By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
Kentucky had the tools in place for a successful season. A refurbished stadium, eight home games and high expectations following five wins the previous year.
The Wildcats (5-7) won four of their first six games and appeared to be headed toward the postseason for the first time in five years. The two early season setbacks — a 14-9 loss to Southeastern Conference Eastern division champion Florida and a 30-27 defeat to Auburn in the school’s first Thursday night encounter in the modern era — were by a combined margin of eight points.
During the first half of the season, Kentucky had the competitive edge it needed to win games even when they weren’t playing well. The Wildcats mounted a fourth-quarter comeback to survive a close call in a 34-27 overtime win over neighboring FCS opponent Eastern Kentucky.
From that point on, the Wildcats failed to emulate the success it enjoyed during the first six games. Three blowout losses to Mississippi State, Tennessee and Georgia and a close call at Vanderbilt were part of a five-game losing streak that led to second-guessing ultimately costing starting quarterback Patrick Towles his job during the last two games.
Backup Drew Barker directed Kentucky to a 58-10 rout of Charlotte, but the Wildcats reverted back to their old ways with a 38-24 loss to Louisville, despite building a 24-7 halftime lead.
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops wasn’t happy with the ending and vowed to take a closer look at the program from the inside out to evaluate the changes he thinks are needed to turn the proverbial corner.
“I’m disappointed in (the loss to Louisville),” Stoops said. “Everybody that cares about Kentucky is disappointed and frustrated. Believe me, I am. And we’ll look at all aspects of our program to make it a program that everybody’s proud of.”
Prior to the past two years, Kentucky went 4-20 under Stoops and Joker Phillips, but Stoops has guided the Wildcats to a 10-14 record in the past two seasons as coach. The improvement is evident by the number of wins the Wildcats have accumulated, but only four of those victories have been against SEC teams.
“We’re going to work hard and we’re going to do the right things and our players are going to have a tough offseason,” Stoops said. “We’re all accountable and we’ll all look at ourselves in the mirror and see what we can do to get better and I’ll evaluate all aspects of the program.”
Stoops likes the makeup of the secondary, which started three freshmen for most of the second-half of the season. Freshmen defensive backs Chris Westry, Mike Edwards and Derrick Baity received considerable playing time this season.
“I like where we’re at in the secondary,” Stoops said. “I think they’re very talented players and they’ve got the size you’re looking for and the athletic ability you’re looking for.”
However, Stoops, a longtime defensive coordinator, wants better production at the linebacker slots.
“We really took some lumps at outside backer,” Stoops said. “You saw that (Saturday) in the perimeter. And we’ve got to do a better job of containing the football. And that looked ugly to me (Saturday) just watching it from the sidelines and the frustration that I was feeling from the sideline of execution that we need to play better at outside linebacker.”
Entering his fourth season, Stoops likes the core group of players returning on both sides of the ball and said the addition of redshirt freshmen will make his team better next season.
“I do feel good about a bunch of guys coming off redshirt and guys that are on the scout team this year that will come back and help us,” Stoops said. “But we’ll get better across the board. We’ve got Alvonte (Bell) (coming off a redshirt year) and he’ll help us up front on the defensive line and give us a better pass rusher as well.”
Now that Stoops has raised the bar a little higher the past two years, especially on the recruiting trail, anything other than a winning record and a bowl berth next season will be considered a disappointment.
2016 schedule
September
3 — Southern Miss
10 — at Florida
17 — New Mexico State
24 — South Carolina
October
1 — at Alabama
8 — Vanderbilt
15 — Open
22 — Mississippi State
29 — at Missouri
November
5 — Georgia
12 — at Tennessee
19 — Austin Peay
26 — at Louisville
Keith Taylor is a columnist and senior sports writer who covers University of Kentucky athletics for KyForward.com