Cats Focused on Themselves Ahead of Vanderbilt Contest
There are times when coaches have to resort to certain tactics to get their team focused and prepared for a particular opponent. Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops will not have that problem this week, as his Cats face Vanderbilt on Saturday (7:45 ET, SEC Network).
The Commodores are coming off the upset of the year in college football, as they beat the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide 40-35 on Saturday in Nashville. Quarterback Diego Pavia engineered the stunning result as Vanderbilt beat the nation’s top-ranked team for the first time in school history. The ‘Dores have Stoops’ attention.
“I don’t have to worry about selling Vanderbilt anymore,” Stoops said at his press conference on Monday. “Telling you how good they are and how good Clark Lea has done. I have a lot of respect for Clark and what he’s been building for some time.”
Stoops has seen Vanderbilt on film and he knows that Saturday’s win over Alabama was no fluke.
“Vanderbilt was very impressive this past week. Prior to that, they had the bye and they played Missouri extremely well,” Stoops said. “They could very easily be sitting here at 2-0 in the conference against two top 10 opponents. So, very good football team. Our team just needs to be up for the challenge, we need to worry about ourselves and prepare the right way.”
Despite Vanderbilt upsetting Alabama, Stoops hopes the Cats will be focused on what they need to do and how they need to prepare for Saturday’s prime time contest.
“For us, regardless of what happens to our opponents, it’s always about us and our preparation and what we try to do,” Stoops said. “I felt like last week was very productive. I feel like our team has been progressing the past several weeks and we need to continue to do that as we hit the middle part of our schedule.”
After giving his team some time off with last week’s open date, Stoops was happy to get the team back together and to get back into game week preparation.
“It’s good to get back here after getting a couple of days off,” Stoops said. “Getting our players some time to heal up, get their bodies right, get their minds right.”
With a suddenly energized Vanderbilt program coming to Kroger Field on Saturday, Stoops hopes that his team, and the home crowd, will be ready to contribute.
“Glad to be at home this week, in a night game, so I hope to have a tremendous environment here Saturday night,” Stoops said. “It was good to get a big victory a week ago on the road. Hopefully our fans will be here in full effect on Saturday and our team will continue to play better and better.”
Stoops will not have any trouble convincing his team that Vanderbilt is for real. Now the Cats need to focus on doing the things they need to do in order to beat the Commodores.
