Kentucky Hopes Leadership, Experience Will Propel Team Forward
Kentucky rushed for more than 400 yards on Saturday but the Cats still came up short, falling to Ole Miss 42-41 in a heartbreaking overtime loss. UK is now 0-2 on the season, with nationally-ranked Mississippi State coming to Kroger Field one week from today.
Many teams might have a bleak outlook facing an 0-2 mark and with a hot opponent headed to Lexington. But Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops and his players do not seem bothered by the task. In fact, they believe they have the right people in place to handle adversity.
“I expect our leaders to step up,” Stoops said following the game. “We knew (the season) was going to be a challenge. Our players knew it was going to be a challenge. It’s going to be a challenging year. I’m going to lean on them, and we have to get back at it and get to work on Monday.”
Kentucky led for most of the game against the Rebels, only to see Ole Miss take the lead late in regulation. The Cats were able to rally and force overtime before falling short.
The players are hoping that being an experienced team will help the Cats get over the hump next week against the Bulldogs.
“Just having that mindset that this is an older team and we can control what we can control,” said senior quarterback Terry Wilson, who rushed for three touchdowns in Saturday’s game. “We can control our mindset, mentality and how we want to come out to practice and just not mope around. It sucks, but we have to get better as a team and that should be everyone’s mindset right now. Coming off this loss is tough, but I’m ready to forget about it and move on to this week coming up. So, we just have to make sure we have that mindset and be ready to be locked in on Monday and get back at it.”
Junior defensive end Josh Paschal, who had a career-high 10 tackles on Saturday, knows that he and others need to step up in this situation.
“Leadership is important right now to just get the team going and not let one turn into two,” Paschal said. “As far as the defense goes, it goes back to practice on Monday. We have to be locked in and focus on attention to detail and things like that. We have to train hard in practice and translate practice to the game. And it all starts with the work you put in during the week.”
Stoops and the UK staff will take a look at the film of this game and get some things corrected. But the coaching staff is also preparing for another tough opponent, with another challenging offensive scheme, exactly one week from today.
“We play at home next week again. It will be good to be back home, and it will be another challenge, as it will each and every week,” Stoops said. “But that’s also what makes it exciting. Every week is a big game, and you really, truly got to look at it – and I also told the team this. If it went the other way, and we’re in there celebrating and dancing and having a good time and everything, you’ve still got to go right back to work on Monday.”
Stoops will be counting on the leaders in the locker room to help the Cats get past this game and to move forward. The experiences that this team has had should help as well, as the Cats try to get past Ole Miss and look forward to Mississippi State.
