Monday Huddle: November will tell us what's next for Kentucky football

Halloween week has finally arrived as trick or treaters will hit the cul-de-sacs all over the country to get some free candy on Friday. What many claim is the best weekend to be on a college campus is also here but on Saturday the calendar will turn to November. Over the next five weeks, we will get our final answers on what the Kentucky football program is going to do in 2026.

Many are speculating a change at the top. Athletics directory Mitch Barnhart has been known for his patience with coaches and for making proper budget decisions to maintain a profitable athletics department. Both of those pillars will be tested over the next few weeks.

Another high-profile hiring that included a big buyout occurred on Sunday night when LSU separated from Brian Kelly. The Tigers became the third SEC head coach opening before Halloween. Some more are likely on the way. There are now eight power conference jobs open. There will be many more.

This weekend, the Kentucky football program will make a trip to the Plains for only the second time since 2011. The last trip occurred in 2020 during the COVID-19 season where there was limited attendance allowed. The Cats will be facing another program with a hot seat coach but Hugh Freeze bought some time with a big road win at Arkansas last weekend.

A lot is going on right now. I touched on just about all of it over at KSBoard on Sunday night. But there still is football to be played. One way or another, we’re going to find out what direction this program decides to go in 2026 by the end of this month.

KSR’s Monday Huddle is back to set the table for another football week as the Big Blue Nation’s frustration with this program grows.

First Down: Some more positive momentum for the Kentucky offense

Kentucky was forced to press the backup quarterback button in Week 3. The program has also decided to play some younger players at tailback and wide receiver since the Georgia loss in Week 6. We’ve seen this group start to come alive.

In Athens, UK made the switch to a quick passing game and has pivoted to a pass-first attack. Cutter Boley recorded 40-plus dropbacks in his last three starts with his average depth of target not going over six yards in his last two games. Kentucky has made the passing game and extension of the running game. The Cats are chasing completions and moving the football.

With another limited traditional run game performance from the tailbacks (28 carries, 103 yards, 3.7 yards per rush), Boley had to carry a heavy load. He helped lead the offense to five touchdowns in 12 possessions against Tennessee with 361 total yards. Kentucky has found a quarterback and some of the pieces around him are coming together.

Jason Patterson (154 rushing yards, 59 receiving yards) has been a nice secondary player in the backfield. DJ Miller looked like a potential WR1 against Tennessee. Willie Rodriguez (14 receptions for 201 yards) continues to have a nice season. Kendrick Law (328 yards from scrimmage) remains the most explosive player on this offense.

Boley became the first Kentucky quarterback to have five touchdown passes in an SEC game for the first time since Andre Woodson on Saturday. That was nearly 20 years ago. Boley became the first Kentucky quarterback with 300-plus total yards in consecutive SEC games since Mike Hartline did it in 2010. UK just went over 390 total yards in consecutive SEC games for the first time since 2021. Now the Cats should get RB1 Seth McGowan back in the lineup.

This offense is making real progress. Bush Hamdan has made some nice in-season schematic tweaks and those are allowing his young quarterback to thrive. The Cats have real life and promise on offense both now and moving forward. That is not something that has been the case many times in the Stoops era. The challenge will be difficult on Saturday night against an Auburn defense that might have the best run defense in college football but the pass defense (No. 94 in EPA/play, No. 111 in passing success rate).

The growth has been real for this offense. This unit will likely give Kentucky chances to win multiple games down the stretch. But they will need some help.

Second Down: Let’s check in on the defense again

For the fourth time in five conference games, an opposing team went north of 30 points against Kentucky. South Carolina needed two defensive touchdowns to get there but UK has had almost no answers against everyone else on the schedule. The Cats hit the bottom when Tennessee scored 49 offensive points in 11 possessions on 8.5 yards per play.

So let’s check in on Kentucky’s defensive stat profile again.

• Scoring: 30.1 (No. 108 overall)
• Success Rate: 40.7% (No. 64 overall)
• EPA/Play: 0.00 (No. 64 overall)
• Yards Per Play: 5.83 (No. 99 overall)
• Yards Per Non-Sack Rush: 3.76 (No. 11 overall)
• Yards Per Dropback: 8.54 (No. 130 overall)
• 3rd Down Conversions: 41.49% (No. 94 overall)
• Havoc Rate: 10.7% (No. 102 overall)
• 20+ yard plays: 30 (No. 55 overall)
• Red Zone TD Percentage: 71.43% (No. 113 overall)
• Takeaways: 6 (No. 113 overall)

UK’s has slipped to No. 59 in ESPN’s SP+ rankings. This would be the program’s lowest finish since 2017. The Cats have been very stout against the run but have been atrocious against the pass, aren’t creating negative plays, and have been awful in situational football (third down, red zone). They are just playing bad defense right now. This program can’t afford to have poor defense.

Mark Stoops said multiple times that Tennessee was a tough matchup for them. The Vols appear to have the best offense in the conference and will score on just about anyone. Vanderbilt will be a difficult challenge. There shouldn’t be any matchup problems in the other remaining games.

Auburn (No. 118 in EPA/play) has had massive offensive issues throughout the season and just made a quarterback change. This should be a bounce-back opportunity for the defense. If UK doesn’t start playing better on this side of the ball, things will get uglier than they are now.

Third Down: The biggest stretch of the season

The message board community got a lot to chew on yesterday when it came to Kentucky and what is going on behind the scenes regarding the future for Mark Stoops. I’m afraid this is only the beginning. The question everyone will be asking is will there be an in-season separation. The answer to that is as clear as mud — for now.

This just a complicated situation. That has not changed. Kentucky likely needs to negotiate a buyout down to separate from Stoops. It will take two to tango for that to happen. UK has also not been eliminated yet from bowl contention or the win/loss record improving from last season. There are still games to be played. Stoops will get a chance to coach his teams through these games to show that they are a better football team like they’ve been talking about since last season ended.

There are still a pair of ranked teams (Louisville, Vanderbilt) on the slate. Meanwhile, Auburn and Florida are expected to finish towards the bottom of the SEC standings this year. However, these were the opponents that UK struggled the most with in 2024. Will that change in 2025? We’re about to find out.

This is a fluid situation but Mitch Barnhart has a track record in these situations. The long-time leader of the UK athletics department remains patient and is willing to give coaches extra time if even minimal progress is shown. Quite often, Barnhart has awarded coaches an extra year even when the fanbase seemed to be more than ready to move on. That is still on the table here if UK can get a couple of wins.

There are still five games left with an FCS opponent coming soon. The results of the next two games could go a long way in determining what happens in 2026. We have reached the biggest stretch of the Kentucky football season.

The week ahead at KSR

Game week is here, and KSR will provide the Big Blue Nation with in-depth pregame content from now until kickoff arrives on Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Kentucky’s third SEC road game will be played in one of the best environments in college football.

We will have full coverage of Mark Stoops’ press conference on Monday. From there, practice reports and daily podcasts will take over as Saturday quickly approaches. We will also get an SEC availability report on Wednesday that will give us an official status update on where UK sits on the injury front.

Over at KSR+, we will have our in-depth scouting report on Auburn published on Thursday along with some more preseason content before this Week 10 game arrives.

The noise is getting very loud in the fanbase. The losses continue to pile up. Kentucky seems to have turned the corner on offense. Now they have a two-game run to try and go put some wins together and potentially attempt to run this back again in 2026. Or we could see a couple more losses and the administration going all-in to get UK out of the contract by any means necessary.

So, yeah, a lot is going on. Where this all goes will be determined both Saturday on the Plains and at home against Florida next week.

Buckle in. A wild ride is coming one way or another.