There’s no statistic more embarrassing than back-to-back home losses to Vanderbilt, Kentucky, which fell 24-21 in Lexington two years ago, followed by tonight’s 20-13 joke about an appearance at Kroger Field. That comes after the Wildcats entered the day as two-touchdown favorites at home, controlling their destiny in the SEC as a potential College Football Playoff contender — Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, Murray State and Louisville all look to be defeated with a win at the Commodores opening the door to a potential nine-win season.

Then they lost to Vanderbilt and threw everything in the trash. Now you look at that group of opponents and hope to get three wins to go bowling. Quite a change from how we felt coming away from that win in Oxford two weeks ago over No. 6 Ole Miss.

What were the worst numbers from Kentucky’s momentum-crippling loss? KSR has you covered (unfortunately).

12 penalties for 106 yards

Kentucky entered the matchup as the least penalized team in the SEC at 5.6 per game. Then the wash hit the turf at more than double that speed, racking up 12 penalties for a whopping 106 yards. That compares to five penalties for 57 yards for Vanderbilt.

In an inch game, the Wildcats lost 3,816 to stupid, self-inflicted mistakes.

“Then we come back and do this tonight?” It’s ridiculous,” Stoops said after the loss.

322-288

What makes that number even more frustrating? Kentucky actually outpaced Vanderbilt offensively, gaining another 34 yards on higher yards per rush and yards per completion totals while gaining four more first downs. On the other hand, the Commodores converted with more third downs (8-13 vs. 4-9) while winning the possession battle from 34:35 to 25:25.

5-10 coming from the bye week

Penalties turned this individual match on its head, but the struggles of the past week are not new under Stoops. The Wildcats entered the day going an abysmal 0-8 against the spread since 2017, regularly whiffing on a schedule coming off breaks. This time they extended the record to 5-10 overall after a bye. Overall, Stoops has only won 2-0 once before and after the farewell game, way back in 2016.

For some reason, Kentucky has never been prepared for the bye week.

2-10 in SEC home games

Big Blue Nation may be delivering at home during Kentucky games at Kroger Field, but the Wildcats are undoubtedly not. They are just 2-10 in the schedule’s last 12 SEC home games. By comparison, Joker Phillips was 4-8 in his 12 SEC home games as head coach in Lexington.

On the other hand, Stoops’ group is 6-5 in SEC road games during that same twelve-game stretch. After an upset win over No. 6 Ole Miss, Kentucky’s head coach can’t understand how unprepared the Wildcats looked on Saturday.

“What is it? Why? Are we too excited? Let’s buy in, dial in and play winning football,” he said.

Six straight SEC home losses

Speaking of Kentucky’s in-conference performance, especially at home, would it shock you to hear that the Wildcats haven’t won a conference game at Kroger Field in six tries? What are fans actually paying for right now? Expensive beer and poor adjustments at the end of the six months? That’s a long time begging for a spark, even against the program’s lower foes in the SEC – including tonight. So much for dinner and a show.

Six years since an SEC team failed to score 14 against Vandy

The Wildcats finally found their offensive groove in recent weeks, combining for 61 points in two games to end the month of September after a rough start to the season. It looked like Brock Vandagriff had found his groove as the playmakers were ready to start playing. And then Kentucky scored a whopping 13 points against the Commodores in historic fashion.

What stands out about the effort? It’s the first time in six years that an SEC team has failed to achieve that goal against Vanderbilt, the previous low of 13 points held by Tennessee. That came in November 2018.

Just when the Cats make us want to buy, they pull the rug out from under us. Tonight was an all-timer.