The background noise has already started for Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops. Saturday’s game against Ole Miss will determine if it becomes unbearable this season or not.
The bickering, complaining fans nitpicked at the Wildcats’ 24-16 win over Toledo in the season opener.
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The game was too close.
UK didn’t throw enough with just 85 passing yards.
They didn’t even play “Grove Street,” a party anthem song by rapper Waka Flocka Flame that has been something the student section looks forward to every game.
Adding to the misery of Cats fans, it seemed like every game you flipped to in Week 1 had a former UK player or coach excelling.
Stoops fired Shannon Dawson in 2015 after one season as offensive coordinator, when the Cats ranked 95th nationally in offense. Dawson’s name drew nothing but praise on Sunday as Miami’s offensive coordinator while calling a masterful game in the Hurricanes’ 27-24 win over Notre Dame.
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The Cats’ top two receivers from last season also delivered in their debuts elsewhere. Barion Brown was showcased in LSU’s nationally televised win over Clemson. Dane Key helped seal Nebraska’s win over Cincinnati with his late fourth-quarter touchdown catch.
It’s shaping up like there’s no way Stoops can come back from this. In some respects, things are playing out similarly to the end of John Calipari’s tenure as basketball coach.
Stoops is a victim of his own success. In taking UK to a program-record eight straight bowl games, recording 10 wins twice and beating rival Louisville five straight times, Kentucky football fans got comfortable believing this is how it should always be.
Just a quick reminder for those who need it: UK football had only two 10-win seasons — 1950 and 1977 — prior to Stoops’ arrival.
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Nevertheless, here we are on the heels of a 4-8 season that followed a disappointing 7-6 season in 2023 and a current schedule that offers no relief in sight.
The outlook for UK football looks headed for apathy. The future of Stoops as head coach looks equally grim even with his $30 million-plus buyout needed to part ways.
Unless …
The Cats can come away with a second consecutive victory over the Rebels. At the least, it would provide a reprieve from social media discourse over hype songs and Stoops’ buyout.
Their upset win at Ole Miss last season, which kept coach Lane Kiffin from making the College Football Playoff, could have been a turning point last season. It turned out to be the high-water mark.
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UK failed to capitalize and build off the win. Momentum would still be hard to come by this season with an SEC schedule that provides few, if any, soft spots.
The Cats will be heavy underdogs in their next four league games: at South Carolina, at Georgia, and at home against Texas and Tennessee.
Auburn and Florida entered the season with coaches on the proverbial hot seat, but even they seemed to be headed in the right direction. The Tigers posted a big win at Baylor. The Gators potentially have one of the best quarterbacks in the league in DJ Lagway.
This early in the season, fans just need some positives to keep them engaged. A second win over the Rebels would bring that much-needed optimism to the Cats’ season and possibly to Stoops’ tenure.
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The complaints will only get worse unless UK wins a game it’s not expected to win. That’s the only way for Stoops to change the increasing negativity that surrounds the program and stop the outside noise from becoming deafening.
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky football: UK vs Ole Miss game key for Mark Stoops’ future
