Tempers flared on the UK sideline early in the game at Missouri. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops certainly could not condone the chippiness on the UK sideline Saturday during the 21-17 win at Missouri but he also was not upset with what happened.
Things got heated when Missouri chased UK quarterback Will Levis out of bounds and there was a lot of shouting, shoving and grabbing.
“I will for sure talk to the team because if we didn’t have that mindset, if we weren’t prepared like that, we wouldn’t have won the game. Because there’s emotional swings, there’s ups, there’s downs, there’s going to be good and there’s going to be bad but our team was resilient and they were tough and I thought we were very unselfish,” Stoops said.
“Again, I showed them, two years ago we were in that same situation and went up there and it was the opposite. And not that they (Missouri) weren’t ready to play because they were. They played very hard, I have a lot of respect for the way they played, how hard they played and how well they coach them to be that way, but we had to match that or exceed it and I was proud of our team’s effort.”
“One of the things we talk about, you learn from those scars. You learn from the things you do wrong, your mistakes and we were ready for it.”
Kentucky hopefully has learned not to take a win for granted like it did against South Carolina. Vanderbilt will be in Lexington Saturday and the Commodores are the worst team in the SEC and certainly do not strike fear in the hearts of opponents.
“We’re up against a team that is much better than people perceive. I have a lot of respect for (Vanderbilt coach) Clark Lea and the way he coaches, and their team, and we have to put it back together,” Stoops said.
“Much of the message that I had a week ago, we have to continue to do that, continue to stay committed to each other, relentlessly try to improve each and every week. And the big thing for us, all the questions they’re going to start coming is, we need to play cleaner, we understand that and know that and need to coach better in certain areas and need to make the routine look routine. And yes, that comes with snaps.”
Kentucky is bowl eligible again with six wins and Stoops said complacent was “not an issue” when asked about that Monday — and surely complacency could not be an issue for a team that once was No. 7 nationally and now is having trouble just scoring points.
“Bowl eligibility, I want to say this very clear, we don’t ever take that for granted. It’s very hard, it’s very difficult. Once again, I don’t have to look at it now, I get that SEC information every week on Sunday sitting on my desk and take a look around (the league) and things are hard, things are tough,” Stoops said.
“There are very good, proud programs that we’re all fighting and we don’t take that for granted. Things can take a tick up or a tick down very easily, very quickly nowadays, so we don’t take it for granted. Complacency or any of that won’t cross our minds.”
“We still have to be relentless in our improvement. We’ve got to finish strong. That old saying ‘remember November’ is no joke. You want to remember how you finish.”
