After Georgia loss, it’s now or never for Kentucky football to start salvaging its season

Kentucky football fell to 1-2 on the 2024 season and 0-2 in Southeastern Conference play with a 13-12 loss to No. 1 Georgia on Saturday.

Considering the Wildcats actually led 9-6 at the end of the third quarter, there were positives to take from the performance but the result still adds further tension to a UK season that was thrown into turmoil by the home loss to South Carolina last week. Here is a look at the implications of the Georgia defeat for the program moving forward.

The turnaround has to start now

One of the reasons the South Carolina performance was so frustrating is it was evident that there would be no opportunity for a quick momentum shift with Georgia traveling to Lexington. Considering Kentucky’s last win in the series came in 2009 there was no reason to expect this Wildcats team to pull off the upset.

By challenging Georgia Kentucky probably did erase some of the bad taste from the South Carolina loss, but moral victories won’t move the needle much given the difficulty of UK’s remaining schedule.

With the Bulldogs out of the way, Mark Stoops and company will have their chance to build some positive momentum next week against Ohio. The Bobcats lost to Syracuse in their only game against Power Four competition to date. Kentucky has not been immune to closer-than-expected games against Mid-American Conference competition in the Stoops era, but if the offense struggles to score against Ohio it will officially be time to panic about bowl eligibility.

A trip to No. 5 Ole Miss follows the Ohio game before Kentucky’s first off week of the season. Pulling off an upset in Oxford would obviously change the trajectory of the season, but the more realistic goal has to be making it to the off week with some reason for optimism in the pivotal stretch against Vanderbilt, Florida and Auburn.

Reevaluating the South Carolina game

Before Kentucky even took the field against Georgia on Saturday night there was at least one development that added some hope for the rest of the season.

Fresh off its upset of UK, South Carolina just missed knocking off No. 16 LSU in Columbia. That game was chosen for ESPN’s weekly “College GameDay” showcase rather than Kentucky-Georgia because of UK’s loss last week.

The fact that South Carolina led for most of the game against a ranked team suggests Kentucky’s loss might not be as bad as initially feared. Still, it should be noted that LSU scored 36 points against the Gamecocks despite South Carolina’s defensive prowess while Kentucky was held to six a week ago.

It seems safe to say South Carolina is better than Auburn, Vanderbilt and Florida — three teams Kentucky almost certainly needs to beat to reach seven regular season wins again — but it remains unclear whether Kentucky should be viewed as a favorite in any of those games.

Injury report is worrisome

Kentucky entered the season knowing running back Chip Trayanum, wide receiver Hardley Gilmore, offensive tackle Courtland Ford and defensive linemen Josaih Hayes and Tavion Gadson — all of whom were expected to play key roles if healthy — would be unavailable for at least the first chunk of the season. But that group was joined by starting left guard Jager Burton and backup running back Jason Patterson on the unavailable list for the Georgia game.

Starting cornerback Maxwell Hairston and starting right tackle Gerald Mincey were also listed as game-time decisions on the final pre-Georgia availability report but did play.

Kentucky should be able to beat Ohio without that group, but the Wildcats need as many as possible available after the off week for the Vanderbilt game on Oct. 12.

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