On Sunday, LSU dismissed head coach Brian Kelly following a 49-24 blowout loss to No. 3 Texas A&M.

Kelly is one of three SEC head coaches that have been fired mid-season this year; before him, Florida let go of Billy Napier in October and Arkansas moved on from Sam Pittman in late September.

Around the SEC, athletic directors are making changes at head coach in hopes of keeping their programs competitive in a premier league.

Kentucky’s Mark Stoops remains the longest-tenured SEC head coach, for the second consecutive year. However, Stoops’ hot seat only gets hotter given the recent firings around the league amidst the Wildcats 10-game losing streak against SEC opponents.

Kentucky has a 2-17 record over its previous 19 inner-conference matchups.

Let’s compare Stoops to the recent SEC firings.

Stoops-Kelly-Napier

Kelly was hired as head coach for LSU ahead of the 2022 season. In less than four seasons manning the helm in Baton Rouge, Kelly had a 34-14 overall record and a 19-10 record in SEC play.

Under Kelly, the Tigers were undefeated in three bowl games. LSU’s best season under Kelly came in 2023, when the Tigers finished with a 10-3 record but were unable to reach the coveted College Football Playoff. LSU hoped to return to it after not clinching since the 2019 National Championship run, especially in the expanded 12-team format that was introduced last year. 

Earlier this season LSU was ranked as high as No. 3 in the AP Poll. In 2025, the Tigers went 2-3 in the SEC, losing to ranked foes Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M.

Despite sharing the same league for more than three seasons, Stoops and Kelly never faced each other. Florida hired Napier in the same offseason LSU hired Kelly.

Under Napier, the Gators had a 22-23 overall record with a 12-16 record in the SEC; Florida went 1-1 in the postseason. Florida’s best season with Napier was in 2024. The Gators went 8-5 but went .500 against SEC opponents.

In Napier’s first season in “The Swamp”, Florida’s highest ranking in the AP Poll was No. 12. However, the Gators would finish the 2024 season with an underwhelming 6-7 record.

Stoops holds a 2-1 record over Napier.

For comparison, since 2022, Stoops has led Kentucky to an 18-26 overall record and a 7-20 record against SEC teams. Both of those records are worse than Kelly and Napier’s tenure.

The Wildcats have clinched two bowl games in that time, losing both of them. In 2022, Kentucky was ranked as high as No. 7 in the AP Poll but was never a legitimate candidate for the College Football Playoff.

Stoops-Pittman

Arkansas hired Pittman ahead of the 2021 season, where he would serve as head coach of the Hogs for less than five years. Pittman had a 32-34 overall record and a 14-29 record in SEC play.

The Razorbacks clinched a bowl game in three out of four seasons under Pittman; they went undefeated in those games.

Pittman’s best season in Fayetteville came in 2021, his first season. Arkansas went 9-4, with all of their losses coming against SEC teams. The Razorbacks went 4-4 in the SEC that season.

At one point in 2021, Arkansas claimed an AP Poll high at No. 8, which was the highest under Pittman.

After starting the 2025 season 2-3, Arkansas fired Pittman. From 2022 until his midseason firing, Pittman went 7-18 in SEC play. Meanwhile, Stoops had his best season ever recorded at Kentucky in 2021. 

The Wildcats went 10-3 and won the Citrus Bowl. Kentucky’s 2021 season was later vacated by the NCAA. Eventually, the team was found to have 11 ineligible players on the roster. Now, that season goes down as a 0-3 record.

Nevertheless, Pittman has more overall wins, more SEC wins, and more bowl wins than Stoops during his time at Arkansas. 

Kentucky and Arkansas didn’t face off during Pittman’s tenure.

Stoops-Freeze

Another name on the hot seat is Auburn’s head coach, Hugh Freeze. Auburn hired Freeze before the 2023 season. Since then, the Tigers have gone 15-18 with a 6-15 record in the SEC.

In 2023, the Tigers made their lone bowl game appearance under Freeze. Auburn lost and finished the season with a 6-7 record. 

That season remains Freeze’s most successful at Auburn.

Earlier this season Auburn was ranked No. 24 in the AP Poll, for the first time in the Freeze era. The Tigers climbed to No. 22 the following week before losing their next four SEC games and losing their spot in the national rankings.

Freeze earned his first SEC win of the season this past Saturday with a win over Arkansas.

Since 2023, Stoops has a 13-19 overall record and a 4-17 record in SEC play, which is fewer wins than Freeze in both categories. Stoops and Freeze both share a defeated record in one bowl game appearance in that time.

In their lone matchup in 2024, Freeze’s Tigers beat the Stoops-led Wildcats in Lexington, 24-10. Kentucky has a chance at revenge this upcoming Saturday on the road.

It feels like sooner than later another SEC head coach will be added to the 2025 fired list. 

Currently, Kentucky and interim-led Arkansas sit at the bottom of the league standings without an SEC win. Just above them, South Carolina and Auburn stand at one win in the SEC.

Big Blue Nation, although this one may not have turned out how you would have wanted it to, one can hope that you took the over in this nighttime SEC classic.

Barely a minute into the game, after a touching National Anthem sing along and an electric entrance by the Wildcats, Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar connected with Chris Brazzell II for a 35-yard touchdown. In just four plays, the Volunteers tallied 75 yards.

After both sides traded punts, the Vols would tip and intercept Cutter Boley, returning the pigskin 45 yards for another touchdown.

Down 14-0 early and with their backs against the wall already, not overcoming such a deficit in over a decade, Boley would find Kendrick Law behind the line of scrimmage, who proceeded to take it 71 yards to the house and put Kentucky on the board. This play marked career highs for both Boley and Law for their longest passing and receiving touchdown respectively.

To all, it seemed like Kentucky finally had some life after forcing a quick punt on the next drive, but it would eventually give the ball right back.

Yet another strong drive from the evil orange led to another score, this time by running back Star Thomas from one yard out.

Kentucky would proceed to fumble the ball three times in one possession, giving its opponent the ball from only six yards out. The Wildcats held up until fourth down, where Tennessee brought out a heavy package and shoved its way into the end zone yet again.

When all hope felt lost, Boley would find freshman DJ Miller for a 56-yard touchdown and the Wildcat defense would muster up another stop.

The Wildcats, in need of a score, would run nearly 10 minutes off of the clock, going from their own four-yard line to the other hemisphere. After Law would convert on 4th and 1, Boley would find Oklahoma transfer J.J. Hester for his first Kentucky touchdown.

Now only trailing be a single possession, the defense would be required to hold up one last time before halftime. They indeed did not, giving up 75 yards in just under two minutes and letting their opponent waltz over the blue and white end zone.

If you’re looking for any encouraging statements from here on out, you probably will not. Boley became the first freshman in Kentucky history to throw for four touchdowns in a game and the Wildcats out gained the Vols on and off throughout the remainder of the matchup, but that didn’t really matter in regards to the scoreboard.

Tennessee outscored Kentucky 21-13 in the second half, leading to a 56-34 win. Boley and Miller unanimously took home the “MVP awards” for the game, with Boley tallying 330 yards and five touchdowns while Miller went for 120 yards and caught two of those touchdowns.

Up next, Kentucky will travel to Auburn, Alabama to take on the Tigers on Saturday, Nov. 1. The game will start at 7:30 p.m. ET and will air live on the SEC Network.

For the first time in 35 days, Kroger Field’s gates opened and all were ready to watch the Wildcats and the Longhorns take each other on during a cool evening in Lexington.

With a mixture of orange and blue in the crowd, the normal pre-game antics featuring ‘Grove Street Party’ and a packed out student section screaming the lyrics had Big Blue Nation ready to storm the field with a shocking Kentucky upset.

Honestly, it almost actually happened.

The first half was a punt war between both sides, where neither team put up any amount of points until the 6:22 mark in the second quarter. Although the eventual touchdown put Texas up 7-0, Kentucky still featured more total yards at the break.

Kentucky jogged off of the field with boos raining down, but accordingly played its best half of defense on the season.

The same unfortunate mishaps that take place weekly for the Wildcats began to occur however, such a bad play calling, conservative drives and near turnovers.

Texas had been resurrected coming into this matchup, winning the Red River Rivalry by a sizable margin and sending the No. 6 Oklahoma Sooners, and one of the best defenses in the entire nation, back home packing.

Mark Stoops and his staff must’ve took a look at the film and found out what the Sooners didn’t capitalize on though, because the defense had their part of production on lock all game.

As the third quarter concluded, Texas only had 134 total yards to its name.

Kentucky came out in the fourth ready to tie the game, and doing just that, ended the opening drive with a 16-yard rushing touchdown by Cutter Boley.

Looking to overcome another obstacle, Arch Manning took the field with his fellow Longhorns as Kentucky fans finally cheered with hope and optimism.

Again, Kentucky forced another three-and-out drive and Texas punted the ball away.

After a huge 19-yard gain by Willie Rodriquez and another fumble (that was recovered by Kentucky), Boley escaped out of the backfield like a magician, avoiding the sack and nearly gaining the 15 yards need for a first down.

Unfortunately, Kentucky had to punt the ball away again with only eight minutes in the game remaining.

Both teams would then go on to exchange field goals and enter overtime together, tied at 13-13.

With security lining up to stop a field storm and the entire stadium roaring, the Wildcats would drive down to their one-yard line, facing a 4th & 1 situation. Kentucky elected to run and ultimately was stuffed.

Texas took the ball, with any form of score needed to win the ball game, and sinked a field goal for game as time expired. The Longhorns left Lexington by the skin or their hides.

What’s next for Kentucky football seems to be a question we get the same answer to every single week, but finally, the team showed some heart down the stretch.

A win is a win and a loss is a loss. Kentucky now sits at 2-4 (0-4 SEC) on the season. After the game, Stoops had nothing but nice things to say about the fans and his team.

“I greatly appreciate the support for our team and our players…I thought it was a great environment,” said Stoops. “We came up six inches short.”

Next week, with just perfect timing, the rival Tennessee Volunteers come to town, looking to be the Wildcats’ fifth conference successor of the season.