There were a lot of yellow flags on Kroger Field on Saturday night, but the color that best represents the current state of Kentucky football is red.

As in Code Red. As in, here at the halfway point of the season, Mark Stoops’ Wildcats are in real danger of seeing their streak of consecutive bowl game appearances snapped at eight.

In fact, from what we’ve seen so far, my guess is that this Kentucky football team will be home for the holidays for the first time since 2015.

Forget the pipe dream of making the newly expanded College Football Playoff. Forget the idea of making it to Atlanta for the SEC Championship Game for the first time in program history. Those dreams are officially dead.

Vanderbilt killed them. Or at least help killed them. These are not your parents’ Commodores. Clark Lea’s team refused to eat the “rat poison” and followed up its shocking 40-35 win over then-No. 1 Alabama with a solid, smart effort in defeating Kentucky 20-13.

Meanwhile, Kentucky played dumb. Now 3-3 overall and 1-3 in the SEC, the Cats never gave themselves a chance. Penalties. After penalties. After more penalties. Kentucky was flagged 12 times for 105 yards. This from a team that entered the so-called “Blackout” night as the least penalized team in the SEC.

But then that’s the problem with this 2024 edition. You’re never sure what you’re going to get. The same team — at least with the same name across its chest — that almost knocked off then-No. 2 Georgia and that did upset then-No. 6 Ole Miss at in Oxford, has now lost at home to South Carolina (for the second straight time) and at home to Vanderbilt (for the second straight time).

Reason: Emotion doesn’t win football games. Composure and execution wins football games. Stoops said it himself after the game. And his team set Saturday’s tone on the very first possession.

Coming off back-to-back stellar 100-yard games, UK wide receiver Dane Key caught a 10-yard pass for a first down at the Vanderbilt 29-yard line. And immediately earned an inexcusable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting. It was all downhill after that.

When it comes to questionable decisions, Stoops wasn’t immune. He wasted a timeout in the third quarter with an unsuccessful challenge. UK thought Vandy quarterback Diego Pavia fumbled. Pavia didn’t. Later in the same quarter, Stoops declined an offside penalty that would given his team a first-and-goal at the 3-yard line, opting for a second-and-goal at the “6-inch” line instead. A false start, a zero-yard running play and an incomplete pass later, Kentucky botched a field goal attempt with a low snap from center. It was the first of two kicking situations where Alex Raynor was never able to get his foot on the ball.

“Clearly, we did not play winning football,” Stoops said afterward.

And aside from Murray State on Nov. 16, I don’t see many wins left on the Kentucky schedule.

The Cats next travel to Florida. The Gators took No. 8 Tennessee to overtime before losing Saturday in Knoxville. Billy Napier is coaching for his job. And Florida has lost three straight to the Cats. The Gators are in desperation mode.

A down-but-dangerous Auburn visits Kroger Field on Oct. 26. Then that Murray State game is sandwiched around treacherous road trips to Tennessee and Texas. Its last visit to Rocky Top, the Cats were bludgeoned 44-6 by the Vols. And the polls say Texas is the nation’s best team, as the Longhorns proved with a 34-3 spanking of rival Oklahoma in Saturday’s Red River Shootout. For the Nov. 30 season finale, you think maybe Louisville is itching to grab back that Governor’s Cup, especially after last season’s 38-31 home loss to Kentucky.

So, as our current president might say, here’s the deal: If the Kentucky we saw against Georgia and Ole Miss shows up for the second half of the season, the Cats can save the season. If we instead see the Kentucky that played South Carolina and Vanderbilt, at least Big Blue Nation won’t have to worry about breaking its holiday travel budget.

My prediction: Let’s just say I’m not optimistic.

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