Monday Huddle: What is at stake for Kentucky during Texas week

All of the bye weeks are over. The Kentucky football program is marching forward with seven games to play over the last seven weeks of the 2025 college football season. The Wildcats will be looking to salvage a bad start to this campaign. A big challenge awaits.

Kentucky’s next four games will include three SEC home contests and one road trip to Auburn. There is a lot of negativity surrounding this program at the moment. UK will look to flip that by winning a big game at home. They will get multiple swings at the plate, but it seems very possible that the nine-game losing streak to power conference foes at Kroger Field could get to 12 games over the next month.

There is still football to be played. Kentucky will look to flip the script this weekend. KSR’s Monday Huddle is back to set the table.

First Down: Kentucky’s bye week problem is in play again this week

Ahead of the game against South Carolina, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops openly discussed that the Wildcats had made some tweaks to their bye week process. That included Stoops asking around the coaching industry and experimenting with a different process in 2025. Unfortunately, those changes just led to the same old results.

After a hot start in Columbia, Kentucky’s offense combusted in the second quarter with four turnovers as South Carolina scored two defensive touchdowns. The 35-13 loss at Williams-Brice Stadium started a meltdown within the Big Blue Nation about the direction of this football program that is still going on. It also was another data point to add to the worrisome game after the bye production during the Mark Stoops era.

Kentucky is 6-11 outright with an atrocious 4-13 against the spread (ATS) mark in games directly off of a bye. Against SEC foes, UK is just 5-10 outright and 2-13 ATS. UK never seems to play its best football after the bye week.

Game Date	Betting Spread	Result	Record (ATS Record)
9/28/2013	Kentucky (+11) vs. No. 20 Florida	Gators 24, Cats 7	0-1 (0-1 ATS)
10/24/2013	Kentucky (+11) at Mississippi State	Bulldogs 28, Cats 22	0-2 (1-1 ATS)
9/27/2014	Kentucky (-17) vs. Vanderbilt	Cats 17, Commodores 7	1-2 (1-2 ATS)
11/29/2014	Kentucky (+12) at No. 24 Louisville	Cards 44, Cats 40	1-3 (2-2 ATS)
10/15/2015	Kentucky (+1) vs. Auburn	Tigers 30, Cats 27	1-4 (2-3 ATS)
10/22/2016	Kentucky (+4) vs. Mississippi State	Cats 40, Bulldogs 38	2-4 (3-3 ATS)
10/21/2017	Kentucky (+12) at Mississippi State	Bulldogs 45, Cats 7	2-5 (3-4 ATS)
10/20/2018	Kentucky (-11) vs. Vanderbilt	Cats 14, Commodores 7	3-5 (3-5 ATS)
10/12/2019	Kentucky (-7) vs. Arkansas	Cats 24, Hogs 20	4-5 (3-6 ATS)
11/9/2019	Kentucky (-1) vs. Tennessee	Vols 17, Cats 13	4-6 (3-7 ATS)
11/14/2020	Kentucky (-17) vs. Vanderbilt	Cats 38, Commodores 35	5-6 (3-8 ATS)
10/30/2021	Kentucky (PK) at Mississippi State	Bulldogs 31, Cats 17	5-7 (3-9 ATS)
10/29/2022	No. 19 Kentucky (+11) at No. 3 Tennessee	Vols 44, Cats 6	5-8 (3-10 ATS)
10/28/2023	Kentucky (+3) vs. No. 21 Tennessee	Vols 33, Cats 27	5-9 (3-11 ATS)
10/12/2024	Kentucky (-12.5) vs. Vanderbilt	Commodores 20, Cats 13	5-10 (3-12 ATS)
11/16/2024	Kentucky (-41) vs. Murray State	Cats 48, Racers 6	6-10 (4-12 ATS)
9/27/2025	Kentucky (+5.5) at South Carolina	Gamecocks 35, Cats 13	6-11 (4-13 ATS)

Well, another bye week game has arrived. This time the Cats are a home underdog in this spot for the first time sine 2023. For the first time since 2013, UK will be a double-digit underdog in a game after the bye. This has not been a spot that has treated this program well under Stoops. Will that change on Saturday night?

Second Down: Kentucky needs to get a game into the fourth quarter

After last year’s stunning home loss to South Carolina, Kentucky responded to play the best games of their season against two top-10 teams. The Cats had Georgia on the ropes and had multiple chances to win the game in the fourth quarter. Two weeks later, Kentucky shocked Ole Miss at home behind a strong defensive performance.

In both of those games, the Cats never trailed by more than four points in the fourth quarter. That hasn’t happened since.

Kentucky has lost nine consecutive power conference games. The program has lost eight consecutive SEC games. The Wildcats have trailed by double-digits in each of them.

Kentucky was down 20-7 with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter against Vanderbilt in 2024. Kentucky trailed 30-20 with one minute left in the fourth quarter against Ole Miss in 2025. Every other loss has been by 14 points or more.

The Cats simply are not giving themselves enough winning opportunities. The blowout losses are stacking up. This didn’t used to be a thing. UK had two SEC losses in 2023 (Tennessee, South Carolina) were it never trailed by more than nine points in the fourth quarter. The same was true in 2022 in losses to Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.

Not only is Kentucky losing, but they are not giving themselves a chance to win games. From 2016-22, UK went 23-14 in one-score games and never had a losing record in any single-season. Since then, UK is 3-6 in one-score games. One of the program’s biggest strengths has become a weakness. However, the volume also isn’t there.

Kentucky isn’t playing in enough games. That needs to change. The Cats simply aren’t giving themselves enough chances in the fourth quarter to win games.

Third Down: This feels like a huge week for the Kentucky defense

Kentucky’s offensive issues are well documented at this point. In year two under offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan, UK had to press the backup QB button after two games, the massive wide receiver rebuild in the transfer portal has not produced results, and the program’s long two touchdowns or less streak has been extended despite the unit getting legitimate improved trench play. The offense is an issue.

But this program can win games with bad offense. It cannot win games with bad defense.

Kentucky’s defense has had a very disappointing start to the 2025 season. The Wildcats have been a bad tackling team, rank No. 98 in yards per play allowed (5.78), three consecutive power conference foes have scored 30-plus points, the run defense has been leaky, and the pass defense has allowed every SEC foe to post over nine yards per attempt. Kentucky simply cannot perform like this on defense and expect to win games.

Defensive coordinator Brad White openly discussed how UK needed to coach confidence last week. This group feels like it’s in a vulnerable position. They need a strong bounce-back performance — and they need it quickly.

Texas enters this weekend riding high after a 23-6 win over Oklahoma but much of that was due to defense and winning the turnover battle. The Longhorns have some offensive issues and sit at No. 47 overall in ESPN’s SP+ rankings. This has been the program’s worst offense since 2017 when the Horns finished 7-6 in year one under Tom Herman. Texas ranks No. 52 in yards per play (5.97), No. 75 in third down conversion percentage (39.51%), No. 90 in red zone touchdown percentage (58.33%), and does not have a rusher with 200 yards through six games. This program has some offensive issues.

Meanwhile, the Texas defense might be the best in college football. Odds are very high that Kentucky’s two touchdowns or less streak will be extended on Saturday night. For the home dog to have a legitimate chance, Kentucky’s defense must play well.

Another poor defensive performance will very likely lead to a long night at Kroger Field. Kentucky’s blueprint under Mark Stoops is to play a methodical brand of football. That style is in big trouble if the defense is not playing well. This is a big week against an offense that UK could find some success against. If the defense has another bad performance, things could spiral quickly this weekend and for the rest of the 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 for the first Keeneland-Kroger Field double-dip. Kentucky’s second SEC home game is a tough 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 Texas published on Thursday along with some more preseason content before this Week 8 game arrives. Is this a circle the wagons moment for the program?