UK Athletics Photo
Thanks in part to an out of character fourth-down gamble from Kentucky’s 20-yard line that led to a 20-17 UK win at No. 6 Ole Miss, Kentucky coach Mark Stoops earned two national coaching honors Monday.
He was named the Bear Bryant Awards Fan Favorite Coach of the Week along with being selected as the Bobby Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week
The win in Oxford marked UK’s highest-ranked road win at a Southeastern Conference campus stadium in school history and the highest Associated Press-ranked win in the Stoops era.
The win was UK’s highest-ranked Southeastern Conference road win in school history and the highest Associated Press-ranked win in the Stoops era.
The Dodd award honors a coach who led his team to a significant victory during the previous week while also embodying the award’s three pillars of scholarship, leadership and integrity. Stoops won the award twice last season after victories over Florida and Louisville.
Kentucky was over a two-touchdown underdog at Ole Miss but held the Rebels to 17 points, 353 yards of total offense, 261 passing yards and 92 rushing yards. The Rebels entered the game leading the nation in scoring (55 points per game), total offense (670.8 yards per game) and passing offense (422.8 yards per game), while ranking 12th in rushing offense (248 yards per game).
Ole Miss also came into the game first nationally in scoring defense (5.5 points per game) and rushing defense (34.5 yards per game). Kentucky scored 20 points and had 93 rushing yards and 336 total yards. The Cats also had 22 first downs that led to 75 plays and almost 40 minutes of ball possession.
Kentucky had not had a road win this big since winning at No. 4 Penn State in 1977. It was UK’s first win anywhere over an AP-ranked top six team since a victory over No. 1 LSU in 2007.
9 Responses
Very impressed with our coach.
Still not ready to mix the concrete but he’s getting there.
Concrete for a statue.
We should be undefeated, and l think a lot of people feel the same way.We have a great team and we should run the table to and it can be done.
Stoops is a great defensive coach. We have always had a solid defense since he’s been here. Our best offensive year is probably Levis first year. Maybe you could say when Lynn Bowden was quarterback. He was pretty much unstoppable. Or maybe the Stephen Johnson years. Anyways our offense has never been a blow them out the water offense. This team has the personnel to be the best offense under Stoops. We have a ton of playmakers who hasn’t really made that many plays to this point. Chip hasn’t played a down to this point and we’ve played 5 games. I would do what he said he was going to do with chip and that is redshirt him and let him play in 4 games. He could play against Florida Texas Tennessee and Louisville. I think we can beat Auburn without him. He could sit out the Murray State and Vanderbilt games.
What’s wrong with Chip?
How long does it take to get over a broken bone in your hand?
Is he waiting to see if we really suck and sit out the season?
Or, were competitive and jump on the bandwagon and be our hero?
If he’s healthy and being paid, he should be a man and play and help us win football games.
So many unanswered questions about BB & FB players who are injured & can’t (or won’t ?) play !!!
Stoops can get some credit for the win but also must bear the bulk of the blame for 2 losses. He & Marrow helped build a good foundation for UK FB, but plateaued at 7-6 after peaking with 10 wins.
This season is going to reveal if Stoops has learned enough to leave the OC alone & let UK bounce back from 2 losses or if he will never “get it” and continue to field teams that are asleep at kickoff & meddle with offense which is the equivalent to Greek to a maid.
The next 3 games will tell us if the Ole Miss was a fluke or a stepping stone to saving this season. At this point, this team still has control over its fate for this year. Let’s see how this plays out…before we build that statue.
yes they will Barry
We’ll see what the Woke Rebels do with the Gamecocks this weekend.