The Kentucky football team learned a harsh, disappointing reality Saturday night in Starkville, Miss., when Mike Hartline’s last-ditch throw was intercepted at the goal line on fourth down.The dream to make it to a bigger, better bowl game in Joker Phillips’ first year disappeared at Mississippi State with a 24-17 loss in front of 54,168 fans at Davis Wade Stadium. The defeat dropped UK to 4-5 on the season, 1-5 in the Southeastern Conference.The chances of making it to the Chick-fil-A Bowl, the Outback Bowl or whatever bowl one would deem “bigger” or “better” than the Music City Bowl are somewhere between extremely slim and none. Three straight wins to close the season would put Kentucky at 7-5, but that usually spells Music City, Liberty or Birmingham in terms of bowls. Tennessee made the Chick-fil-A Bowl last year with seven wins, but given the Cats’ record in the Southeastern Conference and the crazy shuffle in the SEC East this year, going back to Tennessee seems like a likely destination. Saturday’s loss to MSU was frustrating because it continued a recent string of Jekyll-and-Hyde-like performances. Just when UK’s defense put together its first 60-minute effort of the season, the bottom fell out of the offense.In the second half alone, the Kentucky defense stepped up to force five punts and only one touchdown, including a key stop on third-and-short midway through the fourth quarter. With an offense that had been slinging the ball around like it was 2007, getting a defensive stop or two seemed to be the only thing stopping this UK team from getting over the hump.But that’s been the story of late for this team. Just when one hole is patched, another hole starts to leak. Phillips has said he would love to find out what his football team looks like if it would play a complete 60-minute football game, but with the calendar turning to November in a couple of days, he’s running out of time to see what that would actually look like. Hartline had his first mediocre game since the Florida loss, as the senior gunslinger threw three interceptions. A run game without the services of Derrick Locke struggled for the third straight game as UK managed just 89 yards on the ground. Randall Cobb played spectacular at wide receiver, catching 12 balls for 171 yards and a touchdown, but the reality of the situation is not everybody seems to be on the same page at the same time when they need to be. That – not the defense, Locke’s injury or the turnovers – will likely be the ultimate factor in keeping UK from its bigger, better bowl game.The players didn’t hide their desire to go somewhere outside of Tennessee this year – which they still could in a bowl demotion or no bowl at all – but that might be the only prize left to play for at this point. It’s a tough reality, but it’s a scenario the players must now embrace.How they’ll respond to it could define this year’s team. At this point, defining the year on where the Cats go bowling is no longer in the cards.