Kentucky fans see another disappointment in Lexington as the Wildcats lose again at home

The Southeastern Conference gave Kentucky a challenging 2024 schedule with road trips to Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas as well as a home game against No. 1 Georgia. Those were four playoff contenders in the preseason talks, and the thought process around Big Blue Nation was to defend home field in all games except Georgia and hope for the best in those challenges away from Lexington.

Kentucky couldn't defend its home field in Lexington. In fact, Kentucky did the opposite and lost all four SEC home games at Kroger Field, an unimaginable result before the season began but a reality on October 26th. Worse, Kentucky was the betting favorite in three of the four losses, disappointments against South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Auburn. Those were the three games the Wildcats weren't supposed to lose, but they did. Shockingly, the game against Georgia was the closest of the four games.

Kentucky's problems at home are not unique to this team and this season. The loss to Auburn was Kentucky's 11th in its last 13 SEC home games, an embarrassing conference record on the Wildcats' own turf. At a time when fans are being asked to raise more money for roster construction and the rising cost of attending games, the Big Blue Nation responded well but suffered home defeat after home loss to league teams.

Looking back, Kentucky has only beaten two teams at Kroger Field in the last three seasons, Mississippi State (2022) and Florida (2023). The victory in Florida, known as the Ray Davis game, was 392 days ago. It will be more than 300 days before Kentucky has another chance at an SEC home win.

I'd love to tell you why Kentucky has been playing so poorly at home lately, but Mark Stoops himself doesn't have the answers. He was looking for answers after Vanderbilt won its second straight game two weeks ago in Lexington. “Sometimes I think guys are at home in this environment and they push, and they just push too much,” Stoops said.

After Auburn won its first SEC game of the year in Lexington, Stoops said, “The bottom line is we got beat.”

Kentucky's bowl streak is in serious trouble

The Wildcats needed to beat a bad Auburn team to remain optimistic about the team's chances of bowl eligibility. Kentucky played in a school-record eight straight bowl games to start the year, but a ninth now seems unlikely with four games won three and only one, Murray State, to feel good about.

Because of the duds in Lexington and another missed opportunity in Gainesville, it will now require a win against Louisville in the Governor's Cup and a road win against a top-10 team in Tennessee or Texas. Does anyone feel comfortable at one of these road games? Is anyone actually feeling good about Louisville's regular-season finale?

Looking at the SEC standings, it is likely that Kentucky will finish 15th out of 16 teams at the end of the 2024 season, with three of the losses coming against teams that ranked behind Kentucky in the preseason poll. Mark Stoops took the program to new heights by regularly defeating South Carolina, Missouri and Vanderbilt, but those teams have since turned the tables. South Carolina is 3-0 in its last three games against UK; Vanderbilt is 2-1 with both wins coming in Lexington; and Missouri might have triggered the Kroger Field curse by scoring 38 unanswered points in a 2023 win at Lexington. Kentucky is 2-9 in the conference since taking a 14-0 lead against the Tigers in the first quarter of last season's mid-October meltdown. Since then there have been only disappointments in Lexington.

Next week, Kentucky travels to Knoxville to play Tennessee at Neyland Stadium. Kickoff for this game was set for 7:45 p.m., meaning Vols fans will likely be on their worst behavior because of the late start. Tennessee also had two weeks to prepare for this game.

Because of this, Kentucky had to take care of business at home, but for some reason that proved to be too much to ask of this team. Now Mark Stoops is facing more criticism than he saw in Lexington, and the fan base has several reasons to take a look. The Big Blue Nation did its part, only to continually go home disappointed.