Against South Carolina, Kentucky can prove it’s taken one major step from last season

The task for Kentucky football against South Carolina this week is clear.

“I will coach against it, guard against it, talk about it, but one of the first things I said in the locker room is one can’t become two,” Coach Mark Stoops said. “Everybody is heated and emotional after a big game like that, and our guys know, the belief is there. I think the intensity needs to come back.”

Kentucky climbed its way to the program’s best ranking since 1977 with a 4-0 start to the season but left Oxford, Mississippi, frustrated by a series of self-inflicted mistakes that led to a 22-19 loss to the Rebels.

Las Vegas oddsmakers initially established the Wildcats, who dropped to No. 13 in the Associated Press Top 25 after the Ole Miss loss, as a 10-point favorite over South Carolina at home this week, but recent history offers reason to worry about Kentucky’s performance.

A year ago, Kentucky won its first six games before losing to No. 1 Georgia with the eyes of the college football world pointed at it for ESPN’s “College GameDay” in Athens. A path to a New Year’s Six bowl still existed for Kentucky after that loss, but the Georgia loss spiraled into a three-game losing streak with subsequent losses to Mississippi State and Tennessee.

A similar scenario played out in 2018 when Kentucky started 7-1 before losing to Georgia in a winner-take-all game for the SEC East. A week later, the Wildcats posted their worst performance of the season in a 24-7 loss to a Tennessee team that finished the year with a 5-7 record. Players later attributed that performance to a hangover effect from the Georgia loss.

In both 2018 and 2021, Stoops and company managed to right the ship in time to salvage double-digit win seasons, but each of Stoops’ nine seasons at Kentucky have included at least one two-game losing streak.

“We really have to lean on our leadership,” super senior linebacker DeAndre Square said after the Ole Miss loss. “We’ve got guys that have been there before. We’ve got to pull the young guys along and pull everybody along because our season is not over because of one loss. We know that. We still have goals, we still have things we want to achieve, so we just get back to work.”

The last time Kentucky’s first loss in a season was not immediately followed by a second loss was 2018. The Wildcats’ first loss came in week six at Texas A&M. Kentucky struggled a week later against Vanderbilt but escaped with a 14-7 victory.

Like the 2018 Vanderbilt game, Kentucky does have the benefit of returning to Kroger Field after its first defeat this week. Tickets for the game are sold out, and a capacity crowd is expected on the first night game of the season that overlaps with Keeneland’s Fall Meet.

Kentucky’s chances for a quick bounce-back might also be aided by the nature of the Ole Miss loss. Unlike the 2018 and 2021 losses to Georgia, this was not a game where a clear gap in talent between Kentucky and another SEC rival was exposed.

“We’re just going to do a better job just staying locked in, just staying detailed, putting everything together and just eliminate those stupid, silly mistakes in that game,” senior tight end Brenden Bates said. “I truly believe that we were a better team, but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot. You can see how we played.”

Mounting injury concerns are working against Kentucky, though.

Just as junior outside linebacker J.J. Weaver nears a return to the field, super senior linebacker Jacquez Jones and junior right tackle Jeremy Flax have been sidelined by injuries. Senior quarterback Will Levis did not need surgery after dislocating a finger on his non-throwing hand at Ole Miss, but he also injured his ankle at Ole Miss and is dealing with the mounting toll of being sacked 19 times through five games.

As the point spread dropped from 10 points to six Wednesday evening, reports emerged that Levis might be a game-time decision for the game.

Kentucky has two more games before its off week, which should offer a chance for some much-needed rest before what looks like a season-defining game at Tennessee. But unless this Kentucky team proves more capable of putting one loss behind it than recent years, the next two games against South Carolina and Mississippi State could torch their chances of emerging from the off week still factoring in the SEC East race.

“We’ve still got everything that we want on the table for us,” Levis said. “Just gotta take it one week, one game, one day at a time. I’m really proud of the way guys battled (at Ole Miss). We had a lot of guys banged up. We showed that we can win games like this, that we should win games like this.

“So, we’re obviously doing this right, and we’ve just got to keep trusting the preparation.”

Saturday

South Carolina at No. 13 Kentucky

When: 7:30 p.m.

TV: SEC Network

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: South Carolina 3-2 (0-2 SEC), Kentucky 4-1 (1-1)

Series: South Carolina leads 18-14-1

Last meeting: Kentucky won 16-10 on Sept. 25, 2021, in Columbia, S.C.

Kentucky football’s main goal remains reachable, but South Carolina is a tricky test

‘This guy is everything.’ Where the return of Chris Rodriguez helps Kentucky football most.

How No. 13 Kentucky and South Carolina match up — with a game prediction

Does Kentucky football have a special teams problem? Numbers suggest it’s not that simple.

‘I wouldn’t trade him for anybody’: Mark Stoops supports Will Levis after Ole Miss fumbles