UK Focused Only on Team
Since the Wildcats came together for fall camp, Mark Stoops has praised his team for its togetherness.
The group, he said, had an all-for-one mentality and embraced every opportunity to learn, which suggested good things to come for the 2017 season, but that would be put to the test once the season kicked off.
Consider that test passed, both on the scoreboard and in Kentucky’s approach.
“I felt like the team was very united, very unselfish and maybe not exactly real pleased with their individual play at times but happy to get the team victory,” Stoops said.
That sums up the general mood of the team entering UK’s home opener vs. Eastern Kentucky at noon on Saturday: satisfied with the result for the team, if not with everything about the way it happened.
Look to Benny Snell for the best example.
The sophomore running back was expected to be the bell cow of UK’s offensive attack after a 1,000-yard debut season, but he only had 69 yards on 20 carries against Southern Miss. His yards-per-carry average (3.45) was the worst of his career by more than a yard and he had a costly lost fumble on the goal line on UK’s second possession.
“I saw a lot of errors,” Snell said. “I was impatient on a lot of the runs. Early on in the game, I was seeing a lot of color so it made me want to go. I just gotta learn to be more patient. Looking back on the film, I made errors, the line made errors, but after fixing it we’re going to put it all together.”
A year ago, Snell might have still been fuming about such a performance, even in victory. Now, like his team, he sees the bigger picture.
“Things like that mess with me, but still learning and I’m still maturing,” Snell said. “Especially after the win and us still winning, after all that, I was able to get it all out of my head and I was happy we got the win. So it was good.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Denzil Ware had one of the best games of his career against Southern Miss. He had a sack, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries, one of which he returned for a touchdown. Named Southeastern Conference Defensive Lineman of the Week, even Ware had his mind on his team more than himself.
“It was really all a team effort and it’s for the whole defense,” Ware said. “It’s not just for me. It’s for the whole defense, so I appreciate them for that.”
The whole defense will be looking to sustain the momentum it built in last weekend, particularly in the way it defended the run. Even so, the talk this week has been about how Ware, Josh Allen and Josh Paschal could have a field day rushing the passer against an Eastern Kentucky team that threw the ball 48 times for 320 yards in a loss to WKU in its season opener.
The Cats aren’t thinking about that. Not yet.
“Let me tell you something now,” defensive coordinator Matt House said. “EKU’s got two big, good backs too. It’s still gonna start with stopping the run. When you make a team one dimensional then you earn the right to rush the passer. But if you don’t stop the run you don’t earn the right to rush the passer.”
So, in other words, the Cats are about to hear more of the same from Stoops and House when it comes to defending the run. Those so-called “sledgehammers to the head” Stoops has talked about? Don’t expect them to stop coming.
“Him turning red, that’s the sledgehammer,” Ware said. “Before the season even started, he said last year that we were not going to look like that defense last year or a couple years ago, that this was going to be a whole new change, a whole new team. That’s exactly what we’re going to do. We’re going to make the preacher right.”
In addition to defending the run, the preacher is now talking about the Colonels. EKU is two years removed from taking UK to overtime in Lexington and figures to have the Cats’ attention, particularly since EKU’s head coach at the time, Dean Hood, is now on staff.
“I was very impressed with them,” Stoops said. “We’re going to have to play much better. They’re an improved football team. They were very impressive on both sides of the ball. Very impressed with the way they threw the football. I want to say they threw it for 320 yards last week against a very good Western team and had a couple opportunities to cut the game to a very close game. We’re going to need to improve and play well.”
That’s an important final note from Stoops.
“This game is not about (Eastern Kentucky) at all,” Stoops said. “This game is about us. This game is totally about us.”
