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When opponents enter the red zone against Kentucky, they leave it with points.
Every time.
The Wildcats have allowed teams to drive inside their 20-yard line 22 times this season. Each drive has ended with the ball going through the uprights, either on a field goal or an extra point following a touchdown.
That's not exactly the recipe for success for a program trying to take the next step in the Southeastern Conference.
The Wildcats (3-3, 0-3) have lost three straight heading into Saturday's game against No. 10 South Carolina (4-1, 2-1), and know they need to start getting defensive stops soon if they want to turn around their season.
Coach Joker Phillips has a simple solution to his team's red zone woes: get tougher.
''You bow up,'' Phillips said. ''Bow your neck, try to get some minus-yard plays to push them out of the red zone.''
Finding a solution and executing it, however, are two very different things. South Carolina has been nearly unstoppable when driving deep into opposing territory. The Gamecocks have scored on 19 of 20 trips inside the red zone - the best in the SEC. All but two of those drives have resulted in touchdowns.
Coach Steve Spurrier credits the dynamic blocking schemes of new offensive line coach Shawn Elliott and the powerful legs of freshman star running back Marcus Lattimore for giving the Gamecocks the swagger needed to finish drives in the end zone.
''The ability to run the ball in from inside the 5-yard line, gosh, we could never do that before here,'' Spurrier said. ''But having Marcus and maybe that little scheme of blocking ... gives us a chance to do that. Hopefully it'll continue.''
If it doesn't, it'll be a first for the Wildcats.
The defense has looked helpless at times during the losing streak, giving up an average of 42.3 points.
Phillips, however, remains upbeat. Though the defense struggled in the first half against Auburn last week - allowing the Tigers to score on all five possessions - Kentucky held Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton in check for most of the second half as the team rallied from a 17-point deficit.
Not that it stopped the Tigers from surviving 37-34 behind a 19-play drive that ended with Wes Byrum's game-winning 24-yard field goal.
''The good thing is, we did hold them to two field goals (in the red zone),'' Phillips said. ''The problem is, one of them was the field goal that won the game.''
Phillips isn't as concerned about his team's inability to stop opponents once they're inside the 20 as he is about the frequency with which they get there. The 22 red zone trips the Wildcats have allowed also are the most in the league.
''That's way too many times of getting in the red zone,'' Phillips said. ''We got to keep people out of the red zone.''
They'll have to find solutions against one of the hottest teams in the country. South Carolina put up 35 points against defending national champion Alabama last week, scoring touchdowns all four times it drew within the shadow of the Crimson Tide goalposts.
The Gamecocks can score in different ways. The bruising Lattimore gives them the kind of punishing running back they've lacked, while 6-foot-4 wide receiver Alshon Jeffrey is a matchup nightmare for opposing cornerbacks.
Kentucky safety Winston Guy, who collected his first career interception last week, said the Wildcats don't need to do anything differently when other teams get in the red zone. They just need to do what they are doing a little bit better.
''You have to be poised,'' Guy said. ''Everybody can't be out of control and not know what they're supposed to do or where they're supposed to be. It's totally mental in the red zone.''
It's a test the Wildcats have failed consistently. South Carolina has been the exact opposite. The Gamecocks are stopping opponents from scoring on 40 percent of their trips in the red zone. A little bit of their success is luck. Alabama and Georgia both missed chip shot field goals against South Carolina.
Yet the Gamecocks were also able to produce a couple of red zone takeaways, something Kentucky has yet to do. The Wildcats have created just two turnovers in conference play while giving it away six times.
It's a number that needs to be flipped if Kentucky wants to advance to a bowl game for a fifth straight season.
''We're minus-four in the last three weeks,'' Phillips said. ''I think that's the common denominator of the teams that win and lose.''
