Mark Stoops rejuvenated after surprise visit by UK president

Would it surprise you to know that Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said he felt “surprisingly jacked up and great” Monday considering UK lost 44-6 at Tennessee Saturday night?

It did me but yet that’s exactly what the coach said during his press conference to discuss this Saturday’s game Missouri.

Why was he like that?

“Because I have to be,” Stoops said. “I felt like crap all night Saturday night and all day Sunday. But today, I’m freakin’ jacked up, ready to go.”

No one could blame him for feeling like “crap” after the loss and long bus ride home from Knoxville. His team got thumped in every way possible in what it hoped was going to be a statement game. Instead, it turned into a loss that dropped UK out of the national rankings for the first time this season.

Stoops said his enthusiasm got revived when UK president Dr. Eli Capilouto made a surprise visit to his office Sunday night.

“I was exhausted, tired, worked all day, didn’t sleep and late last night, I think ‘Doc’ was coming in from out of town and stopped in my office about 9 o’clock,” Stoops said Monday. “(He) just wanted to say get back in the fight. And I appreciate that.”

Kentucky better get back in the fight. The Cats are now 2-3 in SEC play but surprisingly are still a slight favorite over Missouri in a game that now could define UK’s season. Beat Missouri and even with Georgia still on the schedule, going 8-4 is possible. Lose this game and 7-5, or even 6-6, is realistic for a team that thought it could win the SEC East this year.

“Any time you take a butt kicking like that, you get into work on Sunday after that long bus ride home,” Stoops said. “And Sunday, it’s not fun. But we have to face the facts. We have to take a good look at ourselves, see the areas where we’re falling short and address them.”

The biggest area has been offense — which generated buzz Monday that Stoops had decided to fire offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello, something the coach did not mention during his Monday press conference.

“Obviously, you’re not very pleased with that result,” Stoops said about scoring six points at Tennessee. “You have to always look at things and see where you’re falling short.”

“You better look at it, address it, and get it fixed. But we’re not going to do anything drastic. We are constantly looking at things and striving to be better. We’ve got to look at why and where we’re spending our time. All those things we have to look at to put our players in a position to be successful.”

Missouri is  4-4 but the Tigers had the lead most of the game against top-ranked Georgia before losing 26-22. It also lost 17-14 to Auburn in overtime and 24-17 at Florida. The Tigers beat host South Carolina 23-10 last week.

“I think they’re playing extremely hard,” Stoops said. “They always have some guys up front who are disruptive and play very physical. They’re playing very good as a team.”