Stoops, Cats Ready to Move Forward
After Saturday’s loss at Mississippi State, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops was not pleased. He did not like how his team played or much of anything else about the game in Starkville.
After reviewing the tape on Sunday, that opinion did not change a great deal, Stoops said on Monday.
“Played like crap this past week,” Stoops said. “Not very many good things this past week for sure. Fell short in all areas. Not very pleased with our performance. Rough day at the office yesterday.”
Stoops was most displeased with his team’s toughness, something that the UK coach has spent his entire career building at UK.
“They played harder than us, they were more physical,” Stoops said. “We weren’t as good as we could be.”
Now, the Cats must bounce back with SEC East rival Tennessee coming to Lexington on Saturday. Stoops thinks that his team will play better and he knows why that is likely to happen.
“That’s what we’ve done. That’s what we do,” Stoops said. “We’re not perfect but I have a lot of confidence in the leadership of this team and we’ll respond back. There’s no reason to feel sorry for yourself.”
If the Cats are to bounce back, they need to return to a familiar, successful formula. One that has worked for UK for a long time now.
“For us, it’s about going back to being who we are,” Stoops said. “One thing I didn’t like about last week is they were more physical than us. That can’t happen. They seem to be more motivated at times. Certainly more physical at times. Executed better. They outplayed us and it’s up to us to get back to who we are. I can’t control what opponents do but I can control the way we do things, the way we go about our business in practice and how we play on Saturday.”
The Cats will host Tennessee on Saturday at Kroger Field. The Vols are 4-4 under first-year coach Josh Heupel. Tennessee started 4-2 before dropping its last two games to a pair of ranked opponents, Ole Miss and Alabama. Stoops knows that the Vols have gotten much better as they have become more acclimated in Heupel’s system.
“I’m very impressed with Tennessee,” Stoops said. “They’re playing at an extremely high tempo offensively. Overall, a much-improved team.”
Kentucky won big last season in Knoxville, 34-7. The Cats had two interception returns for touchdowns in that game. If UK can win this week, it would be the first time that Kentucky has beaten Tennessee in consecutive seasons since 1976 and 1977.
Two years ago, in the last meeting in Lexington, Kentucky grabbed a 13-0 lead in the first quarter, only to fall 17-13. The teams have split the last four meetings.
For now, Stoops and his team are just trying to get back on the right track after a disappointing game in Starkville on Saturday. And for that to happen, Stoops and the Cats simply need to go back to being themselves.
