51ºÚÁÏ

He stepped up recruiting, won over fans and pushed for facility upgrades. He made football a thing in Lexington while working in the very large shadow of Kentucky basketball.

Stoops led the Wildcats to a pair of 10-3 seasons and won four straight bowl games during one span. For a while there, the Wildcats loomed as a nemesis to Missouri as the Tigers face their own uphill fight in the ruthlessly competitive Southeastern Conference.

But while Eli Drinkwitz has guided the Tigers onto the national stage -- or at least the edge of it -- the Wildcats are sliding back into the shadows under Stoops.

They finished 7-6, 7-6 and 4-8 during the last three years. The Wildcats have lost their last eight SEC games at home and 10 of their last 12.

That downturn continued with a 30-23 loss to Ole Miss Saturday. The Wildcats suffered many self-inflicted wounds during that game, leaving the fan base restless.

Stoops reached out to those folks during his media session.

“The environment was great on Saturday,� he said. “I loved the atmosphere and appreciate the fans and the support. It was really fun for the vast majority of that game. I wish we could finish it off.�

And . . .

“We’re a better football team. This team is working hard and playing very tough. Working to improve.�

The Wildcats, 1-1, can catch their breath against Eastern Michigan this week. But they have Texas, Tennessee, and Florida coming to town this season.

Those battles come after tough challenges at South Carolina and Georgia. Kentucky could be in rough shape by the end of October, especially if they suffer the breakdowns that cost them against the Rebels.

"I think Ole Miss has a really good chance to make the playoffs and the way we played them Saturday, I understand the frustration, plays left on the field and things we could do better,� Stoops said.

“The other side of that is there are a lot of things we did wrong. We know we can compete with anybody. We just need to continue to work extremely hard, do the things we're doing well, continue to exploit them and do the best we can and improve in the areas we're falling short, and there are many areas where we're going to work hard to improve."

The addition of Texas and Oklahoma made the hyper-competitive SEC ridiculously tough. Going forward, the SEC will make its team play nine conference games while scheduling just two “buy� games.

The challenge for Kentucky and other second-tier conference teams will only get greater. We're guessing that Stoops wishes he had jumped to a more traditional football power when he was a hot commodity.

THE GRIDIRON CHRONICLES

Here is what folks have been writing about college football:

Brandon Marcello, : “Parity in college football is rampant across the country, upsetting the power structure and erasing notions we developed after Week 1. For the second consecutive season, six teams in the AP Top 25 have lost to unranked teams in the first two weeks of the season. That's happened only four times in the last 25 years, showing us just how much the transfer portal and NIL money have balanced the odds more than ever in recent years.”

Matt Hinton, Saturday Down South: “Scrutinizing Billy Napier’s rapidly shrinking job security after each and every Florida loss was already tedious when we were doing it at this time last year — so much so that his boss had to go out of his way last November to affirm that Napier would be back in 2025 just to get everybody to shut up about it. From that point on, the Gators pulled off a pair of season-saving upsets over LSU and Ole Miss, whipped the ghost of Florida State, and won their bowl game to cap a stunning 4-game winning streak. This was a team with ‘momentum.’ They returned face-of-the-program QB DJ Lagway and opened at No. 15 in the preseason AP poll. No one was talking about the hot seat! And now here we are again? Already? It is possible to argue, in an of itself, that a 2-point loss to South Florida is not a job-killing catastrophe. The Bulls have a legit quarterback in Byrum Brown, beat the tar out of G5 standard-bearer Boise State on opening day, and now look like the clear frontrunners to claim the automatic G5 Playoff slot themselves. Are Florida fans buying any of that? They are not. They watched the game, and what they saw was not a talented upstart whose time has come. What they saw was their team repeatedly shooting itself in the foot.�

Brad Crawford, : “Seeking their first playoff appearance in program history, Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks could possibly head to Baton Rouge at 5-0 and inside the top 10 on Oct. 11 if they're able to handle business in upcoming games with Vanderbilt, Missouri and Kentucky. LaNorris Sellers is a cyborg at quarterback and would put himself at the top of the Heisman picture if he overpowers Garrett Nussmeier and the Tigers. South Carolina's not looking ahead, however.”

Mark Schlabach, : “The Bulldogs' 28-6 win against FCS program Austin Peay was hardly the kind of performance coach Kirby Smart wanted going into next week's SEC opener at high-flying Tennessee. Georgia's offense struggled to get the ball down the field and couldn't score on four straight plays from the 1-yard line against the Governors' undersized defensive front at the end of the first half. Injuries have hampered Georgia's offensive line (starting right guard Juan Gaston and right tackle Earnest Greene III didn't play against Austin Peay), and new starting quarterback Gunner Stockton is still building his confidence. He completed 26 of 34 passes for 227 yards, but didn't see a couple of open receivers running down the field. The good news: Georgia's defense continued its hot start, limiting the Governors to only 10 first downs and 196 yards of offense. It will need a similar performance if the Bulldogs are going to beat the Vols for a ninth straight time.”

David Ubben, The Athletic: “Joey Aguilar is living the college football dream. Tennessee’s new quarterback threw for 288 yards and two touchdowns in front of 101,915 fans on Saturday in Neyland Stadium’s 21st consecutive sellout. His Vols are 2-0, ranked in the top 15, and ‘College GameDay’ is coming to town as Tennessee welcomes Georgia with an opportunity to establish itself as a bona fide SEC contender. The team fan shop even started selling Aguilar shirseys Monday, a sign he’s an early fan favorite. More than 2,000 miles away, Nico Iamaleava has taken a beating. Through two games, Tennessee’s old QB and UCLA’s new one has been pressured on 32 of 78 dropbacks (41 percent), more than any other Power 4 QB. And UCLA is 0-2 before it has played a single Big Ten game.�

Eddie Timanus, USA Today: “Well, let’s just say it wasn’t a great day at the [Big 12] league office. It got off to a good start with Iowa State’s rivalry win against Iowa, and Baylor’s comeback victory at SMU was another bright spot. But five non-conference losses, including preseason favorite Arizona State’s stumble at Mississippi State – nobody’s idea of an SEC contender – capped a rough first couple of weeks for a conference already fighting for relevance in the expanded playoff era. It’s too early to doom the conference to one-bid status once again, but a path to multiple berths is getting harder to envision.�

MEGAPHONE

“Craziness. He's a really good football coach. He knows his team. He knows what their strengths and weaknesses are. You can see it on film. He's building a culture that is fit to his eye in terms of what he wants to do. He's doing it his way, and that's awesome.�

LSU coach Brian Kelly, supporting beleaguered Florida coach Billy Napier.