Kentucky is riding its first three-game losing streak since the 2015 season after a calamitous road trip to Columbia, S.C.

The Wildcats (2-3, 0-3 SEC) were thoroughly dominated by a struggling Gameocks club, which drove 75 yards on 11 plays for a touchdown to open the game and never looked back en route to a 24-7 victory at Williams-Brice Stadium.

South Carolina (2-3, 1-2 SEC) held UK to just 212 total yards, completely shutting down the passing attack. The Cats' ailing quarterbacks finished just 13 of 34 for 97 yards through the air and were sacked four times on the night.

Backfield tandem Tavien Feaster and Rico Dowdle rushed for 107 and 102 yards, respectively, and scored three touchdowns for the Gamecocks.

In this Cats Illustrated "Quick Takes" feature, our staff offers its first impressions of the UK loss...

JUSTIN ROWLAND:

Kentucky's season is at a tipping point. Some of this couldn't have been anticipated. I'm talking about Terry Wilson's injury, which had a real impact on what we're seeing. Some of this, we should have seen coming a mile away given the losses on both sides of the ball. Kentucky was lifeless in Columbia. The defense looked slow and sloppy for much of the game and the offense doesn't have a pulse. If Kentucky doesn't find some way to rebound on some level after this bye week, the second half of the season could get very ugly. South Carolina is a very average football team and that might be generous. College football is about momentum, in a game and over a season. Kentucky rode a lot of it last year but now it's moving in the opposite direction.

TRAVIS GRAF:

Kentucky just had one of the worst (if not the worst) games of the Mark Stoops era. You’re staring down the barrel right now, at risk of losing the locker room if it hasn’t already been lost. There was no purpose to anything Kentucky tried to do tonight. Last year, UK had a firm identity, and this year they’re at an identity crisis. Sawyer Smith is definitely playing hurt, and it’s hurting the team. The defense played decent in spurts, but the offense handed them seven points and it had to be demoralizing watching the offense spin it’s wheels. The Cats have some soul searching to do or else you’re at risk of not even making a bowl.

JEFF DRUMMOND:

This one was worse than anyone ever could have imagined going into the game. I felt like Kentucky had its work cut out for it going up against a South Carolina team that was really hungry to end its five-game losing streak to the Cats, but this wasn't even remotely competitive. You could understand if this was 24-20 or even 24-14, but this game was a thorough embarrassment with UK lucky to score a TD during "garbage time" to avoid its first shutout of the Mark Stoops era. With Sawyer Smith somewhere between injured and ineffective and no other legitimate quarterback option prepared to play, UK needs this open date perhaps more than any I can ever remember. They have two weeks to figure something out before facing another struggling football team in the form of Arkansas and getting the team's head right for the second half of the schedule.