The same Kentucky defense that held Mike Leach's "Air Raid" attack scoreless for the first time in his head coaching career, and the same Kentucky defense that held No. 5 Georgia to just 14 points, and the same Kentucky defense that entered Saturday's game against winless Vanderbilt ranked first in the SEC in points allowed left nearly everyone at Kroger Field scratching their heads in a closer-than-expected 38-35 win for the Wildcats.

Their head coach was still fuming more than 48 hours later.

"It's pissing me off, to be honest with you," UK head coach Mark Stoops said Monday during his weekly Zoom video conference.

After Kentucky (3-4) finally got a strong performance from an offense that had struggled royally during a two-game losing skid, the Cats delivered one of their worst defensive performances of the season.

Vanderbilt entered the week averaging only 12.8 points per game, one of the worst figures in the country. The Commodores carved up UK for 408 yards of total offense, 29 first downs, a 68% conversion rate on third and fourth down, and five touchdowns. Derek Mason's squad had scored only eight offensive touchdowns this season prior to their game against the Cats.

Through seven games this season, UK has played well on both sides of the ball in just one: the 34-7 win at Tennessee on Oct. 17.

“If I had the answer to that, I’d have a lot less stress on me, that’s for sure. It’s been hard to put my finger on it," Stoops said of the inability to put together complete games on both sides of the ball.

"There’s no excuse. We need to put it together. We need to play as a team. We need to play the very best we can on all sides, and it doesn’t seem like we’re doing that, and that’s very frustrating to me."

Stoops, a longtime defensive coach and coordinator, takes it to heart when that unit does not perform to his standards. The frustration in the tone of his voice mounted Monday as he spoke about the Vanderbilt performance.

"I think the urgency needs to be greater," he said. "The attention to detail for an entire game needs to be greater. I know defensively, for me, there’s no excuse. I sit there and watch us and at times I see a group of young men that just wants somebody else to make the play.

"They want some miraculous call to stop the play. ‘Coach, you call something good so we can stop this play because I don’t want to stop it, I’m not going to make a play. I want my neighbor to make a play, but I don’t want to make a play, or I want to do my own thing. I don’t want to execute the defense, I just want to do my own thing so I can get a stat.’ That’s what I see."

Kentucky's inability to get off the field consistently against the Commodores took away a golden opportunity for the Cats' offense to build even more confidence, added Stoops, noting he would have liked to have found more snaps for backup quarterbacks Beau Allen and Joey Gatewood, among other reserves.

"Each and every time you get on the field, I don’t care if it’s a backup or who you are, you only have so many opportunities and you gotta go out there and respect the game and play the game the way it is supposed to be played, and I didn’t think we did that at times," Stoops said.

It doesn't get any easier this week. Next up for UK is No. 1 Alabama (6-0) on Saturday in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide currently boast the No. 2 offense in college football at 47.2 points per game. The line opened with the Cats as a 30-point underdog, one of the biggest figures of the Stoops era.

"Offensively, maybe as good an offensive team as I’ve seen since I’ve been a head coach and a coordinator," Stoops said. "It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone as explosive as they are offensively because they’re so balanced. They’re extremely physical when they want to be and create unbelievable big plays with the talent and receivers they have. (Former UK QB commitment) Mac (Jones) is playing at an extremely high level. Very, very dangerous."