Kentucky Collapses in the Second Half, Falls to Southern Miss 44-35
With 30 seconds to go in the first half, it looked like Kentucky would coast to victory, holding a commanding 35-10 lead. In a matter of moments, the rug was pulled from beneath our feet.
Southern Miss scored 34 straight points. Kentucky ran about a dozen plays in the second half. They only gained about 50 yards of offense.
We’ve been here before. In fact, this is exactly what happened in the last game. UK’s been outscored 58-0 in the second half of the last two games.
I didn’t think it was possible to throw away a win this badly, but that’s Kentucky football.
@Finna_Go_Ham
84 Comments for Kentucky Collapses in the Second Half, Falls to Southern Miss 44-35
They really gave up in the end. Barker wasn’t even trying in the 4th.
ESPN on national TV describing Kentucky: “Incompetent and Inept.” #FireMarkStoops
NEWSFLASH!!! I heard even ESPN was calling UK incompetent too!!! I heard it from your other 10 posts that said the exact same thing. Everyone who watched the game knows that- only total morons need ESPN to confirm it for them.
Identity theft is a crime.
This is just ridiculous!!!!
There’s no path to 6 wins after this.
lucky if u can win two
Cats just didn’t have the guns to keep up tonight. I blame coach Stoops. I mean that IS his policy and all. What a joke.
Absolutely pitiful performance. Time for Stoops to look in the mirror and fire himself. I think it’s obvious Shannon Dawson was just a scape goat. This storyline has been the same for Stoops entire tenure here. New stadium. New practice facility. It all means nothing if you can’t win your games. Especially your non power conference games.
14 points at least was handed to southern miss on penalty yards.
That was another thing that flipped at half time. They only gave up 5 yards on a delay of game in the first half.
LMAO! more like 40 points was handed to them do to the incompetence of our coach! you know, the coach that was hired because of his great defensive mind.
And we have to go to Hattiesburg and play them again next year.
Football is a game of adjustments and it was painfully obvious that UK didn’t have an answer for Southern Lisa’s halftime adjustments in second half. Mark Stoops=good recruiter, not so good of a bench coach.
Miss’s. Sorry about autocorrect.
Mark Stoops has been a colossal failure. Complete and total amateur. Time to cut him loose and get a real coach. I knew this would be the result. He is all smoke and mirrors…with a well known last name.
I feel sorry for the guys on the team. Another miserable season and another coaching change coming.
I don’t know what to think of this team. They were dominate for most of the first half. No coaching adjustments whatsoever in the second half. This is going to be an extremely rough season. Would be surprised if they win more than four games.
You gotta push all the chips in to get Houstons coach. Stoops should seriously resign. This was worse than Vandy last season.
I haven’t seen enough from Herman to tell me he can compete in the SEC. I’ll stick with Coach Stoops, thanks.
Tom Herman isn’t leaving Houston no time soon. Only way he will leave if Ohio St offer him the head coaching job.
i dont want any of you jumping off the Stoops bandwagon now!!! he’s turning this damn thing around and we should just be happy we didnt hire that loser coach Petrino here. just wait till next year!!
I know there will be people that disagree with me, but I think not hiring Petrino was the right thing to do. I want UK to win, but Petrino brings too much baggage. Great football coach, horrible human being. If Stoops cannot somehow right the ship, they need to go after someone with integrity that can coach as well.
No, jabky, you’re right; I would rather lose and hold my head high than hire a morally bankrupt coach.
I disagree. College sports has turned into a big business now. The object is to win and fill the stands. Petrino would do that. I wouldn’t invite him over for Thanksgiving dinner with my family and wouldn’t want him anywhere near my wife, but I’d have him as my football coach because he wins.
I guess everyone forget that a football season is 12 games long (13 if we make a bowl). Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Stoops may just need time to adjust to a new offensive coordinator.
Have you seen the schedule?
Stoops can’t adjust his pants what makes you think he can adjust something like football?
Dumbest comment ever.
If we can’t beat southern miss. Imagine the score of the bama game.
Are you kidding? There is NO way to recover from this. Stoops does not have the ability to run a football team. Where is the heck is the defense? We had more than enough points to win this game under most any circumstances. We had no answer on defense, we haven’t under Stoops a defensive coach or so they say.
Stoops can’t coach period..
Sorry Pen, It isn’t like we were playing Alabama in Tuscaloosa. What this shows most people is that we would be more competitive with lesser facilities, far lower-paid coaching staff, a failed SEC OC and a line that is an average of 30 lbs less than the opponent. Apparently THAT is the winning recipe.
What a complete and utter phucking joke. Come on Big Blue Madness. Good luck and putting a good spin on this Jones
S. Miss. made the necessary adjustments after halftime.
Stoops is the worst in-game coach I’ve ever seen. Worse than Joker. Now will KSR stop with 30 football posts a day????
Basketball is just around the corner. Fire Stoops. (Not that it will matter…)
There really aren’t words for this one.
#FireMarkStoops
The question is his contract. No way UK can put all the money they have in the program and fire the coach with the amount left on his deal and bring in someone other than a gamble who is willing to take less.
Not coming back
MEANWHILE…Damien Harris – 9 carries. 138
Yards. Still Going.
UK fans said he’d never play at Alabama…but, that’s none of my business.
Redmon would be a great hire for UK, but he will be gone by the time Stoops’ contract is up.
I’m done with Elam. Their longest running plays were done running right at him (and him being blocked 3 yds downfield.)
Matt Elam is easily the most overrated player to come out of KY in many years. He is literally the worst defensive lineman I have ever seen. He has no push or technique. He wouldn’t be a factor at Union College, much less an SEC team. Stoops’ biggest failure is definitely not being able to effectively put together an even remotely competitive defensive front line since he has been here.
Is there a more UK way to start the year?
For the first time in a long time I was really excited to watch. At this point, I don’t know if I can bring myself to go through this again. I really want Stoops to succeed. I think he is a genuinely a good guy. But something has to give. Maybe the talent is still just not there, but a lot of this looked like coaching. Just no adjustments, and Southern Miss exploited their weakness in not being able to stop the run.
Get back to posting basketball. Tired of all the lipstick smeared on this pig.
“Come on guys we just gotta get tougher, play harder and we will. We will learn, we are a young team. Saw some good things out there and some things we need to correct, and we will. Its a long season. We have to get better and we will. We will coach harder and play harder.”
Did I miss anything Stoops will say? Obvious now Stoops isnt good enough yet. 4 years and still dumb mistakes, poor special teams, and no adjustments. He may get there but I don’t think so.
what a bunch of bandwagon fans on this site. stoops is good coach and this is a long season one game doesn’t make a year. no wonder true Kentucky football fans get a bad rap.
Bandwagon? This is decades of crap. Literally crap. We just lost to a conference USA team. Get it through your head dude. That’s pathetic.
I agree completely with your post. Fairweather fans really ruin the reputation of Kentucky football. No wonder the coaches who leave the program can’t stand the fans.
I would agree with you if you could show me the fairweather. Last time I checked it’s been hurricane sandy for the last 15 years
He is NOT a good coach. What are you like 12 years old? Or just know absolutely nothing about football?
You can be doubtful of a coach after 4 years of consistent mistakes. It doesn’t make you a bandwagon fan to speak out the truth.
Stoops is a defensive guy whose defensive has been torched by some subpar talent, while influencing the offense with his preferred conservative approach when ahead. He has mad no adjustments. No plan b when plan a stops working. Dumb playcalls on defense.
Will he get better, maybe, but he hasnt in 4 four years.
same people said same thing about rich brooks like their saying about stoops tonight.
went from 1 win season to back to back 5 win season that’s improvement
Dude, we LOST to Southern Miss at HOME.
The difference between Brooks and Stoops is night and day. One took over a bare program on probation and struggled but took under recruited guys and coached them up to rise into the top 10 one year, made and won several bowls and had tons of experience. The other coached 4 and star kids to success with no head coaching experience and has underperformed with better recruits.
Matt Elam is the biggest, literally and figuratively, flop I’ve ever seen. He’s lucky he came to UK cause he would have never seen the field at Bama. They ran right at him all game long. Right up the middle. No tricks. RIGHT AT HIM. He had 4-5 inches and 50-60 lbs on every lineman and lost every single battle.
Shannon Dawson wasn’t the problem. Our so called defensive minded HC is the problem.
Calm down guys, once we get rid of Shannon Dawson
Oh wait
Yes blame Stoops and the staff. They clearly got scared and stopped doing what got them ahead. With that said Stoops isn’t the real problem any more than Joker was the real problem.
The problem is that UK fans let Mitch get away with hiring first time head coaches, i.e. cheap coaches that could not get that job anywhere else in the SEC. Same goes for all of the coordinators, etc. Mitch has definitively proved that he will continue to do that until he is gone or UK fans force his hand. He will ALWAYS siphon money from the very lucrative football program to all of the other sports that can’t sustain themselves. If you’re OK with that just live with it. I assure you that if the same were happening at Alabama, LSU, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Auburn, etc. the AD would be fired and quickly.
Stoops is probably doing what he is capable of just like Joker was and the same will be true for whoever the new rookie head coach who replaces Stoops even though they should be getting that opportunity in Div II and certainly not in the SEC.
This program has had some epic losses in it’s day, but this one truly sits near the top of the pile. I was holding out hope this year that Stoops just needed another year with the right personnel to prove himself. My hope is over. Stoops has proved himself an AWFUL in-game football coach with no business of leading a program that just spent over 200 MILLION DOLLARS on it’s football program. The amount of incompetence in this coaching staff is baffling. I’ve been a loyal fan through so much heartache, but it’s now time to count me out. After almost 40 years, I’m out. No more watching, no more buying gear, no more traveling to games and no more sadness. For those of you that continue to believe…. Good luck, I just can’t put up with the misery any more.
I feel your pain. Hard to think that this season is going to be any better than three or four wins.
Dawson just hung 44 on our own turf and let. He stuck it to Stoops. Talk about a collapse. This season will be ugly.
All I’m saying is….Shannon Dawson and his little laughing when Blake McClain was injured is just uncalled for…it was obvious he knew he was hurt and was still laughing on the sidelines…he needs to make some major adjustments to his personality and attitude!
Stoops has consistently proven his inability to make adjustments and motivate the team. Teams don’t consistently outplay us in the second half for no reason, it just comes down to coaching. We just gave up 44 points to a team coached by one of the worst offensive coordinators in college football and all they had to do was run the ball straight down the middle every play. As long as Stoops is our head coach it is a guarantee that we will continue to get out-coached and will remain a 4 or 5 win team at best every year.
Spot on. It does come down to coaching when you have epic failures game after game.
WKU destroyed Southern Miss last year in the Conf USA championship game. Southern Miss won the Eastern side of their conference. I knew they would not be a push over. This game was over by the end of the first half when Southern Miss scored. UK played like a deer with its eyes in the headlights from then on. 3 turnovers really hurt. I thought they might be able to win at home 3 out of 4 SEC games, now that is questionable. It is hard to bounce back on the road especially against Florida.
Closing out the season against TN and Louisville on the road will not be easy with Austin Peay sandwich in between is tough. Stoops has been given everything he has asked for, now it is time for him to deliver. GO CATS!
Is it basketball season yet, at least they should give us something to cheer about. So tired of the hype being drummed up for football only to be let down every year!
can rich brooks come out of retirement? because i guarntee u if hes coaching the same players we win this game……. stoops hasnt got the touch its pretty obvious,i mean it was all how bad shannon dawson done last year all your excuses and saying we gotta go back to work and get better bullshyt wont stick anymore………….im done….
At least Elam lost a bunch of weight.
Mark you gotta man up. Reach out to your brother and tell him to hire you as an equipment manager and tell barnyard you appreciated the opportunity and you are walking away.
Looks like the Dawson offense works pretty well when his head coach doesn’t interfere and his receivers don’t drop passes.
Been a UK football fan since 93 and the truth is now I just don’t even care anymore. It is a complete waste of time. It is pretty much the same thing every year now. They can’t play any defense and a decent High School JV QB who can run the ball could go for 150 yards rushing against us. They should fire Stoops now because he can’t coach and maybe one of assistants can turn it around but Stoops is not the answer.
Let’s say Stoops quits or gets fired. Does ANYBODY really REALLY think Mitch will hire a coach that any other team in the SEC would want? Would he hire anybody that any other SEC team would even take as either an OC or DC?
We all know he won’t. This isn’t going to change by firing Stoops.
So you propose that UK stays the course and keeps paying a coach 3.5 million for an average of 4 wins per season?
Its not a question of would he hire a SEC coach that folks would want… No coach worthy of leading an SEC team wants the UK job. It is the shit hole of the conference. Always second class to basketball. Who cares about the facilities, everyone has them or they’ll have them in 5 years. UK is a losing school in a winning conference. No recruiting advantages and a pretty mediocre fan base.
I once asked Matt Jones in a game live blog, “should UK move to the ACC” since it has a more competitive basketball schedule and a less competitive football schedule. He responded, ” thats just dumb, why would UK ever think of leaving the SEC, too much money”.
I got to tell you, UK in the ACC makes a whole lot of sense. We’d be in a bowl every other year, even with an average coach like Stoops. UK basketball would topple Duke and UNC most years in basketball conference play but even if we didn’t, thats what the people want to see.
Game one, the season is done. Its just a countdown till Stoops’s funeral. Plus, what they’re doing 70 miles down the road, putting up 70 points in their opener. Woe is UK fan. Sucks to be Stoops right now
I’m not saying stay the course at all. I’m saying the only way this changes is fire Mitch and get an AD that makes football an important part of their job.
I think Matt has changed his tune about UK moving to the ACC. In a recent episode of KSR he said he thinks it would be great for UK to be in the ACC. I used to think so too. We get to play Duke, UNC and Louisville every year, which would be a ratings goldmine, and being in the conference would help the football team. But after losing to Southern Miss, I don’t think anything will help the football team. Saban or Meyer couldn’t right this train.
I know very little about football. I’m curious what you do as a coach when your best talent is playing defense and the opposing team keeps making gains running the ball right at you. Shannon Dawson was just doing what was working why fix it? Do you sit the starters to give them a breather since our offense wasn’t on the field much to give the defense a break? Was this really offense issue tonight? I’m not defending anyone not trying to really place blame either. Just perplexed as to what happened between first and second half. Very frustrating game.
I think every time Matt talks football I’ll turn off the radio. At least we have basketball.
I’m officially done with this staff. Just inexcusable to give up 44 points to a Conference USA team who’s OC is the guy you fired the year before. Stoops and Eliot are a complete joke!
It was Eliot who I thought should have been fired last year, not Dawson. We just didn’t have the offensive talent last year, especially at QB. The defense has been the disappointment. Think Stoops is just too loyal to Eliot. But whatever, the season is now a waste and the whole crew will be gone by Christmas.
They should give Elam’s scholarship to a walk on. The boy was worthless… Show me someone with fire and passion. FIGHT every damn play! Seems like we got one of those highly rated players that don’t amount to anything. Wish he had gone to Alabama, then we might have a chance with our running game.