'That's 100% on us': Kentucky offense takes blame; takeaways from loss to South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. — As the rest of Kentucky's players, coaches and staff members boarded the team buses to depart Williams-Brice Stadium on Saturday night, Mark Stoops sat outside the visiting media press conference room.

His back against a wall, Stoops chatted with Eddie Gran, UK's former offensive coordinator. Now, Gran is the special assistant to the head coach, one of Stoops' right-hand men and most trusted confidants. On this night, perhaps Gran's chief responsibility was simply existing, lending his ears to Stoops. And being a sounding board.

That's because of what had transpired the previous four hours.

Kentucky fell on the road to South Carolina, 17-14, in a game in which UK fought back from a 10-point first-quarter deficit and took a four-point advantage in the third quarter before ultimately losing by three.

Afterward, in both his postgame radio interview and his postgame news conference, Stoops said it was one of the most somber setbacks in his 11 seasons guiding the Wildcats.

"It's a very difficult loss for us right there," said Stoops, whose team lost for the fifth time in its last six contests. "I feel very disappointed for our players that we didn't do a better job of putting them in a position to be successful. We had numerous opportunities."

Defensive coordinator Brad White was similarly frustrated.

"Obviously it stings, right? There's no way around it. It's not a good feeling to lose," White said. "You pour a lot into this. That locker room pours a lot into it. So when you leave a lot out there on the field — this is one of those games that we needed to come in and we needed to win. And we didn't.

"So every one of us needs to look in the mirror and (ask), 'What could we have done different?' Again, I'm proud of their effort and their strain. But, at the end of the day, execution needs to happen, too."

No one seemed to take it harder than Liam Coen, though. Back as the team's offensive coordinator after a one-year stay in the NFL — Coen was the Wildcats' OC during its stellar 10-win 2021 campaign — he has blamed himself, time and again, when his unit hasn't produced as expected this season.

In Coen's mind, Saturday was the low point.

The Gamecocks hadn't scored fewer than 37 points in their five previous home games this season. They scored 20 less than that Saturday.

"You're gonna win that game," said Coen, answering before the reporter even finished asking him what he'd think the result would be if he knew beforehand USC would score only 17.

Because of that, he said, his unit must own Saturday's loss.

"The defense did plenty in order for us to win this game," he said, placing extra emphasis on the word "plenty" before continuing, "and we've got to dig deep. I don't have all the answers right now. I wish I did.

"But this one's on us. We have to be able to score more points than 14 and give our defense a real chance to breathe a little bit there. And that's 100% on us — on me."

Here are three takeaways from the Wildcats’ road loss to the Gamecocks:

Kentucky's first-half turnovers extra costly in narrow loss

Saturday's outcome might have been different had UK capitalized on a pair of second-quarter possessions, which came on back-to-back drives. But both ended in the same manner: takeaways by South Carolina.

On the first turnover-producing possession, USC defensive back Nick Emmanwori picked off Kentucky quarterback Devin Leary in the end zone. On the next drive, Wildcats receiver Dane Key had a 17-yard reception on third-and-2, only for Gamecocks DB Jalon Kilgore to force a fumble that was recovered by his teammate in the secondary, DQ Smith.

It was more than just wasting possessions that bothered Coen.

"It was self-inflicted wounds, which is, I guess, even more frustrating," he said. "When you have self-inflicted wounds and you get in the red zone and you throw the corner route and it gets intercepted, and then come down and you convert on a third down and then we fumble? Those are really frustrating to not get points. ... But it was a lot execution.

"And it starts with me."

Wildcats RB Ramon Jefferson provides spark for 2nd straight week

Ramon Jefferson has only 165 yards rushing this fall. But nearly three-quarters of that total has come in the past two weeks. Jefferson, in his seventh college season that included two other universities (Maine and Sam Houston) and a junior college (Garden City Community College in Kansas) before arriving at Kentucky last year, has only 20 carries in 2023.

Stuck behind star senior Ray Davis, who scored his 17th touchdown of the season Saturday night, Jefferson's chances have been few and far between.

But last week versus Alabama, his 74-yard run in the fourth quarter set up UK's final touchdown. And his first touch Saturday was a 21-yard gain.

"It felt good to be back out there," he said. "It's just (been) a long road to recovery after tearing my ACL, a year's worth for rehab. (Now) later on in the season, (I'm) getting an opportunity to step up and help my team and things like that.

"It felt good last week having the same teammates that I've been picking up pick me up and be like, 'Man, you gotta finish.' So I told myself if I got the opportunity, I'd get out there and make something happen."

Coen said Jefferson hasn't changed anything about himself the past two weeks; he's just continued to go about his business. It's just that Jefferson hasn't let his chances fall by the wayside.

"He's done a good job: He's done a good job preparing. He's done a nice job as a teammate throughout the season," Coen said. "He's a great kid that you want to see have success, and he's given us a spark."

UK defensive tackle Deone Walker has dominant outing

Deone Walker being a mammoth task for opposing offenses — he is a 6-foot-6, 348-pound human — is nothing new. During the spring and into the preseason, UK coaches and teammates didn't run out of ways to praise how dominant he was daily at practice.

When it comes to a live game against another team, however, he's never been better than he was Saturday night — at least statistically.

Walker racked up nine tackles, setting a single-game career best and tying for the team high Saturday along with linebacker D'Eryk Jackson.

"Deone, the negative-yardage plays (he and) the defensive line created during those stretches was super important, because we were getting them in some extra-long situations," Stoops said of Walker, who had two tackles for loss and a sack among his nine takedowns, in addition to a quarterback hurry.

White, while unaware of Walker's specific numbers Saturday, knew the sophomore from Detroit was a handful for the USC offensive line.

"He was locked in," White said. "He was great on the sideline. He was really good on the field. ... You could tell he was disruptive."

From the game: Kentucky football rallies from early 10-point deficit but falls short at South Carolina

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky football: Mark Stoops' team rallies but loses at S. Carolina