Coming into Saturday night, Kentucky football had won seven of its previous eight games against South Carolina. Since 2014, Mark Stoops has had the Gamecocks’ number. No matter how much preseason hype — deserved or not — was showered over South Carolina, the Wildcats would almost always come away with the win.
Perhaps that’s why the team was so unenthusiastic on Saturday. Did UK just expect to win? They’ve owned the series in recent history and are the more talented team of the two. But Kentucky came out and played arguably its flattest game ever under Stoops.