{"id":321459,"date":"2025-11-30T01:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T01:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/321459\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T01:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T01:04:08","slug":"mark-stoops-message-to-fans-rings-hollow-after-another-embarrassing-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/321459\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Stoops’ message to fans rings hollow after another embarrassing loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the second week in a row, Kentucky fans had to watch the Cats get embarrassed by a team they got used to beating in the Mark Stoops era. The 41-0 loss<\/a> to Louisville and the 45-17 loss to Vanderbilt mark the first time in program history that Kentucky has lost each of its last two games by 28 or more points. The only thing worse than losing like that is the uncertainty of what lies ahead, a $37.5 million conundrum for Mitch Barnhart and the university\u2019s biggest donors.<\/p>\n

The Big Blue Nation is currently consumed by two emotions: calls for change and the fear that they won\u2019t be answered. When asked about fan morale after the game, Stoops said he only focuses on his team and not the noise, but acknowledged that fans have the right to be upset.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean, I can\u2019t answer that. I really can\u2019t. I don\u2019t know. I mean, I don\u2019t really look at anything, I mean, other than my office and our building. And I understand that, you know, I do. I own that. It is what it is. I could promise you that we care. We work hard. There\u2019s been some ups and downs, and we will improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

His answer when asked what he would tell fans who are upset about the last two years probably won\u2019t make anyone feel better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I mean, we\u2019re going to work like we always do. We\u2019re going to try to build this roster. We\u2019ve been in tough spots before, and we\u2019re going to continue to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quarterback Cutter Boley<\/a> said he wants to stay at Kentucky<\/a> after the game. Stoops told Tom Leach that there\u2019s a \u201cnucleus\u201d of players who have signed contracts to return next season. Kentucky overhauled its roster with 55 newcomers last offseason. Stoops said the staff will go to the transfer portal and JuCo ranks to complement the young talent next season. Signing Day is Wednesday, and the portal opens in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the young players that we have on our team,\u201d Stoops said. \u201cI have to get more. We have to get more depth. We have to be good across the board to play the schedule that we do. And I think depth is a big issue. We have to have enough players. We have a good young quarterback who\u2019s a redshirt freshman.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fans have zero influence over what Mitch Barnhart will do \u2014 although one made his voice heard<\/a> as Barnhart walked out of the stadium today. Instead, for the second week in a row, we\u2019re left with another embarrassing loss, one that further cements that Kentucky is falling further and further behind the teams they used to beat on a routine basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was proud of the growth we are making,\u201d Stoops said. \u201cWe\u2019re improving and getting better. And we couldn\u2019t sustain it. We didn\u2019t play very good here these past couple of weeks. And it\u2019s a tough situation. And I have to continue to get the depth that\u2019s needed to hang on. We have some injuries at some positions that \u2014 we\u2019re just not getting it done, not playing very good football. But truthfully, we didn\u2019t play good in any area today.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the second week in a row, Kentucky fans had to watch the Cats get embarrassed by a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-321459","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}