By Joshua Huff

[email protected]

There comes a point in time when you measure the standing of a team based not on its record but on how well it plays against adversity.

That time has come for a UK football team stuck in the midst of a five-game losing streak. Each week, UK head coach Mark Stoops has preached about confidence and resiliency when faced with adversity. Each week, UK has stepped onto the field and has proceeded to play even worse football than the week prior.  

Be it the defense’s inability to stop the run and the pass game, or the offense’s inability to run the ball. The Cats have regressed in every facet of the game and that regression has effected UK’s chances of reaching a bowl game. 

The inefficiency of this football team is incredible. So much so, that the only bright spot on the team is its field goal kicker, Austin MacGinnis, who became only one-of-three kickers in the nation who has three kicks of 50 yards or more. 

(However, having said that it needs to be mentioned that Bud Dupree, Javess Blue, Josh Forrest and Ryan Flannigan had monster games despite the blowout).

The goal of this column is to not steer toward pessimism but to highlight the realization that this UK team is a byproduct of its schedule. It started off 5-1 against mediocre nonconference teams and beat two slumping SEC teams (South Carolina and Vanderbilt) and has since faced five straight perennial SEC title contenders (throughout the years) and has lost every one of those contests.

The million dollar question is why UK has become such a disappointment. We knew the Cats weren’t going to be able to contend in the SEC coming into the season. The talk after they went 5-1 of contending for the SEC East crown was ludicrous. The Cats are nowhere near close to matching the talent level in the conference and nowhere close to obtaining the confidence and swagger of successful SEC teams. 

So here we sit, 5-6 after a shellacking from a Tennessee team that is also rebuilding, and pondering the question that has been floating around since week seven. Can UK win a sixth game and finally make it to a bowl game?

If UK goes into Louisville and plays a Cardinal team who nearly beat Florida State, and plays the way they have been, then UK will head into a long and dark offseason, bowl less. 

The Cat’s play against Tennessee was abysmal at best. The defense, Stoops’ pride and joy, has apparently checked out for the season. Their inability to stop a Volunteer team who sits at 1-4 in the SEC, and give up 50 points to a new starting quarterback, Joshua Dobbs, and a freshman running back, Jalen Hurd, is a testament to way this season has gone for UK.       

At this point, UK would struggle to even beat Eastern Kentucky University. That’s how bad it’s gotten. The running game is inept despite having as much depth in the SEC as any team and UK’s quarterback play has dropped off a cliff since the Mississippi State game.             

UK’s coaching staff is so confident in its running game that they almost called more running plays with Patrick Towles as the rusher (14 attempts) than they called with its actual running backs. And UK’s confidence in Towles’ passing ability is so much so that the coaching staff called nearly more quarterback running plays than passing plays (14 rushing attempts to 25 passing attempts). 

The Volunteers’ 50 points was the most they have scored this season and coming against a Cats team who, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal’s Kyle Tucker, has allowed 1,070 yards, 12 touchdown in the last eight quarters; that feat is just another day at the office for teams against UK’s defense. 

With a bye week looming and one game remaining, the Cats will need to concoct a formula that includes competent play down the board and a dab of confidence if they have a chance of competing against Louisville. However, all signs point to a sixth consecutive loss and the relief that the UK basketball season has begun will help ease the wounds of another disappointing football season.