Stein Wants Cats to Capitalize on Opportunities

While the Kentucky football team did beat then-No. 10 LSU on Saturday night, UK head coach Will Stein knows that his team can still play better. He addressed that, and more, during his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

“We have to continue to push and grow and understand there were opportunities this past Saturday for us to really put the game out of hand and to score 42 points,” Stein said. “That’s a fact. There’s so much to clean up. We didn’t tackle well. We’ve got to tackle better.”

Stein knows that every team in the Southeastern Conference is good, and that every team is vulnerable if they don’t play their best.

“I’m sure (Oklahoma) Coach (Brent) Venables is saying, and what I say is, everybody in this league can beat each other,” Stein said. “And if you don’t play well or to a standard, that’s when you get embarrassed. And it’s our job, as a football coach, as a program, to put our guys in a situation to be successful, mentally, physically, in every facet of their life.”

Speaking of Oklahoma, they will be the Cats’ next opponent, as the two teams will face off in Norman on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network). The Sooners are coming off a win over then-No. 1 Texas on Saturday and will carry a lot of momentum into Saturday’s game.

“They’re coming off a huge win for their program,” Stein said. “We obviously had a really good win for our program. It’s their first SEC home game, I believe. The fans in Norman are going to be juiced up for their squad and they have a really good team.”

Stein’s Cats are off to a 5-1 start in his first season. He was asked if he felt like his impressive start was more of a “I told you so” moment, or if it was more like “you haven’t seen anything yet.”

“Neither, to be honest,” Stein said. “I just really try to show up every single day and do my job, which is to be the head football coach and to create an environment of competition, of discipline, of accountability, toughness. I think when you have a good process, which I believe we do here as an organization, it sets you up to be successful. So, I really don’t worry about what people think about me. I never have, I never will. That’s just kind of how I am as a person and that’s how my team plays.”

Stein and his Cats will spend the week fixing little issues and preparing for a tough road environment at Oklahoma.