Monday Huddle: Kentucky will attempt to get off the mat as coaching carousel spins

Kentucky did some very good things on the field in Week 8, but this program once again left Kroger Field without an SEC victory. The Wildcats are now 1-13 in their last 14 games versus power conference competition with 10 consecutive losses at home. UK keeps getting knocked down. They will have to try and get up again this week.

The third SEC home game of the season will arrive in Week 9 when Josh Heupel brings his No. 17 Tennessee squad into Kroger Field coming off a very tough loss to Alabama on the road. After drawing Texas in a hangover spot, the Cats could be getting the Vols in a bounce-back spot. How will this program respond to another big wave of adversity?

We’re about to find out.

The season has just reached the halfway point but it already feels like this year has gone off the tracks in a year where UK was determined to prove that the 2024 campaign was a true “one year blip”. The Cats will enter Saturday’s rivalry game with all of the mounting losing streaks along with an 0-4 record against Heupel. Is this the week a big win finally arrives or are we heading for more of the same?

KSR’s Monday Huddle is back to set the table for another football week.

First Down: Can Kentucky’s offense build off the Texas performance?

Ohio State has the best defense in college football. Texas is in the conversation and is definitely a top-five unit. The Horns rank No. 7 in EPA/play, No. 10 in yards per play, and in the top five in points per drive. This program has one of the best defenses in college football for the second year in a row. Their goal line stand in overtime ultimately won the game in Lexington on Saturday night.

But Kentucky’s offense did some really good things in the Week 8 contest. The Wildcats controlled the football due to solid down-to-down efficiency (41.2% success rate) and created five scoring opportunities in 12 non-overtime possessions. They accomplished that despite getting just 92 rushing yards on 35 carries from tailbacks Seth McGowan, Dante Dowdell, and Jason Patterson. Against the best defenses in college football, quarterbacks must carry a heavy load and make things happen. Kentucky got that on Saturday night.

In his fifth career start, Cutter Boley accumulated 303 total yards (258 passing, 45 net rushing) against a very strong, sturdy, and stout Texas defense. That is the most yards from a Kentucky quarterback against a power conference team since Devin Leary produced 393 total yards (372 passing, 21 net rushing) in a 33-27 loss to Tennessee in 2023. The redshirt freshman is slowly getting better with each start. Can that continue?

Kentucky remains a committee passing attack with six different players recording at least 11 receptions through the first six games. Half of those six play either tailback or tight end. The run game has slowed down the last couple of games, but that likely changes once UK stops facing top-10 defenses. This program’s long two touchdowns or less streak was extended on Saturday but we are seeing better play. Most of that is due to what is happening at quarterback.

Once Kentucky made the move to Boley in Week 3, this very much became an evaluation situation to find out if the former four-star prospect could play to the recruiting promise and become a potential cornerstone for this football program. Well, we’re starting to get some answers. Some more development is still needed, but Boley is getting better with each snap, and has proven he can help move the football against good defenses.

There are a lot of unknowns when projecting what Kentucky could look like in 2026. However, the program is finding out what they have with Boley right now. The young quarterback looks the part and is continuing to improve. If that trajectory continues, UK could be in position to break some of those recent bad offensive trends over the last half of the season.

Heading into a matchup with a Tennessee defense that ranks No. 115 in success rate and No. 119 in EPA/play, the Cats could have a chance to put up some real numbers on Saturday night.

Second Down: The Tennessee problem for Kentucky’s defense

Kentucky and Tennessee will on the football field for the 120th time on Saturday. The Vols have won over 70 percent of the all-time meetings. Mark Stoops is 2-10 all-time against the Big Orange despite facing three different head coaches. However, these games were slugfests from 2017-20. That all changed when Josh Heupel arrived on Rocky Top.

The veer and shoot spread scheme that Heupel deploys has given UK all kinds of issues. Even his worst two offenses over the last two seasons have had their way with the Cats. This has been a terrible matchup for Kentucky’s zone-heavy defense.

• 2021: 38 offensive points in 11 possessions, 9.8 yards per play (12.6 yards per dropback), 45% success rate
• 2022: 44 offensive points in 12 possessions, 6.5 yards per play (9.1 yards per dropback), 49% success rate
• 2023: 33 offensive points in 10 possessions, 7.2 yards per play (10.3 yards per dropback), 49% success rate
• 2024: 28 offensive points 13 possessions, 5.8 yards per play (7.3 yards per dropback), 57% success rate

The Vols are averaging 35.7 points per game (3.11 points per drive) in this series under Heupel. The Cats have gotten bludgeoned in the efficiency battle every meeting and have really had no answers for this passing game. Hendon Hooker, Joe, Milton, and Nico Iamaleava have a finished with a completion rate over 70 percent with nine touchdowns and zero interceptions. Kentucky has only forced two takeaways in this series over the last four meetings. The Cats simply haven’t had answers for this spread tempo offense. Will that change this year?

Tennessee has a top-five offense again after some slippage over the last two seasons. This might the program’s worst defense since Heupel arrived, but that won’t matter on Saturday unless Kentucky’s defense can find some stops. Finding some stops this season had been difficult until the Week 8 performance against Texas.

The Vols will spread Kentucky out, force them to make tackles in space, and cover in isolation. UK has struggled with this in the past. Styles make fights. The kind of game Tennessee forces Kentucky to play has not treated the Cats well.

Third Down: The carousel is spinning

On Sunday afternoon, Florida finally did the expected and ended the Billy Napier tenure in Gainesville. When the Gators come to Lexington next month, UK will face an interim head coach for the first time since the 2020 regular season finale against South Carolina. This became the second SEC job to open. Meanwhile, Virginia Tech, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Penn State, and UCLA are other power conference openings.

This is only the beginning. There will be more before we get to Thanksgiving weekend. Many will be watching the situation in Lexington closely.

Following the loss to Georgia at the beginning of the month, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops said “I don’t want to address that crap no more” when asked about a report of him discussing a potential buyout with university leadership during the 2024 season. Two weeks later, Stoops said something very interesting in his postgame press conference.

“I want to thank the fans who have supported us during some tough times. I get it, I really acknowledge that, but it’s about the University of Kentucky. It’s about these players. I understand the position I put people in to make a decision, and that’s on me. But I greatly appreciate the support for our team and our players,” Stoops said. “They deserve an environment like that and deserve to win. I want to do that for them.”

“We’re getting better. You can look at the bottom line, and we all do. It’s a bottom-line business and I understand that as much as anybody. I’ve been around a long time.”

Stoops keeps hammering home the point that Kentucky is improving as a football team. The Texas game showed that, but it still didn’t equal a win in a game where the home team had no business losing. However, the tone and messaging from Stoops in his latest postgame press conference was different than what we’ve heard in the past. This came just days after we heard this from Kentucky athletics director Mitch Barnhart.

“Can I promise everything that everybody wants me to promise? No, there’s no promise. We can play our hearts out and go and have one tough moment that goes against you in a game, and all of a sudden you find yourself with a loss that you didn’t want,” Barnhart said. “And that doesn’t mean you didn’t give effort, you didn’t work your way through it. But Mark and his guys are working hard at it.”

Well, that is exactly what happened against Texas. Barnhart refused to give Stoops a vote of confidence and a scenario he presented played out verbatim in the very next game. The conversation about Stoops’ future — and the buyout situation — will only start to become louder now. Despite there still being six games left to play, many are waiting with anticipation to see what will happens after the season ends. Saturday felt like a circle the wagons performance for the 2025 Kentucky football team and they came up short in the most excruciating way possible. Will they be able to get off the mat again?

The losses are piling up. The noise is getting louder. Barnhart and Stoops each addressed the chatter last week. Kentucky ruined a chance to at least squash the hot seat discussion for a week or two on Saturday. Expect it to continue to get louder as this season moves forward.

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 for the second Keeneland-Kroger Field double-dip. Kentucky’s third SEC home game figures to be a difficult challenge.

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 Tennessee published on Thursday along with some more preseason content before this Week 9 game arrives. Can Kentucky get off the mat? Are we close to an in-season separation with Stoops? Will the buyout be negotiated? These are all questions that will be asked this week. A roller coaster season moves along. There are not clear answers right now but we all know the current trends and can feel where this thing is likely headed.