The Kentucky Wildcats were thoroughly outclassed by the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday afternoon by a final score of 41-0. It was Louisville’s first shutout of Kentucky since the 2004 season. That’s how badly today went for Mark Stoops and Co.
The Cards capitalized first after blocking a punt in the first half, and it only got worse from there. After getting the ball with a goal to go, a fourth-down conversion from the one opened up the scoring. Kentucky responded by missing a field goal, and then Louisville did what it pleased after that.
After Louisville chose not to kick a field goal as time expired in the first half, it was 20-0 after one half of play. The game was over before it even started, as Kentucky is 0-49 under Stoops when trailing by two or more touchdowns at any point during the game.
0-49.
After the break, it was more of the same. This team mailed it in just like their coach tried to with Texas A&M two years ago. You reap what you sow.
Here’s a recap of what you need to know from the 2025 finale for Kentucky football.
The offense was atrocious again
The offensive line was pathetic. The play-calling was terrible. Cutter Boley looked like Vikings JJ McCarthy, but how much of it was due to everything else?
The answer is I don’t know, but I don’t care. The only coach worse than Mark Stoops on the Kentucky sideline is Bush Hamdan and he coached like he’s got a job locked up for next season.
Seth McGowan went out early with an injury, so the run game was nonexistent. The offensive line was so bad that Boley rarely had more than a second to throw the ball, but when he did, it was lackluster to put it nicely.
The offense was simply horrendous, and you have to wonder if it forces Cutter Boley to seriously consider looking for a new team. It’s certainly getting harder to see him ever reaching his full potential under Mark Stoops.
The defense was worse
After describing the offense, not much could be worse, right? Wrong! The defense was even worse. All systems failure? I think so.
For as much love as Brad White has received over the years, the blow-ups are inexcusable. Louisville was without its three top running backs as they started a true freshman walk-on from Kentucky’s backyard (Ashland), their top wide receiver, and they had a banged-up quarterback who was below average to begin with.
None of that mattered as the Cards looked like an offensive juggernaut. Kentucky’s defense was often lost, blown off the ball, out-manned, or all of the above. The Cats had some injuries on the defensive side, but there’s no excuse for that performance.
Louisville was a bad offense when healthy and HORRIFIC in recent weeks due to the injuries. That didn’t stop them today from making White’s defense look like Swiss cheese.
To put it simply, it was a pathetic all-around performance, perhaps the worst of the Mark Stoops era.
Could this be Stoops’ last game?
I sure hope so. Enough is enough. We can’t watch another season of this.
As discussed above, it was an all-systems failure of epic proportions. The team was lifeless from the jump in a rivalry game. Vince Marrow enjoyed every second of it.
I don’t know the likelihood of Stoops leaving, but anything less is a disgrace to this fanbase. Stoops needs to go. Mitch Barnhart needs to go. It’s time to start fresh. Give the BBN something to look forward to this offseason.
That’s all, folks.
