CRAWFORD | As bad as it gets: Auburn bullies Kentucky 24-10 as Hunter runs for 278 | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – We have witnessed some inept Kentucky football over the years. There were the Billy Curry years. The short-lived Joker Phillips Era. There were the early years under Mark Stoops, when he took his lumps while rebuilding the program.

What transpired at Kroger Field Saturday night was very much in that not-so-grand tradition. The big problem is that, even though banged up, this team is more talented than those others.

Auburn, previously winless in the SEC, bullied Kentucky on Saturday. It simply lined up, handed the ball to tailback Jarquez Hunter, and watched the fun. Auburn beat Kentucky 24-10 on Saturday night, ending a four-game losing streak, and touching off a period of serious introspection for the Kentucky football program.

On Hunter’s final carry of the game, Tom Leach, on the UK Network, said upon Hunter entering the game, “Let’s see if they give it to him. They did. And he runs through a big hole . . ." He carried it for 46 yards before being pulled down.

For the game, Hunter carried 23 times for 278 yards. It is the most rushing yards by an opposing player in Kroger Field/Commonwealth Stadium history.

Against a Kentucky team that two weeks ago ranked in the Top 10 nationally in rushing defense.

So this is where things stand. A three-game stretch of the schedule in which Kentucky hoped to get well has made much of the Bluegrass state sick. A loss to Vanderbilt. A blowout loss at Florida. A loss to Auburn.

Auburn put 499 yards of offense on Kentucky – 464 of them in the final three quarters. The Wildcats managed just 70 rushing yards and after scoring on its first two drives of a game for the first time this season, did not score again.

"I really don't have much to say," Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said after the game. "You know, just hit the repeat button. I think you all get tired of hearing the same thing. It's more of the same. They need to ﬁnish drives, they need to get to the end zone. They need to play better in each phase of the game. Just got beat. Bottom line, we got beat. We didn't play good enough in any phase to win and that's discouraging. But we have to respond. Again, I've told the players all week. . . . We've got to try to get some guys healthy and get better and look at all options to put our team in a better position to play better next week."

The Wildcats have now scored only eight touchdowns in six SEC games. Its 70 rushing yards were the fewest for a UK team in an SEC home game since 2013.

With Gavin Wimsatt taking over at quarterback from Brock Vandagriff in the second half, Kentucky managed just 79 total yards after the break (to 302 for Auburn) and passed for only 45 yards.

"No health situation," Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said, when asked if injury had kept his starting quarterback on the bench in the second half. "Just wanted to get a good look at Gavin and see if he could help us move the ball."

Injuries hindered an already depleted team -- the Wildcats were playing without their top two running backs and had some other key injuries during the game -- but a lack of intensity hurt the Wildcats even more.

Down 14 in the fourth quarter, Kentucky played with little urgency. It plodded down the field, often draining its own play clock, driving 66 yards in 14 plays and eating up 7:31 before Wimsatt threw an interception inside the Auburn five yard line. And that was that.

It was the third time in four games Kentucky has failed to score when having the ball inside the opponent's 10.

"We've got to look at what we are doing," Stoops said. "We've got to look at how we are playing. We've got to look at all options. You can't point ﬁngers. We've got to ﬁnd some solutions, clearly. It's very frustrating. You know, there's no excuses. There's nothing I'm going to say that's the right answer. We've got to do a better job. Right?"

There’s little more to say. It has been a tough week for Stoops. His mother died early in the week, but he coached through it anyway. He's in for some major criticism, but I don't have the heart for it in this situation. There will be, from all appearances, plenty of time for that.

Regardless, since suggesting that Kentucky fans “pony up” to enhance the school’s NIL power on the recruiting trail, Stoops and the Wildcats have won just two of 10 SEC games – and they’ve gone 0-7 in SEC games in front of the home fans, who, incidentally, sold out every football game this season before it even started.

With its seventh straight home loss, Kentucky has its longest home losing streak since 2013. It also is in the midst of its worst 13-game home stretch (2-11) since 2012-15.

Never have so many paid so much for so little.

Kentucky falls to 3-5, 1-5 in the SEC, and will have to pull a significant upset to reach bowl eligibility.

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