Mark Stoops has no one to blame but himself for Kentucky football’s offensive woes

With about three minutes left in the Kentucky football team’s 48-20 loss at Florida on Saturday night, the SEC Network cameras zoomed in on the Wildcats’ sideline and an apparently confused Mark Stoops.

You didn’t have to be an accomplished lip reader to figure out what the UK coach was asking to whomever was on the other end of his headset.

“What happened?” Stoops said.

The man in charge was looking for an explanation of an official’s call, but forgive Big Blue Nation for wondering the same thing about its football program.

Here’s what’s happening: Some of Stoops’ previous decisions are biting the Wildcats in the you-know-where.

Now 3-4 overall and 1-4 in the SEC, Kentucky’s offense ranks 115th out of 134 FBS teams in scoring (20.4 points per game), 124th in pass efficiency (113.93 rating), 115th in total offense (319.9), 113th in yards per play (5.02), 111th in plays of 20 or more yards (24) and 127th in plays of 30 or more yards (7).

Meanwhile, the Miami Hurricanes lead the nation in total offense, passing offense and yards per play. Mario Cristobal’s unbeaten club is No. 2 nationally in scoring offense at 48.3 points per game, just behind unbeaten Indiana at 48.7.

Miami’s play-caller?

A fellow named Shannon Dawson.

You might remember him. Dawson was Kentucky’s play-caller in 2015 until Stoops fired him after one season. The UK coach then hired Eddie Gran, who coordinated the Wildcats’ attack through a 10-win season in 2018 and turned wide receiver Lynn Bowden into an emergency quarterback to save the 2019 campaign. But Stoops fired Gran after the 2020 season.

When Liam Coen returned to the NFL after one season (2021) as the Cats’ play-caller, Stoops hired and then fired Rich Scangarello (2022). The Kentucky coach then rehired Coen before he again left for the NFL after one season (2023) at which point Stoops hired Boise State offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan.

That’s five offensive coordinators in five seasons — Gran in 2020; Coen in 2021; Scangarello in 2022; Coen in 2023; Hamdan in 2024.

And you wonder why Kentucky is the only team in the SEC that has yet to score more than 20 points in a conference game this season.

This isn’t Hamdan’s fault. Not entirely, anyway. He arrived on campus a couple of weeks before spring practice began. He left a Boise State offense that featured the nation’s best running back in Ashton Jeanty for a team in which the players were recruited for a different coordinator(s) and a different system(s).

I’m not blaming Coen. He twice left Kentucky for better jobs — Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator (2022) and Tampa Bay offensive coordinator (2024), where with Baker Mayfield at quarterback the Buccaneers are tied for second in the NFL in scoring offense at 29.7 points per game.

The problem is that Stoops has yet to define and stick to a specific offensive philosophy. He fired Dawson because that variation of the Air Raid offense wasn’t physical enough. He parted ways with Gran because that physicality-based offense wasn’t balanced enough. He axed Scangarello because that variation of the Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan offense wasn’t successful enough. He complained during Coen’s second tenure that the Cats weren’t playing fast enough.

To borrow a phrase from James Clear, author of the best-selling book “Atomic Habits,” consistency compounds. So does inconsistency.

Saturday night, Kentucky got pounded. Facing a true freshman quarterback making his second collegiate start, Brad White’s defense picked a bad night to have a bad night. Florida receivers ran free in the Wildcats’ secondary. DJ Lagway found them. Five Florida receptions went for 40-plus yards. That’s one more than the Kentucky offense has produced all season.

Can UK’s season be saved? Probably, probably, probably not. A 2-5 Auburn comes to Kroger Field on Saturday and (thankfully) Murray State comes calling Nov. 16. But Stoops’ squad must still play at top-10 teams Tennessee (Nov. 2) and Texas (Nov. 23) before a revenge-minded Louisville arrives in Lexington for the season finale.

After UK’s loss last week to Vanderbilt, I wrote the Cats would see their consecutive bowl streak snapped at eight. After Saturday night’s loss, I’m sticking to that prediction. After all, consistency compounds.

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