UK with No Need to Search for Motivation Heading to Tennessee
Saturdays are about competing. Sundays and Mondays are about learning.
In competing this past Saturday with the SEC East on the line, Kentucky fell short. So, in turn, the Wildcats had to make Sunday and Monday count.
“You have to learn and grow from every opportunity and certainly in that game, we have to take some good from that,” Mark Stoops said. “We have to learn from that, and they will. I think that matters, you keep on getting in that position, and you have to earn the right to get in that position from a lot of hard work, and we gotta continue to do that.”
UK’s quest to play in another game with the same kind of stakes as last weekend’s vs. Georgia begins immediately. Though the No. 11 Cats (7-2, 5-2 SEC) have already played in a championship game, a quarter of the regular season and plenty to play for still remains.
“I think our team, we have to be motivated the same way again this week, and each and every week,” Stoops said. “That gets to be the challenge as you get through the grind of the season. You get late in the year here, sometimes that monotony sets in and we can’t let that happen.”
An important part of that “we” will be UK’s leadership. With a veteran group of players who also happen to be the best on the team, Stoops counts himself lucky on that front. He expects them to take an active role in preventing any sort of monotony from setting in.
“The guys have been very good,” Stoops said. “Nobody is perfect. Everybody is going to have some ups and downs. But, we have enough guys on this team and enough leaders. You saw that Saturday after the game and I anticipate the guys will come in ready to go.”
For Kentucky, a matchup with rival Tennessee historically has been about as big as it gets. This time, with the possibility of winning the SEC now gone, the phrase “trap game” is being bandied about – not inside the Joe Craft Football Training Facility though.
“Like I talked last week, the situation is going to change every week and this is a different situation,” Stoops said. “We are going on the road. We are playing Tennessee at Tennessee with our last league game and it is very important to us.”
The Volunteers (4-5, 1-4 SEC) will have a great deal on the line in Neyland Stadium Saturday at 3:30 p.m., as they need to win two of their final three games – all against SEC opponents – to qualify for a bowl. UK, meanwhile, is still within reach of a historically successful regular season and a bid to a prestigious bowl.
UK will also be attempting to end a 34-year streak of losses in Knoxville, Tennessee – one of the last such streaks the Cats have yet to stop under Stoops. That might be the subject of some headlines, but don’t expect it to be a topic in the UK locker room.
“I think just beating Tennessee is important to us,” Stoops said. “Whether there’s a streak involved or not, why would that make a difference to our team, really? They don’t know anything about 34 years ago. Be honest with you, they really don’t care. They want to win for their team this year. I think that’s very important and that’s motivation for us.”
The Vols have had an up-and-down season in Jeremy Pruitt’s first as head coach, with the high-water mark coming at home in the form of a 30-24 upset of then-No. 21/21 Auburn. In that game, sophomore Jarrett Guarantano threw for a season-high 328 yards and two touchdowns.
“You can see him,” Stoops said. “He is really good when he is in rhythm. He’s got some really talented wide receivers. He is playing more confident and experience and getting better. He’s done some good things.”
UK will also be facing a huge, orange-clad crowd. Going on the road, however, isn’t necessarily the worst thing for this team.
“I think we’ve had good concentration on the road,” Stoops said. “We like to talk about that because that’s a fact. That’s the way the situation is. We’re in there, we get on our bus, get on our plane and go there, kind of united, no distractions. That’s what it dictates, and that’s what it is, so therefore, we better make the best of it.”
