Stoops Thrilled by Kentucky's Fight; Looking to Avoid Yearly Losing Streak
Two days removed from Kentucky's first loss of the season at Ole Miss, head coach Mark Stoops has taken time to reflect on what went right and wrong for the Wildcats against the Rebels.
Some costly turnovers, penalties and other mistakes put an end to the Cats' undefeated season in Oxford. Despite the detrimental miscues, Stoops is left feeling positive about his team's effort:
"Really thought it was a great game," he said. "Even with the mistakes that we made, you know, we made mistakes that I'm not proud of, and we need to coach better and do a better job, but it was a great environment. It was a great game. I thought both teams played their tails off."
The loss extended a long losing streak for Stoops on the road against SEC West opponents. In 11 games played against cross-division foes as the visitor, the Wildcats are winless under the all-time winningest coach in program history.
While Big Blue Nation stormed The Grove and made its presence felt all game long, UK just couldn't will its way to a win, even with the multiple chances it's defense handed the offense down the stretch.
"It stinks to come up on this end, believe me," Stoops said. "You know, we talked a lot about preparing for the difficult environment. The guys were dialed in and we talked about the pride in our performance, at the end of the day when we put on the tape, that was off the charts. The third element and most important was perfect execution. We didn't have that."
Following the loss, the mood wasn't that of a team who just felt defeat for the first time this season. If there's one thing that's shown in spades by this roster, it's maturity.
"I love the way our team played, I really do. Adversity and the stakes and all that, the belief and the ability to drive it right back down there and put ourselves in a position to win that game," Stoops said. After some of those unforced errors, it was great to see our team respond again...it's a loss and nobody feels good about that, but I love the competitive nature of this team."
Now, the challenge ahead of this Kentucky team is rebounding as quick as possible. In nine, going on 10 seasons under Stoops, the Wildcats are yet to have a campaign where they haven't lost multiple games in a row.
Just last season, Kentucky went on a three-game skid after beginning the year 6-0. Stoops is all-too familiar with losing momentum, so much so that he made sure to address it in the locker room after the loss to Ole Miss on Saturday.
"One of the first things I said in the locker room was 'one can't become two.' Everybody's heated and emotional in a big game like that," he said. "Our guys know the belief is there, I think the intensity needs to come back."
Kentucky coaches have preached intensity and staying focused this season. While the players haven't necessarily gone off that track, the lines can become blurred at times, especially when you find yourself in a road atmosphere with a beat-up roster in a top-15 matchup.
The Cats are down multiple starters and had another pair leave the game in Oxford, not returning due to injury. Getting into the meat and potatoes of SEC play can take a toll on player health, but they're already experiencing that just five games into the season.
With two games remaining until the coveted bye week, Stoops has to pay extra attention to keeping his group anchored down on the fundamentals and traits that have become a staple of Kentucky football.
"We have to make sure to find the right balance of continuing to play with that edge," he said. "Play with the intensity and continue to try to improve on being physical, I think we are improving, but also have enough juice in the tank as you get down into this in middle section before we get a break, get a bye to try and get some guys healed up."
The tank is running close to empty, but that gas station is still a few miles away. Stoops and his coaches will have to do what they can to get every drop of juice out of their players over the next two weeks.
Kentucky Football News
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Kentucky vs. Mississippi State will kickoff at 7:30 p.m EST next weekend
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