After losing to the Georgia Bulldogs in a blowout, Mark Stoops on a radio spot claimed that Georgia bought their way to success. The bowl-winning coach said that the fans "give" money to the Bulldogs via a NIL fund. The NIL funds then use the money to give to players via endorsement deals. Every fanbase in the country does this, but the programs with the biggest fanbases such as Georgia and Alabama have huge NIL funds.
"Fans have that right (to complain)," Stoops said. "I give it to them. I just encourage them to donate more, because that's what those dudes are doing. I can promise you Georgia, they bought some pretty good players. You're allowed to these days. We could use some help."
Georgia came into this game very sluggish but proved the doubters who suggested that the offense couldn't produce wrong. Kentucky didn't even compete with the Bulldogs in this game as it was a blowout from the start. The 14-point spread was easily eclipsed as Georgia offense exploded for their best work of the season.
Kentucky went into this game with expectations that they would be able to compete against the big dogs of the SEC. They were wrong.
How can Kentucky rebound from a poor loss and play better against the rest of their SEC opponents?
Going forward, Kentucky is facing off against the better half of their schedule. They will not play anyone better than the Georgia team that they played last week, but the easy part of their season is over. Kentucky is facing off against a very solid Missouri team and then heads into a five-week stretch that includes Louisville and Alabama.
There are some breaks in the Wildcats schedule with a sluggish South Carolina and Mississippi State squads coming up, but it rarely lets up. NIL money is the least of Stoops problems right now.
