Kentucky football wasn't necessarily expected to win this year's Governor's Cup. Most oddsmakers had Louisville as a slight favorite entering the matchup at L&N Stadium. That didn't sway many media members who still picked the Wildcats.
If nothing else, a tightly contested game was expected.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWell, that didn't happen.
UK didn't manage a single point, losing in shutout fashion, 41-0.
No Kentucky team ever has lost to Louisville by more.
"Didn’t play very good, didn’t coach very good and got our butts kicked," said Mark Stoops, who wrapped up his 13th season leading the Wildcats.
It wound up being the final game of Stoops' tenure; he was fired Sunday night, per multiple reports.
So where does Saturday's loss rank among the worst of the now-finished Stoops era? And what others are in the running?
We’ll count down from five.
5. Ole Miss, 2017 (Kentucky lost 37-34)
Kentucky was 6-2 through eight games. Ole Miss, which was 3-5, only had wins over South Alabama, UT-Martin and Vanderbilt to its name.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDidn’t matter.
It was a bad matchup for the Wildcats, who owned the SEC’s worst pass defense.
The league’s most lethal aerial attack that year? You guessed it — the Rebels.
No surprise, then, that Ole Miss signal caller Jordan Ta'amu completed 31 of his 40 passes for 382 yards and four touchdowns. And that included the go-ahead score to DK Metcalf with five seconds to play. Oh, and Ta’amu didn’t toss an interception.
The Wildcats went on to drop three of their next four games, with their only victory coming against … the Commodores.
4. Southern Miss, 2016 (Kentucky lost 44-35)
Ito Smith #25 of the Southern Miss Golden Eagles runs the ball as Kobie Walker #8 of the Kentucky Wildcats tries to make the tackle at Commonwealth Stadium on September 3, 2016 in Louisville, Kentucky. Southern Mississippi defeated Kentucky 44-35. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)This was the season the Wildcats began their postseason streak, which lasted eight years before ending in 2024. (Though NCAA violations forced UK to vacate all 10 of its victories in 2021, including a Citrus Bowl win over Iowa).
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThis season just didn’t get off on the right foot.
Kentucky held a 35-10 lead at one point in this contest. Then Southern Miss scored 34 unanswered points to leave town with a win over a Power Four foe. Adding further insult? The Golden Eagles' offensive coordinator was Shannon Dawson, who spent the 2015 season in the same position at UK; Stoops did not retain him.
Given that tidbit, and the epic collapse, it once was the worst loss of Stoops’ time at Kentucky.
Until …
3. Vanderbilt, 2022 (Kentucky lost 24-21)
Nov 12, 2022; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores running back Ray Davis (2) runs the ball during the third quarter against the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-USA TODAY SportsIt's not just the fact the Commodores carried an albatross of an SEC losing streak — 26 in a row, the third longest in league history — with them that puts this stunning setback so close to the top of the list.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMike Wright, who tossed the game-winning touchdown, was the team's backup QB. He began the season as the starter, then was benched because of ineffectiveness. He only was back in the lineup because of an injury to first-stringer AJ Swann.
That week, Vanderbilt also was dealing with a flu outbreak within the program, with a roster so small it looked more like a high school team than a Power Four conference squad.
On top of that, the Commodores had an off-field distraction taking up time heading into the game: Then-defensive backs coach Dan Jackson decided to "step away" from his position earlier that week while the university investigated a Facebook comment he made in support of Kanye West, the hip-hop star under fire for his antisemitic statements and willingness to share antisemitic conspiracy theories.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementYet the Commodores overcame all those obstacles to beat an SEC opponent.
2. South Carolina, 2024 (Kentucky lost 31-6)
Last year's South Carolina team was better than the Vanderbilt club of 2022. The Gamecocks went 9-4 (5-3 SEC) last season, while the Commodores of three years ago were 5-7 (2-6).
So why did this setback land ahead of the Vandy defeat?
Refer to Stoops' postgame comments, a contest in which his team never led.
"We've been beaten pretty badly by some really good football teams, but I felt like our team always fought back. Always," Stoops said. "We talk about it all the time: You get punched, you get hit, you swing back. Very disappointed. Not happy with us — our coaching, our response, the way we played."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAbout that quality of play.
Or more accurately, the lack thereof.
In 2022, UK was in position to fend off Vandy before the visitors scored the go-ahead touchdown with only 32 seconds remaining.
Last season against USC, Kentucky trailed wire to wire.
UK had entered as the betting favorite. That's because the week prior, South Carolina barely escaped with a four-point win over Old Dominion. In that game, the Gamecocks' offensive line struggled to contain the Monarchs' defense. That should have played into the Wildcats' hands given the 2024 defensive line was viewed as a bulwark, anchored by superstar Deone Walker, widedly expected to a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFurther, USC quarterback LaNorris Sellers connected on fewer than 50% (10 for 23) of his attempts against Old Dominion, failing to find the end zone through the air.
His stat line against Kentucky: 11 for 15 (73.3%), 159 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions.
Then there's the UK offense.
Quarterback Brock Vandagriff and offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan were brought in to boost the unit.
Old Dominion scored 13 more points against USC than UK.
Most troubling, the Wildcats couldn't help themselves: They committed 11 penalties, three on back-to-back-to-back snaps in the third quarter.
Perhaps the only good news from this loss for Kentucky: Few fans stuck around to see the bitter end. When South Carolina tailback Raheim Sanders scored to extend the visitors' advantage to 24-6 with 28 seconds left in the third quarter, a mass exodus ensued as disappointed UK fans filed toward the exits.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt was the most organized anyone in blue-and-white colors looked all day.
1. Louisville, 2025 (Kentucky lost 41-0)
That no UK team, in 36 prior meetings with UofL, ever suffered a more one-sided defeat than Saturday was bad enough.
But it's worse when context is added. Far worse.
The Wildcats had numerous areas from which they could draw motivation.
There was Vince Marrow, the longtime-UK-assistant-turned-UofL-staffer, heading up the Cardinals' player personnel and recruiting efforts. He left for Louisville at an odd time of the year, joining Kentucky's in-state rival in June. While UK players didn't publicly say they wanted to hand their ex-mentor a loss, that would be a bonus.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAnother motivator: The result of the 2024 Governor's Cup, when the Cardinals smashed the Wildcats by 27 points at Kroger Field to end UK's five-game on-field win streak in the series.
A third driving force: The result of Kentucky's previous outing, when it offered little resistance in a 45-17 defeat to Vanderbilt.
Perhaps the most important carrot dangling in front of UK was the chance to clinch a bowl berth, returning to the postseason after its eight-year run ended in 2024.
None of those incentives mattered enough, apparently.
Louisville 41, Kentucky 0.
"We just weren’t good enough today. Give (Louisville) credit," Stoops said. "We need to be better and play better and coach better and put them in a better position, get some positive momentum."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhat made the result all the more stunning was the infirmary unit of an offense the Cardinals trotted onto the field. They were missing their top receiver, Chris Bell. All four scholarship running backs (Isaac Brown, Keyjuan Brown, Duke Watson and Jamarice Wilder) were out, forcing them to rely on a true freshman walk-on (Braxton Jennings) and a converted wide receiver (Shaun Boykins).
All UofL's offense did was roll up 440 yards, with both Boykins and Jennings running for more than 100 yards.
"Didn't leverage the football in the outside edge," Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White said. "That might have been the most frustrating thing to me today, is some of our leverage on the football, especially on the edge of the defense. ... It had not been an issue up to this point this year."
The Wildcats' offense didn't fare much better, failing to score while gaining just 140 yards.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"I take full responsibility," said Bush Hamdan, UK's second-year offensive coordinator. "It always starts with me. This game may be different than others. It felt we mixed tempo, we tried to get in, tried to get out. We just couldn't sustain drives."
For Lexington native Ty Bryant, being part of the Kentucky team that now owns the most lopsided loss the program has ever had against Louisville was difficult to process.
"It's definitely bad. Like I said, I know a lot of people over there (on UofL's roster), and throughout the week, a lot of things we were talking about was like, 'avenging the basketball loss,' you know what I mean?" said Bryant, referencing the UK men's basketball team's eight-point setback to Louisville earlier this month. "But it's just bad. It's not a good feeling to have."
In that emotional valley of crests and troughs, and in light of his firing one day later, Saturday's shutout served as Stoops' lowest point.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementReach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky football loss to Louisville worst defeat of Mark Stoops era?
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