In 2018, during the run-up to Kentucky’s SEC football showdown with No. 14 Mississippi State, two primary storylines dominated the discourse.
One was that UK’s history under Mark Stoops had been of struggling against dual-threat quarterbacks such as MSU’s Nick Fitzgerald. The other was that, under Stoops, Kentucky had never won a “draw-a-line-in-the-sand”-type game in Lexington.
So after the UK defense bottled up Fitzgerald and the Wildcats throttled MSU 28-7 before a giddy crowd at Kroger Field, Stoops in his postgame news conference had a message for those who had created the pregame narratives.
“We’re knocking the dang doors down one at a time,” the UK coach said. “We’re going to knock a door down every seven days … because one of you (reporters) will come up with something else. What other doors do you guys got?”
This Saturday, Stoops and his football program are again pressed up against a “door” that needs to be knocked down. When No. 7 Kentucky (4-0, 1-0 SEC) travels to Oxford to take on Lane Kiffin and No. 14 Mississippi (4-0, 0-0 SEC), the UK football program will be trying to end an unhappy trend.
For all the good work that Stoops — now Kentucky’s all-time coaching wins leader with an overall record of 63-53 — has done in Lexington, one thing he has never done is win a road game at the home of an opponent from the SEC West Division.
Stoops is 0-10 as UK head man in SEC West venues. In fact, Kentucky’s futility on the road against the West predates Stoops — the Wildcats have lost their last 14 interdivision road contests.
You have to go all the way back to Oct. 17, 2009, when Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke led Coach Rich Brooks’ Cats to a 21-14 victory at Auburn, to find the last UK victory on the road against an SEC West foe.
For UK, what makes Saturday’s showdown between Stoops’ troops and Kiffin’s cadre so important is that the game has ramifications far beyond the Wildcats’ bid to end a road futility streak vs. the SEC West.
Given that Kentucky has played reigning national champion Georgia twice (2018 and 2021) in the past four seasons with the SEC East lead on the line, the goal for UK football in 2022 is to get to the Wildcats’ game with the Bulldogs on Nov. 19 at Kroger Field with the division championship hanging in the balance.
One should assume Kirby Smart’s Dawgs will travel to Lexington with an undefeated record. That means for Kentucky to have a shot to play a winner-take-all contest vs. Georgia for the East title, the Wildcats can have no more than one league loss.
To do that means UK either has to win at Mississippi or at No. 8 Tennessee on Oct. 29 (obviously, winning both would be best) while taking care of business in its other SEC games, too.
The historic difficulties UK has had besting UT in football — the Cats are 3-34 vs. the Vols since 1985, although the three victories have all come since 2011 — only enhances the imperative of Kentucky winning at Ole Miss.
There is a touch of “the world turned upside down” attached to this year’s Cats vs. Rebs showdown.
Long associated with high-octane passing attacks, Kiffin in 2022 has a team pulverizing foes on the ground. Led by dynamic running backs Zach Evans and Quinshon Judkins, Ole Miss stands No. 4 in the FBS in rushing, averaging a robust 280.8 yards a game.
Having launched Kentucky’s football ascension around physical offensive line play and punishing ball carriers, Stoops in 2022 has a big-play aerial attack. Led by strong-armed quarterback Will Levis, UK stands No. 26 in the country in passing, averaging a plush 296.2 yards a contest.
Rather than UK’s strength, Kentucky offensive line play has been shaky, with the Wildcats having already surrendered 16 quarterback sacks to rank 127th out of 131 FBS teams in sacks allowed.
Even though Levis was sacked five times in Kentucky’s sluggish 31-23 win over Northern Illinois on Saturday night, Stoops said that he believes the UK offensive line is turning a corner.
“I think they did some good things,” Stoops says. “(NIU was) bringing a lot of pressures. And I felt like we picked up a lot and created some opportunities for the (passing) explosive plays.”
Instead of stopping people being an Ole Miss weakness, the Rebels were 16th in the country in total defense before Tulsa hung 457 yards on Mississippi on Saturday even while losing 35-27. That dropped Ole Miss to 29th in total defense, though the Rebels are still only giving up 312.5 yards a game.
Starting with Saturday’s high noon matchup with Mississippi, Kentucky now faces a stretch of seven straight Southeastern Conference contests.
“The intensity level, you know, has to ramp up,” Stoops said.
Knocking down a door, after all, tends to be a high-energy endeavor.
