Eli Cox (UK Athletics Photo)
Senior center Eli Cox has seen a lot of good times during his Kentucky football career but also some down times, including the 10-3 season in 2021 when UK lost consecutive games to Georgia (30-13), Mississippi State (31-17) and Tennessee (45-42) after a 6-0 start.
Kentucky has now dropped to 5-2 after consecutive losses to Georgia (51-13) and Missouri (38-21). The Cats are off this week before hosting Tennessee Oct. 28. The Cats still have games at Mississippi State, South Carolina and Louisville along with a home matchup with Alabama.
Cox said what Kentucky has to do is not complicated.
“We just have to get back to work. That wasn’t really our best foot forward that game,” he said after the Missouri loss. “We really let it slip away from us. It just goes back to the details and discipline that you build in practice. It’s just something we’re going to have to get back to work and (back to) the drawing board during the bye week.
“We’ve got some extra time to focus on stuff like that. Not as much on the game plan. So, it’s really what we need to be doing in the bye week. Focusing on those little things.”
Eliminating useless penalties would help. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty kept a Missouri field goal drive going. A 25-yard completion to Dane Key was wiped out by a holding call. A pass interference penalty aided Missouri’s go-ahead touchdown drive. Two penalties gave Missouri a second chance to convert a two-point conversion.
“It goes back to discipline. Can’t beat anyone until you stop beating yourself. Those penalties just come down to being a disciplined football team, and we were not that tonight,” Cox said.
“It’s something we need to work on in practice. We can get with the guys, get with the coaches to figure out what we can do to fix it because it’s something that needs to be fixed.”
Cox blamed the players, not the coaches, for how UK played the last two games.
“They can have the perfect game plan and things can not go your way all the time, but at the end of the day the guys are the ones out there on the field. We have to be the guys stepping up. Our leaders have to take accountability for this team,” Cox said. “We need to play a more disciplined brand of football and we need to grow up, just respond.”
Grow up and respond indeed. Kentucky has to do a lot of both after all that went wrong the last two weeks and needs team leaders to hold everyone accountable.
“I think when things are going right you’ve got the momentum. SEC home game, you have to keep it. I think it speaks to that sometimes as a team you need to grow up in some areas,” Cox said.
“It’s a four-quarter game. They responded. Missouri was down 14 to nothing in the first quarter. You can flip it that way and they responded and we didn’t. And when they punched us, we didn’t respond.
“ I think that’s something as a team we need to grow up and realize it’s a four-quarter game. There’s so much football to be played. And we can’t let one mistake become two and three.”
3 Responses
The absence of discipline has been a characteristic of this team since Game 1. I find it odd that only after back to back embarrassing losses that anyone associated with this team sees the absence of discipline as THE ISSUE.
Where was everyone, Coaches and Players, on this and related issues following Game 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5? Oh, that’s right, those were W’s and no one seemed to care about the absence of discipline, the inaccuracy of the passes, the inability to catch passes delivered to the bread box, and a host of other issues that have yet to be addressed but reared their heads during those satisfying 5 wins.
You are correct, Professor. I hate to hear people say, well a wins a win; especially, when they played a terrible game. I have been jumped on many times by so called fans for pointing out things they need to improve on even after a win. It’s not hard to pick out things that might work against a weaker team but won’t cut the mustard against a good team. People don’t want to hear that but are the first to complain when it continues or even act shocked or like it’s the first time they have seen the problem. Until the players take their mistakes seriously, there will be no improvement. The coaches can guide them, point out what they need to do, and show them in the film room and on the field, but the kids have to accept it and get to work. Some do, some don’t, but that is the "joy" of working with kids.
I have learned over the years to not put too much joy, anger, or frustration on what kids are doing when they are playing a game and take everything the coaches say with a grain-of-salt.
We’re 5-2 , we can’t dwell the last 2 games. Just gotta move on and play as a team we’re capable of something this team hasn’t done for 4 quarters this season..