Kentucky-Florida Postgame Quotes
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEDIA CONFERENCE
November 8, 2025
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Coach Mark Stoops
Press Conference
Kentucky – 38 Florida –7
MARK STOOPS: All right. Just a very good victory. Super proud of our football team. I’ve sat in here and told you that last Saturday at Auburn. On Monday, we talked about it, that the guys keep on working extremely hard. They care, they care about each other. I feel like we are improving in certain areas and it continues to show up. When mistakes happen, we’ve overcome it with the other side or other group or another person stepping up. And we talk about that a lot. Adversities going to hit. How do you respond to it? How do we handle it? Our guys have done that. You know, it starts with great effort and wasn’t always pretty out there tonight, but the effort was. And I really appreciate that from our guys. You know, that’s where it starts. With the effort and with the physicality and the toughness. Thought we played really good again in all three areas. Great team victory.
Q Mark, you talked with us just a few weeks ago after the loss against Tennessee. You said, I know how hard it is with the fans right now with the way this is happening on this field. What does it feel like for you and these players to get these fans an at home SEC victory tonight versus not being able to say that a few weeks ago?
MARK STOOPS: It’s important. I acknowledge that. I understand. These folks sacrifice an awful lot. They care and they continue to show up. We are going to need them to continue to do that. We always acknowledge it and appreciate them. They have to save money, they travel long distances. They show up week in and week out. I’ve always acknowledged our responsibility to play well for them. I promise you we give a great effort. I like this team and I think they do too. They are very tough and they care and they are passionate for each other. And to play well, it was nice to get some rewards. We are close a lot, but that doesn’t count when you are a fan or media. I understand that.
Q Mark, when things were the darkest and most difficult, why didn’t the team implode? It seems around the country we’ve seen that, why didn’t that happen?
MARK STOOPS: It’s just not what we are going to do. You know what I mean? We are just not going to do that. We’ve got really good leadership, I’ve said that over and over. That’s not just coach B. They really generally are really great young men and they work really hard and they care. They care about the way they play. Tonight, again it was a great moment in there because mistakes were made. Fumble a punt return, interceptions, fumbles, different things, the other side has to pick them up. That’s what we are going to continue to do.
Q Mark, I think on media day Brad said a bunch of young defensive talent here or since he’s been here. Are we starting to see that with some of the guys making plays?
MARK STOOPS: Yeah. You are seeing a lot of guys step up. On defense alone tonight, we were down, Alex, Lovett, Sam Greene, and Tavion. For the majority of the night. And other guys stepped up. And that’s really good to see.
Q Mark, the first quarter when going into the second and Cutter – put your foot on the gas on the tempo. What was the reasoning behind that decision and why were you comfortable going at a pace like that?
MARK STOOPS: We’ve done a lot, well, we’ve done it this year. It’s about, you know, you can go fast but you have to get first downs. Then you get plays and then you get them on the heels. We tried it from time to time this year. When you are effective, you can do that.
Q Conversely, the third quarter kind of a classic Stoops immortalizing. What did you feel about the offensive line in response to that?
MARK STOOPS: I thought that was an enormous drive to start the second half. We really were physical in that drive. We mixed it up and converted some third downs, throwing I want to say. We started throwing a little bit. We were balanced and we were physical. At that point you are trying to put yourself in a great position to win the game, right? In a long drive with seven points at the end of it was pretty important.
Q Mark, Seth every night –?
MARK STOOPS: Seth is a really good football player. He’s a tough guy, he’s a tough guy to bring down. Just once again, loved the physicality that he plays with and the passion that he plays with and he has great vision and he catches the ball very good. He’s a good football player.
Q How much did you all kinda redo the short yardage package after that Texas game? It seems like there was a lot of different wrinkles that we had just not seen before.
MARK STOOPS: We have. And again, going into that game we had been good for the most part on short yardage. It wasn’t in that game. You better look at it and you better evaluate it. You know, these guys we play are very big and physical. So you better have some different wrinkles and we’ve done that.
Q Mark, anything about Cutter surprise you about not expecting to start off –?
MARK STOOPS: I wouldn’t say it is fair to say it surprised me, I’m very pleased. You know, he certainly has made really good jumps each and every week. Like last week, I thought that was a really impressive win. I know the stats are not overwhelming or anything like that. That’s what you are going to get in this league. You go on the road, it’s tough. Even at home against a very talented football team. Tough yards out there. He’s having fun. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. And it’s all pretty all the time. You have to tough your way through it and grit it out. You know, he’s doing that. And that’s what you have to love about him.
Q Mark, when you came here, Kentucky hadn’t been Florida since 1986. You’ve now beaten them five times. What does that mean for you?
MARK STOOPS: You know, as I acknowledge, when I first got here everybody would throw that on me and man, we had so much work to do. Let me try to, you know what I mean, just get out on the ground. So I was just worried about concentrating on getting our team right. And then we had some really close games and again, I’ve acknowledged that one got a little heavy. It is what it is, man. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for you. Better swing your way out of it and you better have a good team and you better fight and claw and do what you have to do. We had some tough ones where we came up short. Right? It wasn’t fun. Hopefully everybody enjoys it. You know the victories. Because they are hard to come by and it’s a good talented football team and I’m proud of our guys.
Q Coach, what do you appreciate during the play calling?
MARK STOOPS: He had done a really nice job. In particular, we are really creating some space on third downs getting some talented guys off of us. Finding ways to create space, convert some third downs and we were physical. There was a rhyme and reason for everything we had done. Again, we were really effective on short yardage. When we had to run the ball and everybody knew we were going to run the ball, we ran it, that’s important as well.
Q Mark, Brad said before the Auburn game last week they wanted to get the taste out of their mouth three points allowed against Auburn and seven obviously tonight. How has the defense, like you said, just really stepped up to take ownership to up their game?
MARK STOOPS: You have to take accountability for it. And we did. Everybody looked at their part and tried to improve. And there is no finger-pointing. There’s things everybody could do better, and they have. You acknowledge it and you move on. As I said last week, the group has pride, and they care about the way they play. And we are playing very hard, but we are executing better too. We are more precise.
Q, You talk about young players growing into their rolls. Is that true for your offensive coordinator as well?
MARK STOOPS: I wouldn’t say growing into it. He’s got plenty of experience with that. I will say adapting to what we can do and putting our guys in good positions. I appreciate what he’s done there. He’s worked really hard to find ways that would maximize our players talents. As we see a young quarterback growing up before us, you know, guys are playing better. We are making tough catches and doing some good things and so I think there is growth across the board.
Q Mark, -success at the quarterback position – freshman doing so well so early on. Just looking at the potential growth down the road?
MARK STOOPS: You have no idea. No, I mean, I believe in Cutter for a long time. You know, for many years. Three or four years. It’s just, I’m really proud of him, as I mentioned to the question earlier the growth that he’s making and improvement he’s making each and every week. He gives everybody some hope. It’s been good.
Q Mark, – 250 yards off seven completions and hear a year later – intercepted three times – how rewarding is it to see that bounce back?
MARK STOOPS: I’m always proud of our guys. Not directed at any given player. That’s on us, not on him. He’s a very talented player. You know we’ve been playing good. It’s was important to play well. It was the next opportunity for us, we are at home. It was super important for us to play well. I’m proud of our coaches and I’m proud of our players. They really attack it the right way. Like I said, they are playing hard but we are executing and doing the little things better.
Q Those defensive injuries, do you think they are long-term things?
MARK STOOPS: I don’t know, it will be a few weeks, I would think on most of them.
Q Since you made the quarterback change, you talked about Cutter has made growth every week and shown growth. So has the team. How much have they rallied around him and galvanize?
MARK STOOPS: Again, I’ve said that, I’ve acknowledged that. We are playing better. Guys are playing better around him, but definitely he has something to do with that. The way he is seeing things, the way he’s buying time, the vision that he has distributing the football, he’s making us better, and there is no question.
Q To go back to the question for a minute. All around the country, teams that have faced adversity have imploded. We’ve seen teams that were to have thought to be in the national championship race just fall apart. How did you keep that from happening?
MARK STOOPS: You know, that’s what we do. We have a great staff. The coaches have done a great job. I care, you know what I mean? I’ve worked hard with the team just in relationships and that goes way back into last winter, into the summer for each other. Everybody invest in each other. They believe. For me, it’s easy, you know that, I think you know me. For me you swing I’m gonna swing back. That’s easy. But it’s not always easy to get everybody to do that. 150 people in our building to do that. And being on the same page and I’m proud of the group effort. The coaches, the players, everybody. We are all in this together. There’s never been one bit, I think you’ve know that and you’ve covered me for a long time. There’s never been 1 inch of hesitancy from me. There’s going to be no flinching, no worries, I work extremely hard and I care about this University. The people have given me the opportunity, the fans, we are going to bang away and we are not going to stop.
KENTUCKY FOOTBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. FLORIDA
KROGER FIELD – LEXINGTON, KY.
NOVEMBER 8, 2025
UK Student-Athletes
#14, Ty Bryant, DB
On his interception …
“It felt amazing. We were talking about it pregame…one of Florida’s balls rolled over to us. Every ball is unique, and their ball had a Jordan logo on it. Then, I looked at Cam Dooley and said ‘I wanted this ball’. It happened to end up in my hands, so it was amazing.”
On the defensive performance tonight …
“Our intensity has been very high. Our practices are going great, and we come to work every day ready to bring that intensity. Then it shows up on Saturdays. We talk about it in the meeting rooms. The way you practice translates.”
On the defense’s resilience …
“We had a next man up mentality. We talk about it all the time…’anything can happen in the blink of an eye’. It was unfortunate for those who got hurt, but our guys stepped up. Everyone was ready and went out there and played great. I am excited for them.”
#7, Daveren Rayner, LB
On what the key is to getting everyone on the same page…
“We know what we have put in from January until now. We know the type of teammates we have and the kind of players we are. It all comes down to believing in each other and fighting for one another. We have done a great job of that, and it has only improved as the season has progressed”
On Kentucky still fighting…
“We know what we are capable of. Looking back at our schedule, things did not always go our way, but when we review the film on Sundays and Mondays, we see that it often comes down to just a few plays. Four to six plays can be the difference between winning and losing. We know the type of players we have in this program and the work we have put in. For us, it is about getting better every week. Next week, we have Tennessee Tech, and we will prepare the right way to make sure we come out with a win”
On things getting chippy on the field and what was said …
“Just being competitive. Nothing too much about it. They have good ball players. We have good ball players.”
#8, Cutter Boley, QB
On getting the first home SEC win this year…
“It was huge, especially after coming up just slightly short in a few home games this year. That was a good one to pull out, especially for BBN, for us, for the coaches, just everybody in general. That was a good one to go out there and dominate.”
On trailing at the end of the first quarter and the turnaround coming into the second…
“To be honest, this whole week, this whole day, we’ve come with juice, and everybody was excited and everybody was ready to play. We felt that we had won this game, but we were so confident, and we had a heartbeat tonight. And it was just really good to see these guys play hard.”
On what he can do now that he couldn’t in his first start…
“Just growing up as a quarterback in every aspect. I mean not a lot of certain’ in particulars’, but just all around. Growing in every aspect of my game, growing in leadership, growing in everything. I think these guys have really come around, and they have supported me through everything, and really kept feeding into me, and I give them all the praise.”
#75, Joshua Braun, OL
On what inspired this performance…
“We knew that going into this game would be physical, and if we were to jump on a marrow, that something would give. It is a credit in the back, hitting the holes as hard as they can, and then really making the yards after contact. That was big in this game, and it has been a long season, and we never let go of the rope. We kept fighting, kept battling—and after last week— we got some confidence, and we wanted to put on a great show for these fans, and this great state of Kentucky. That is ultimately what we wanted to do, and I hope that’s what we did.”
On why they didn’t go in on the rope…
“We have a lot of guys on this team—like Jager Burton, like Josh Kattus, like Cutter Boley—that care about the state of Kentucky. They are hometown guys. We have guys like Ty Bryant—guys from the area who love Kentucky. To transfer to a place like this with so much tradition, so much history, so much love for the Kentucky Wildcats and this football team, I mean, who would not want to go on and put a show for this great state? And, as soon as we got here, that is what Jager kind of brought us into the Kentucky tradition, showed us what it meant to be a part of the Big Blue Wall. And he was very open about it. He embraced every transfer, and I think it is finally starting to translate onto the field.”
On how you have seen Cutter Boley grow and the offense grow a whole…
“It has been great to see him gain more confidence back there, and I hope we do a good job of giving him confidence in his protection. To see how he has grown this season, it makes me excited for these next three games, and me personally, for his whole career. Cutter has become a good friend of mine, and I look forward to seeing what he is able to accomplish throughout his time here in Kentucky.”
Florida Interim Head Coach Billy Gonzales
Opening Statement…
“Obviously, it was not anywhere close to what we wanted. [It is] not acceptable in any terms to take a loss the way we did, so we have got to get back and take a look at the film and evaluate where we are at.”
On what went into the decision to bench Quarterback DJ Lagway at halftime…
“That was my decision. I thought we had a rough first half and I thought it might be good for him to have a chance to gather and look at it from a coach’s point-of-view from the sideline. We needed to play better all the way around, not just him. Everyone needs to play a little bit better and I will take the blame for everything. If you take a look at what we do and where we need to be, it is unacceptable and I am going to put me up in front and say ‘that is on me’. I will take the blame for this loss 100 percent, so we [have to] be better. I have got to be better and make sure these players can continue forward.”
On if quarterback DJ Lagway is the starter for game against Ole Miss…
“We will take a look at the film and—obviously we think he is a very talented young man—but we will take a look at everything and kind of move forward once we get back home.”
On how he felt about the game unraveling…
“You have four turnovers in the first half, you’re not going to win the game—especially when you are playing a team that takes up so much time of possession early on. We started off offensively…I thought we did a decent job coming out. We started off moving the ball, then we had an interception. Obviously, fourth drive we had a fumble, came back sixth drive had another interception, then the seventh drive another interception. So, if you don’t take care of the ball, you are not going to win the game. So, we did a poor job taking care of the ball. They did a really good job rushing the ball, and obviously we did not get off the field on third downs. They did not punt at all. Like I said, I will take the blame for everything.”
On how he thought quarterback Tremell Jones handled the game…
“I think he came in and did what he was supposed to do. [He] had a chance to try and move the ball and then had penalties. You start moving the ball and you get penalties and you get behind, then you get third and long again and you are not going to be successful that way. Again, we [have to] be better and I kept saying over and over ‘I want these players to continue to play hard’. We [have to] put them in a better situation, but I will take the blame on this one. It is not acceptable by any means and that will come straight on me.”
Florida Student-Athletes
#5, Myles Graham, LB
On how surprising today’s game was defensively…
“It was really shocking. Honestly, it is really embarrassing, and I did not know that we were going to come out and play like that. I am really blindsided, just like everybody else is. So we [have to] look in the mirror. We [have to] do better. That is completely unacceptable, and that is not the Gator standard. We really have to shake back and just do better all around.”
On Cutter Boley and his accuracy and pressure…
“Definitely not enough pressure [from us]. You can be accurate when there is no pressure on you, and just mental busts on defense. We just did not do our job enough. And it is not even on the offense. They gave us the long field too, and we did not capitalize when we needed to. We did not get off the field on third down and that is completely on us.”
On close Georgia game and mental state this Saturday night…
“We just did not prepare the right way throughout the whole week, and we got hit in the mouth. So that is what happens in the SEC and no one is going to feel sorry for us. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror. We got hit in the mouth. And that is football.”
