Mark Stoops kicked off his weekly in-season press conference on Monday as he often does, reflecting on UK’s previous game.He began by singing a tune similar to the one he sang following a dominant win over UT Martin on Saturday, praising his team’s effort and attitude as a “good first step” in a long season.That’s when the perfectionist in Stoops came out.”There’s also a lot to improve on,” Stoops said. “There’s a lot of things we can do better that we will do better.”If you were concerned about the Wildcats resting on their laurels after a 59-14 victory, fear not. “It won’t be a pleasant film session today, I can promise you that,” Stoops said, laughing.However, the positives that had Stoops fired up 48 hours ago remain from the blowout win. He still likes the way Patrick Towles operated the offense in his first start and the play-making ability A.J. Stamps brings to the safety position. The energy the Wildcats brought in the way they started the game, that’s a great sign too.The difference now is that Stoops knows how much his team has to work on before UK takes the field on Saturday against Ohio, which is a positive in and of itself.On offense, a lot of that work to be done is in the ground game.”There were some good things,” Stoops said. “But there were some things in the run game, some of our fits, just not striking people, being as violent as we need to be. So there’s a lot of areas to improve, and we will.”Defensively, Stoops’ primary focus will be on sustaining energy.Through nine drives on Saturday, UK had allowed just 164 yards on 39 plays, pitching a shutout through the better part of three quarters. Over UT Martin’s final four drives, the Skyhawks rolled up nearly 250 yards and two touchdowns.”I think part of that is guys were enthused and they were anxious to play,” Stoops said. “That first game, everybody was jacked up. It’s been a long offseason. That’s the good thing. I want good energy. But then we have to maintain it. We have to come out of the locker room the second half and be a consistent football team.”Some of that can be pinned on UK’s offense too, considering all but two of the Cats’ nine scoring drives lasted less than three minutes. That’s a good problem to have.”Statistically it’s not always going to be pretty,” Stoops said. “But I hope we’re in that situation. I hope we’re up a whole bunch and the defense has to be up there, we score quickly.”Stoops, however, isn’t giving the defense a pass, especially not to the backups who gave up the bulk of the yardage and all of the points on Saturday.”We need to get some depth and we need some guys to step up and compete,” Stoops said. “To give up two touchdowns and a bunch of yards the last four possessions is something that we can’t do and we won’t do.”UK needs to improve right away because Stoops says Ohio represents a significant step up in competition.”It’s obviously going to be a much bigger challenge for us with Ohio,” Stoops said. “Looking forward to playing Ohio. Coach (Frank) Solich has been around for a long time and been extremely successful. He’s building a very consistent program there at Ohio.”Ohio needed a field goal as time expired to finish off a 17-14 victory over Kent State over the weekend, but the Bobcats outgained their opponent 437-295. Ohio had four fumbles in the game, but Stoops knows better than to expect those mistakes to repeat themselves.”With Ohio, they’re obviously more talented, have some great experience,” Stoops said. “They’re good football players, they really are. Five straight bowl games, return eight starters on defense, a team that plays sound, good, tough football. They’re not going to give you things easy. You have to go earn them.”Based on both the things they did well against UT Martin and the things they didn’t, the Cats are well positioned to do just that.”The good thing is that I felt like, as I said after the game, it was a good game,” Stoops said. “Our team needed it. Our fans needed it. The whole deal just to go out and play well. Good news is there’s a lot of areas I think we’ll improve on.”Injury, depth chart notes

• Senior Darrian Miller returns to his regular role as UK’s starter at left tackle following a one-game suspension for a violation of team rules. With his return, Jordan Swindle moves back to right tackle with Kyle Meadows backing him up after starting last week at the position.
• Wide receiver Rashad Cunningham is also back after a one-game suspension. He is listed as a third stringer at one wide receiver position behind Javess Blue and Dorian Baker.
• This week’s depth chart has changed to reflect UK’s regular switches between playing three and four down linemen. Bud Dupree and Jason Hatcher are the starters at the two defensive end/linebacker spots.
• Khalid Henderson is now listed as the lone starter at weak-side linebacker. Last week, he and Ryan Flannigan were listed jointly. However, the competition between the two continues and both are expected to play this weekend.
• After tweaking his ankle on the second of his two long touchdowns, Braylon Heard is in recovery mode. Stoops reported the Nebraska transfer is “still a little sore” and “a question mark” for Saturday.
• Alexander Montgomery continues to rehab following knee surgery, but is now running and cutting as works to return, while fellow wide receiver Jeff Badet has an appointment Thursday to evaluate an eye injury. Neither is expected to play this weekend.