After going 4-8 the previous season, winning just one SEC game, and losing many key players, Mark Stoops and the Kentucky football team entered this season with more than 50 new players and even more doubt,
slotted to finish 15th out of 16 teams in the preseason poll.
For the South Carolina Gamecocks, it was the opposite. After sitting at 3-3 last year, the Gamecocks rattled off six consecutive wins to finish, including ranked wins over Clemson, Missouri, and Clemson, and were on the cusp of a college football playoff berth. Based on their impressive end to 2024, with one of the best young defensive prospects in the nation in Dylan Stewart, and a Heisman candidate in Lanorris Sellers, South Carolina was a trendy CFP pick going into the year.
Going into their Week 5 matchup, neither team can afford a loss. Kentucky is just 2-1, but both wins have come against non-power teams, and they have three straight top 15 opponents to play. South Carolina is 2-2, with five straight top 20 opponents on the schedule.
Kentucky, with lesser expectations, has a lot less to lose than South Carolina, who is already in crisis mode. However, Williams-Brice Stadium is a tough place to play. The Wildcats are just 3-3 against South Carolina under Stoops, with four being single-possession games.
Let’s take a look at the matchup.
Bye Week Blues
A bye week is supposed to be a chance for players to take a breath and recover amidst the season, while also providing the staff an extra week of preparation for the next opponent. However, with a 4-8 record coming off bye weeks under Mark Stoops, including four straight losses, for Kentucky, it has too often been a time of poor preparation and lapse of focus.
“We’ve got to have a great week (of practice). Much like last week, we’ve just got to really attack the week and worry about us and get better,” Stoops said after the Eastern Michigan win. He noted that the team receives an extra day of practice on Tuesday, which they usually have off.
Can this year’s team break the trend?
Get Pressure on the QB
This Kentucky defense did not play well against Eastern Michigan, giving up over 450 yards, and Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White was anything but pleased after that game.
“This is not an easy bye week, (not a) happy-go-lucky scenario,‘ White said. “We have to freaking redial in, get back to the standard that we played with, and that was anything but tonight.”
After two long weeks of practice, White feels like the defense is back on track. “I think they’ve done a nice job responding in the meeting room and then coming out to the practice field,” White said on Wednesday. One key area they have been successful in and can disrupt South Carolina’s offense is the pass rush.
While not getting a lot of sacks, Kentucky’s pass rush is graded in the top 15 by PFF, led by outside linebacker Steven ‘Sack Em’ Soles. South Carolina quarterback Lanorris Sellers’ biggest flaw: holding the ball too long.
Limit Third Down Conversions and Mistakes
While South Carolina is favored, this is a game Kentucky has a shot at winning, if they don’t beat themselves. That means taking care of the ball and limiting penalties, which they have been good at for much of the season, with the exception of moments during the Ole Miss game.
The other thing Kentucky can do is limit third-down conversions, limiting plays and points.
The Gamecocks have struggled to convert on third down this season, just 37 percent of the time, which is 111th in the contrary. On the other side, Kentucky’s defense has kept opponents’ conversion rate to just 33.3 percent, top 30.
Kentucky Wildcats vs. South Carolina Gamecocks
- Game Time: 7:45 PM EST on September 27th, 2025
- Location: Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, SC
- TV Channel: The SEC Network will have the coverage for this game.
- Announcers: Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers, and Cole Cubelic will call the game.
- Online Stream: ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
- Radio: Tom Leach and Jeff Piecoro have the UK radio call on the UK Sports Network.
- Satellite Radio: XM Channel 203, Sirius Channel 98, Internet Channel 966
- Replay: ESPN+ and SEC Network (check local listings).
- Rosters: UK | USC
- Stats To Know: UK | USC
- Advanced Stats
- Weather.com Forecast
- Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook has Kentucky as a 5.5-point underdog with an over/under of 46.5 points. ESPN gives the Wildcats a 42.2% chance of victory.
- Predictions: TeamRankings has South Carolina taking the win 25-20. Sportsbook Wire has South Carolina 27-20. DRatings.com picks the Gamecocks 25-18. I think Kentucky will struggle in its first road game of the season, falling to South Carolina 27-20.
