Doom and gloom didn't consume everyone on the Plains after the Kentucky Wildcats' 10-3 win over the Auburn Tigers that, in no uncertain terms, should be the end of the Hugh Freeze era. Mark Stoops got to live to see another day, and UK fans got to witness their team get a lick back from last year's matchup in Lexington.
As Saturday Blitz's Nicholas Rome pointed out, Stoops will likely be the Wildcats' head coach for at least another game: a home matchup against the Florida Gators at Kroger Field.
"Heading into week 10, it felt like the losing head coach in the matchup between the Auburn Tigers and the Kentucky Wildcats would most likely lose their job. On Saturday night, Mark Stoops took his team into Jordan-Hare Stadium and left with an SEC victory, which he badly needed. The Wildcats were incredible on defense, holding Auburn to just three points, allowing the offense to survive a rough game. While Mark Stoops' seat is very hot, he had a big embrace with AD Mitch Barnhart on the field after the game, and he’s most likely going to lead his team for at least one more game," Rome wrote.
Hugh Freeze's worst loss, and hopefully last loss, came to Mark Stoops
Stoops somehow outdueled Freeze on Saturday despite two Cutter Boley interceptions. Because, as mentioned before, three points. Three Tiger points. One Alex McPherson field goal on one scoring opportunity. In 60 minutes.
The numbers are so brutal, it's unfathomable that as of Sunday morning, Freeze is still the head coach. This was Kentucky. Things are going to be better against a Vanderbilt Commodores team coming off a loss in Nashville and against the one-loss, rolling Alabama Crimson Tide?
Your car is not working, John Cohen. Neither is Mitch Barnhart's at Kentucky, but at least Stoops won the football game and doesn't have his entire stadium chanting for his firing.
It's very over in East Central Alabama, whether the head coach is someone different against Vanderbilt or not. It's another failed era, that resulted from a string of misguided hirings.
It's great to be an Auburn Tiger, but mostly because of nearly every other program in the athletic department. Football has been an insult since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Besides a few feel-good months of the Bryan Harsin era.
This is rock bottom. Mark Stoops outdueled Hugh Freeze in a loser-leaves-town match, but for some reason, the loser isn't leaving town.