( Editor's note: This story originally was published in 2022. It's been revised to add Kentucky's 31-6 home loss to South Carolina on Saturday. This list only took into account games beginning with the 2016 campaign; coach Mark Stoops gets a pass for his first three seasons, 2013 to 2015, as the Wildcats were in rebuilding mode.)
LEXINGTON — Kentucky football was supposed to beat South Carolina on Saturday. At least that's what oddsmakers believed. Depending on the sportsbook one looked at, the Wildcats were anywhere from a touchdown to a double-digit favorite to hold serve at Kroger Field .
The Gamecocks had other ideas.
Not only did they shove off for South Carolina with a victory. But they did so convincingly.
The Wildcats never led in a lopsided 31-6 loss in the SEC opener for both squads.
Yet it's not simply the margin that made Saturday's defeat so puzzling for UK. It was the way Mark Stoops ' team played.
The longtime coach was every bit as bewildered.
"We've been beaten pretty badly by some really good football teams, but I felt like our team always fought back. Always," said Stoops, in his 12th season at Kentucky . "We talk about it all the time: You get punched, you get hit, you swing back. Very disappointed. Not happy with us — our coaching, our response, the way we played."
So does Saturday take the top spot for Stoops' worst loss? And what others are in the argument?
We’ll count down from five.
The Wildcats were riding high, owning the No. 11 spot in the College Football Playoff rankings, when they took the field at Neyland Stadium. The Volunteers, on the other hand, were 4-5 (and 1-4 in conference play).
Tennessee took a 17-0 lead into the half and never looked back , beating UK in Knoxville, Tennessee, for the 17th consecutive time. A Volunteers offense that ranked 120th in the FBS in yards per game (333) topped the 400 mark against the Wildcats, the first time UT accomplished that feat against an SEC team that year.
What made the 17-point loss even tougher to stomach? Kentucky went on to win its final three games (Middle Tennessee State, Louisville and Penn State in the Citrus Bowl) to cap a 10-win season. But if the Wildcats don’t fall flat on their face at Neyland Stadium yet again? They might have been in a New Year’s Six bowl.
Kentucky was 6-2 through eight games. Ole Miss, which was 3-5, only had wins over South Alabama, UT-Martin and Vanderbilt to its name.
Didn’t matter.
It was a bad matchup for the Wildcats, who owned the SEC’s worst pass defense.
The league’s most lethal aerial attack that year? You guessed it — the Rebels.
No surprise, then, that Ole Miss signal caller Jordan Ta'amu completed 31 of his 40 passes for 382 yards and four touchdowns. And that included the go-ahead score to DK Metcalf with five seconds to play. Oh, and Ta’amu didn’t toss an interception.
The Wildcats went on to drop three of their next four games, with their only victory coming against … the Commodores.
This was the season the Wildcats began their postseason streak, which now sits at eight straight years (though NCAA violations forced UK to vacate all 10 of its victories in 2021, including a Citrus Bowl win over Iowa ).
This season just didn’t get off on the right foot.
Kentucky held a 35-10 lead at one point in this contest. Then Southern Miss scored 34 unanswered points to leave town with a win over a Power Five foe. Adding further insult? The Golden Eagles' offensive coordinator was Shannon Dawson, who spent the 2015 season in the same position at UK; Stoops did not retain him.
Given that tidbit, and the epic collapse, it once was the worst loss of Stoops’ time at Kentucky.
Until …
It's not just the fact the Commodores carried an albatross of an SEC losing streak — 26 in a row, the third longest in league history — with them that has this stunning setback so close to the top of the list.
Mike Wright , who tossed the game-winning touchdown , was the team's backup QB. He began the season as the starter, then was benched because of ineffectiveness . He only was back in the lineup because of an injury to first-stringer AJ Swann .
That week, Vanderbilt also was dealing with a flu outbreak within the program , with a roster so small it looked more like a high school team than a Power Five conference squad.
On top of that, the Commodores had an off-field distraction taking up time heading into the game: Then- defensive backs coach Dan Jackson decided to "step away" from his position earlier that week while the university investigated a Facebook comment he made in support of Kanye West, the hip-hop star under fire for his antisemitic statements and willingness to share antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Yet the Commodores overcame all those obstacles to beat an SEC opponent.
This year's South Carolina team appears to be better than the Vanderbilt club of two seasons ago.
So why does Saturday's loss move to the top of the list?
Go back to Stoops' postgame comments: While he refused to say his players quit Saturday, he pointed out their lack of fight as the contest wore on.
Then there was the quality of play.
Or more accurately, the lack thereof.
In 2022, UK was in position to fend off Vandy before the visitors scored the go-ahead touchdown with only 32 seconds remaining.
Saturday, Kentucky trailed wire to wire.
Part of the reason UK was the betting favorite: South Carolina barely escaped with a four-point win over Old Dominion last week. In that contest, the Gamecocks' offensive line struggled to contain the Monarchs' defense. That should have played into the Wildcats' hands given their defensive line is viewed as a bulwark, anchored by superstar Deone Walker , likely a first-round pick in next year's NFL draft .
Further, USC quarterback LaNorris Sellers connected on fewer than 50% (10 for 23) of his attempts against Old Dominion, failing to find the end zone through the air.
His stat line against Kentucky: 11 for 15 (73.3%), 159 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions.
Then there's the UK offense.
Quarterback Brock Vandagriff and offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan were brought in to boost the unit.
Old Dominion scored 13 more points against USC than UK.
Most troubling, the Wildcats couldn't help themselves: They committed 11 penalties, three on back-to-back-to-back snaps in the third quarter.
Perhaps Saturday's only good news for Kentucky: Few fans stuck around to see the bitter end. When South Carolina tailback Raheim Sanders scored to extend the visitors' advantage to 24-6 with 28 seconds left in the third quarter, a mass exodus ensued as disappointed UK fans filed toward the exits.
It was the most organized anyone in blue-and-white colors looked all day.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Where does Kentucky football's loss to South Carolina rank among worst under Mark Stoops?
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