Ultimate test of ‘new Kentucky’: With special season in reach, can UK finish the job?

At his weekly news conference Monday, Mark Stoops proclaimed himself satisfied with the benefits Kentucky has derived from its open week.

“Obviously, we had a lot to do, a lot to focus on, a lot of areas to improve,” Stoops said at Kroger Field. “A lot of players needed some time to medically heal up a bit and hopefully be in a really strong position for the second part of the year.”

As No. 12 UK (6-1, 4-1 SEC) has gotten off to a robust start, a lot has been written and spoken about “the new Kentucky” that Stoops has created in an estimable nine-year run as UK football’s top Cat.

Starting with Saturday’s visit to SEC rival Mississippi State (4-3, 2-2 SEC), we are going to see just how durable the “new day in Kentucky football” is.

With five games left in the 2021 regular season, UK has a genuinely special season within its grasp.

Only two Kentucky teams ever — Paul Bryant’s 1950 Cats and Fran Curci’s 1977 edition — have won 10 games in a regular season.

To join that short list, the 2021 Cats have to effectively “close.” Alas, so far in the 21st century, when double-digit-win football regular seasons have been in sight for UK, the Wildcats have not seized the chances.

▪ 2018. Led by Josh Allen, Lynn Bowden and Benny Snell, the Cats started the regular season 5-0 with wins over No. 25 Florida and No. 14 Mississippi State.

Yet Kentucky went 4-3 down the stretch of that 2018 regular season, as the Wildcats’ performance on both sides of the ball declined.

After averaging 407.2 yards a game in the season’s first five games, the Kentucky offense produced only 292.8 yards per contest in games six through 11.

Meanwhile, a UK defense that allowed only 296 yards a game in its first eight outings surrendered 406 yards a contest over the final five games (including bowl).

▪ 2007. Led by Andre Woodson, Rafael Little and Wesley Woodyard, the Wildcats started the season 6-1 with victories over No. 9 Louisville and No. 1 LSU.

Yet Kentucky went 1-4 down the stretch of that regular season as what was, arguably, the best offense in UK history hit an unanticipated lull.

After averaging 466.5 yards a game in the season’s first eight games, UK’s high-flying attack was held to an average of 322.3 yards in games nine through 11, two of which became frustrating losses to Mississippi State and Georgia.

▪ 2021. Led by Josh Paschal, Wan’Dale Robinson and Christopher Rodriguez, the current Cats seek to avoid the late-season stumbles that have sabotaged the prior two most-recent Kentucky bids for double-digit-win regular seasons.

With contests remaining Nov. 13 at Vanderbilt (2-6, 0-4 and outscored 170-26 in SEC games) and Nov. 20 against New Mexico State (1-7, traveling to Lexington the week after playing at Alabama), Kentucky should have an eight-win floor to its season locked in.

The remaining three contests offer more intrigue.

At Mississippi State this weekend, UK will be seeking its first victory in Starkville since Randall Cobb quarterbacked the Cats to a 14-13 win in 2008.

Stoops is 0-4 vs. MSU on the road, and Kentucky has been outscored 143-58 combined in those contests.

“A very tough environment, a place where we haven’t played our best football,” Stoops said Monday of Mississippi State.

Coming off an open date of its own, Tennessee (4-4, 2-3 SEC) will visit Kroger Field on Nov. 6.

As is seared into the nightmares of The Long Suffering Kentucky Football Fans, the Big Orange subjected the Big Blue to an embarrassing 26-game losing skid from 1985 through 2010.

UK finally ended that streak (ladies and gentlemen, Matt Roark) in 2011. Of late, Stoops has begun chipping away at UT, having bested the Volunteers two out of the past four.

On Tennessee football fan message boards, immense energy is being expended proclaiming that the essential dynamic that has long guided the UK-UT series — Orange over Blue — is not changing even as the Kentucky program is ascending.

UK will travel west down I-64 on Nov. 27 to face intrastate rival Louisville (4-3, 2-2 ACC).

Scott Satterfield’s Cardinals have been good offensively (29th in the country in total offense, 450 yards a game) and horrid defensively (102nd, 423.1).

Kentucky has dominated the past two meetings between Cats and Cards, winning by a combined 101-23, due to vast superiority along both lines.

To be determined is whether U of L has closed that gap in the trenches since the teams last met in 2019.

What we do know is that Kentucky in 2021 can indisputably show it is a new day in Wildcats football by putting together a second segment of the season that matches this season’s stout first.

In other words, by “finishing the job.”

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