Finally, a lost season is finally over, as the Kentucky Wildcats concluded their 2024 season with a 41-14 beatdown at the hands of the Louisville Cardinals, who won the Governor’s Cup for the first time since 2017.
Kentucky showed little to no fight in this one from the opening kickoff, falling behind 20-0 at halftime while getting dominated on both sides of the ball.
Cutter Boley was largely ineffective, then got hurt early in the second half before being replaced with Gavin Wimsatt, who did manage to lead Kentucky on a few touchdown drives, but the game was already effectively over by then.
Kentucky finishes 4-8, its worst since Mark Stoops’ first season, which saw the Cats go 2-10. His program has now lost eight straight home games vs. Power Four opponents.
Here are three things to know from the finale.
Lack of Fight
Today’s loss to Louisville was Kentucky’s final game of the season. Soft tackling, blatant drops, poor blocking, and zero sense of urgency were impossible to miss on Saturday.
One would think that an SEC football team playing its final home game of the season—especially against its in—state rival—would come ready to play football.
However, Kentucky wasn’t prepared for anything Louisville threw at them and quickly found themselves in a major hole that was too deep early on to climb out of.
Some of the blame can fall on the players, but everything listed above starts with coaching. No excuse for the team to quit like it did today.
Big Blue Wall Continues to Crumble
Kentucky has had many problems on the offensive side of the football team this season, but none have been larger than their offensive line, specifically in pass protection.
Regardless of who has been plugged in at quarterback, Kentucky’s offensive line has not been able to hold up against opposing defensive lines, which has completely rattled whatever game plan head coach Mark Stoops and his staff had prepared.
Moving forward, a rebuilding of the entire offensive line must be priority No. 1 if the Wildcats are to compete in the country’s best football conference.
Or else, 2025 is gonna be Joker-level bad.
Tough Afternoon for Cutter Boley
Despite being a true freshman quarterback, Cutter Boley had played pretty well in relief against Murray State as well as at Texas. Today, however, was his first start of his career and one he’ll be glad to forget.
Boley had two interceptions in the first half and faced pressure all afternoon long. He completed less than 50% of his passes for just 48 yards before getting knocked out early in the third quarter.
He was replaced by Gavin Wimsatt, who completed
The future should be bright for Boley, but it’s clear he needs to improve his decision-making, and the program needs to improve its team around him.
Time to Move Past 2024
Stoops has given Big Blue Nation several memorable seasons as the Wildcats’ head coach, but 2024 was not one of them.
Despite having the best win of his career (at No. 6 Ole Miss) earlier this fall, Stoops was only able to guide his team to three other wins — none that came against a Southeastern Conference foe and obviously not today against Louisville.
Regardless of which side you’re on when it comes to Stoops remaining as head coach at UK, the program is pretty much tied to him for at least a couple of more years due to his contract details.
After such a down year at the UK, a team like Texas A&M from a season ago will likely not come calling this offseason. Therefore, it’s probably in the best interest of both Stoops and the fanbase to focus on what’s next and where exactly the program can go from here.
