) is reeling as this season comes to a close and enters rivalry week with three consecutive losses. The Cardinals have a long injury list on offense and made a switch at quarterback in Week 13. That led to a game where the Cardinals never scored a touchdown in a blowout loss to SMU. The matchup seems much better for the Wildcats on paper after struggling to slow down a top-10 offense in Nashville.

This is a critical spot for the program. There is no hiding from that. No game is a true must-win but this one will certainly feel like it. A 5-7 finish would be a one-game improvement from last season, but the doubts and skepticism will reach a fever pitch again with another loss to UofL.

Is Stoops back on the hot seat? That’s a question that will pop up again if Kentucky loses next week’s game. Everyone should be skeptical that the university will be willing to write a near $38 million check after the team did accomplish improvement in the win column but the noise will get louder. Another loss could force some big changes somewhere along the line.

A huge game is next after a brutal road loss to end conference play. It’s a game that Kentucky really needs to win. A loss would almost totally erase the positive energy built around the program and will again create another tension-filled offseason with major skepticism in Big Blue Nation about Kentucky football.

Kentucky showed regression at FirstBank Stadium. Kentucky cannot afford for this regression to linger into next week.