Before the season even began I published a column titled: “This season may be do or die for Kentucky football.”

If that’s true, well, it died.

In that column I touched on a number of facts, including that, for the first time in his tenure, Mark Stoops’s prolonged success at Kentucky was finally being recognized, with the Wildcats earning a preseason AP Poll ranking for the first time in 44 years.

The team finished the season without a ranking beside its name, and I would be stunned if the preseason AP voters throw anything Kentucky’s way next season.

While it’s understandable the team lost certain games this season and had some struggles, doing so in the first year where the team properly has a national spotlight on it from the start is not.

While revisionist historians may say things like, “It all went wrong after Ole Miss,” this is simply not the case. The signs were always there.

The Cats started the 2022 campaign with a lopsided win over Miami Ohio, but it’s important to remember that the win wasn’t met with enthusiasm, but disappointment.

Starting quarterback Will Levis said postgame that he’d “never been more disappointed in 300 yards.”

Now former offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello agreed with the sentiment, saying, “I think there were some good plays and some easy layups that I think he would’ve been able to make in his sleep, and for whatever reason (he didn’t).”

Also in that game, Miami Ohio’s starting quarterback Brett Gabbert was injured, which ultimately ended his season, and the RedHawks left Lexington to go on to finish the season 6-6.

All was forgotten in week two, though, as Kentucky marched into the treacherous swamp and defeated then No. 12 Florida in Gainesville for what some thought could be a season-defining win.

Well, it wasn’t.

The Gators finished 2022 6-6 as well, finishing 3-5 in the SEC with a loss to Vanderbilt, but don’t worry, we’ll get to the Commodores.

The Wildcats then went on to defeat Northern Illinois, who entered the season after a MAC Championship-winning season, and FCS Youngstown State to make it to 4-0 and become ranked No. 7 overall.

Northern Illinois finished 3-9 and Youngstown finished 7-4 in the FCS, though the Penguins did manage to sack Levis four times during their matchup with Kentucky.

Then came the Ole Miss game. The matchup in which the Cats traveled to Oxford, Mississippi, and shot themselves in the foot again and again, culminating in a self-inflicted cannonball shot that negated a game-winning touchdown and saw UK lose its first game of the season.

But it’s okay, Ole Miss was really good right? Better than most, but UK fans may find it nicer to ignore the three-game losing streak the Rebels ended their season on.

Let’s also not forget that the Ole Miss matchup is what led to Levis’s foot injury that even further hampered his rushing game and held him out of the next matchup against South Carolina.

Now how did that South Carolina matchup go? UK lost 24-14, marking the 45th consecutive season in which the Cats have lost back-to-back games.

Kentucky managed to bounce back from the performance with a win over then No. 16 Mississippi State, who ended its regular season ranked, before traveling to Knoxville to face Tennessee, where UK was absolutely throttled 44-6.

While this may have been easier to swallow when Tennessee had the No. 1 beside its name, the Volunteers stood no chance against Georgia and, after losing Heisman contender Hendon Hooker to injury, lost to South Carolina by four touchdowns, ending any chance the Vols had at even making the playoffs.

Kentucky then recorded an ugly win in Columbia over Mizzou, which also finished 6-6, before coming home and losing to Vanderbilt.

Not even looking at the fact that the Commodores did go on to beat Florida, the win marked the first time in 26 consecutive chances that Vandy defeated any SEC team at all and the first time in 10 years that it beat Kentucky.

To make matters worse, UK had No. 1 Georgia next and, while the defense put up a fight, the Bulldogs were simply the better team and won 16-6.

The Cats finished their 2022 season with a win over Louisville which, while fun for fans, was essentially meaningless in the grand scheme of things. The only difference it truly made was ensuring Kentucky finished 7-5 instead of 6-6.

Stoops was aware the season was unacceptable, firing both Scangarello and Co-Special Teams Coordinator John Settle just days after the end of the season with the potential for more heads to roll in the coming days.

That said, I fear the damage has been done on the national scale.

Kentucky can earn its way back to getting ranked next season and maybe even garner a preseason ranking in a few years, but with Levis off to the NFL Draft and program-leading rusher Chris Rodriguez Jr. following him, there’s no certainty as to what UK’s team will even look like next year.

All in all, Kentucky’s 2022 season was nothing short of a disaster after the hype the team entered the season with and, when it comes to rival fans or internet trolls, disasters are not so easily forgotten. This year is one that will stick with Kentucky for at least a few seasons to come – and that’s if it’s lucky, because the alternative is being ignored by the general public instead.