Cats Know Path Forward after Stinging Defeat
There will be many across the Commonwealth who have a hard time sleeping Saturday night.
Some will think about failed conversions on third-and-short and fourth-and-short. Others will rue that missed go-ahead field goal in the final minute. Others still will wonder what could have been had a call or two gone another way.
Count Mark Stoops among them.
“There’s an awful lot of plays in the game and you never know which play is going to decide the outcome,” Stoops said. “There was a bunch in there that will jump out at all of us that go our way or don’t get a penalty, things of that nature, you know, can change the outcome of a game.”
All those plays added up to a 29-21 loss for Kentucky (2-1) to a No. 9/8 Florida team (3-0) that scored 19 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Nearly everyone in a devastated UK locker room will be wanting a play here or there back, but there are lessons in that.
“We played very, very good football at times, and in certain situations, we’ve got to get better and execute better,” Stoops said. “Game comes down to inches. We’re short on the fourth down when we were up 11 and comeback and run it on third down there and end up with six inches short or whatever it was, eight inches short, and missed the field goal.
“Comes down a game of inches. You know, that ball goes in, or we get that first down, we’re all sitting here saying that’s one heck of a football game.”
In spite of all that, it really was a wonder UK had a double-digit fourth-quarter lead in the first place. The Wildcats outplayed a top-10 opponent for 45 minutes with an inexperienced secondary further depleted by an injury to Taj Dodson and the ejection of Yusuf Corker. They overcame the loss of a quarterback with a 12-3 record in 15 career starts in Terry Wilson thanks to his fearless backup, Sawyer Smith.
“I thought he did some really good things,” Stoops said. “You know, there’s some plays that we could do over, and you know, there’s some plays that the receivers can help him on, as well. So it’s just a matter of getting everybody on the same page. I think there’s a lot to build on there. I was proud of the way he went in and played and gave us an opportunity to win this game.”
Smith’s day started inauspiciously, as the graduate transfer from Troy fumbled on UK’s first drive to set up a Florida touchdown. A few plays later – the last a sack – Smith found himself in third-and-21 situation that he escaped with a perfectly thrown pass to Ahmad Wagner for a 23-yard gain.
“His toughness, his mental capacity for what we did,” Eddie Gran said. “We gave him everything. We didn’t take anything out of the playbook and I thought he handled it pretty well.”
Smith completed 23-of-35 passes for 267 yards and two touchdowns. His four turnovers, though the last came on a desperation heave as time expired, are the major blemishes on an otherwise impressive starting debut.
“I just really believe the young man’s going to be really, really good as we continue,” Gran said. “We’ll continue putting more on him and I think he’ll love the challenge. I’m excited about coaching him.”
That sentiment goes for this entire UK team on the part of the coaching staff. This loss stings, no question, and the road ahead is tough, but there is a clear path forward.
“First of all, it’s going to hurt, when you invest in what we invest, it should hurt and it’s going to hurt,” Stoops said. “We all have to look at it. We always have. It’s the same whether it’s a win or loss; what can we all do better, you know, and you know, just be very open about that, and man up and look at yourself and see the things you could do better and how we can do better, and build on that.”
The Cats have nine guaranteed opportunities over the next two-plus months. If the first three weeks are any indication, there’s plenty of reason to believe they can capitalize on them.
“The first game it was one half,” Brad White said. “The second game it was another half. This game it was three quarters. They are so close to putting it all together.”
