Oxford is a lovely town, but Kentucky football’s SEC road opener is no pleasure trip

Given that the Kentucky football team opened 2024 with four games at the friendly confines of Kroger Field, you’d think their good friends in the conference office would allow Mark Stoops’ Wildcats to ease into the haunted house that is an SEC road game.

No such luck. After splitting their four home dates, the Cats travel to the idyllic college town that is Oxford, Mississippi , on Saturday to face the Ole Miss Rebels. That’s the undefeated Rebels. The AP poll No. 6-ranked Rebels. The Lane Kiffin Rebels. The we-have-a-defense-too Rebels. And you thought Halloween was still a month away.

“We’re accepting the challenge,” UK defensive back Maxwell Hairston said after returning an interception for a touchdown in the Cats’ 41-6 win over Ohio on Saturday. “Ole Miss has got a very explosive offense … We’re going to watch film, do what we have to do.”

It’s a challenge alright, starting with the Ole Miss head coach. The quirky and outspoken Kiffin is one of those love/hate types. His own fans love him. Opponents, not so much. He was the subject of a viral summer story in which a new book quoted Kiffin’s former boss, Alabama coach Nick Saban, as threatening to fire his agent for talking him into hiring “the narcissistic ----.”

Stoops is a self-professed Kiffin fan. The two are sons of defensive coordinators. Stoops began his SEC Media Days remarks this summer expressing condolences to Kiffin on the death of his father, Monte, considered a defensive mastermind . And Mark and Lane have matched schemes since their old Pac-12 days when Stoops was defensive coordinator at Arizona and Kiffin was offensive coordinator at USC. Besides, “Lane makes me laugh,” Stoops said.

Personality aside, Kiffin is known as something of an offensive mastermind. There’s little doubt he’s one of most creative play designers in all of football. In four games against cupcake foes to this point, the Rebels lead the nation in total offense, averaging 670.8 yards per game. In Saturday’s 52-13 romp over Georgia Southern , Ole Miss produced two touchdown drives that lasted under a minute.

Ah, but this year, the Rebels appear to have a strong defense. Directed by former Alabama defensive coordinator Pete Golding, Ole Miss did not allow a touchdown in its first three games. It leads the nation in both run defense (allowing a miserly 34.5 yards per game) and yards allowed per rush (1.11 per attempt). Georgia Southern squeezed out a mere 41 rushing yards on 36 carries before a record crowd of 67,505 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium.

Kentucky’s run defense has been stout as well. Against much tougher competition — see South Carolina and Georgia — Brad White’s unit is 10th nationally against the run, allowing 74.75 yards per game. Opponents are averaging just 2.74 yards per attempt.

SEC road games hit different, of course. The good news is that, for whatever reason, Stoops’ teams have played better on the road than at home, of late. The Cats are actually 3-2 in their last five league road games, and 6-6 post-COVID. In that same time frame, the Cats are 5-9 at home.

One of those road losses came Oct. 1, 2022, in Oxford. Ole Miss forced and recovered a pair of late Will Levis fumbles for a 22-19 victory outside The Grove. Kiffin being Kiffin, he had to get his digs in, saying that then-UK offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello’s pregame comment — “I hope they do (bring pressure); literally, this offense was built for pressure” — had inspired his Rebels.

We won’t hear any such talk from Bush Hamdan, UK’s current play-caller. Kentucky gained 488 yards — its highest total since 2021 — in the lopsided win over Ohio. Wide receiver Dane Key had career day with 145 yards on seven catches. Quarterback Brock Vandagriff showed a talent for second-reaction throws. Yet Hamdan found the overall performance lacking.

“We’ve got to take a long hard look at what’s going to put us in the best position to win football games,” he said afterward.

Winning on the road in the SEC is never easy. Playing a top-five team on the road renders the challenge, well, even more challenging. For Kentucky, there will be no easing into any of that.

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