Kentucky Football: Nowhere To Run, Nowhere To Hide

For the Kentucky football program, there’s no escaping the criticism, pressure, or sense of urgency. The only option is to go out and play.

Kentucky football is competing with one of the greatest basketball programs in collegiate history. Whether fair or foul, the Kentucky Wildcats are synonymous with basketball and not football.

Through two weeks of the 2016 college football season, the football team has done nothing to change the narrative.

Kentucky started out hot, but it’s all been downhill since it secured a 35-10 lead over the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. Southern Miss scored 34 straight points for a comeback victory, and the Florida Gators defeated Kentucky 45-7.

According to Jon Hale of The Courier-Journal, head coach Mark Stoops isn’t going to run from the responsibility of saving this program.

“There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide,” Stoops said. “We’re in the arena. Time to go to work. That’s where we go: We go right back, we look at the film, we look at what we’re asking them to do, what we can do. The players need to look at themselves. The coaches need to look at things and see what we can execute. I know we can play better than that.”

The time for patience has run out.

The hot seat that Stoops is sitting on is officially scorching. It’s not yet engulfed in flames, but he’s dangerously close to producing a level of uncertainty that often leads to a coach’s dismissal.

Stoops should be given a longer leash in attempting to turn this program around, but the growing sense is that time may be running out for him to do so.

Kentucky has questions to answer on both sides of the ball. The defense has allowed 79 points over the past six quarters, and the offense has only produced seven points during that same span.

Since throwing four touchdowns to no interceptions in the first half against Southern Miss, quarterback Drew Barker has no touchdowns to four interceptions in the six quarters that have followed.

For as poorly as he played against Florida, it’s not just Barker who’s responsible for Kentucky’s shortcomings. Inconsistency can be found on both ends of the ball, which means every player needs to do some soul searching.

Kentucky still has the potential to win between six and eight games in 2016.

Giving up just two weeks into the season shouldn’t even be considered.