Vince Marrow (UK Athletics Photo)
After Kentucky won at then No. 6 Ole Miss, I reminded UK associate coach Vince Marrow on WLAP Sunday Morning Sports Talk that often UK football had more trouble handling prosperity than adversity.
I wondered if that worried him with a bye week coming up before UK hosted Vanderbilt this Saturday.
Marrow said it was up to “everyone in the building” to make sure that didn’t happen and he remembered the “wake up call” the Cats got when they lost to South Carolina in week two.
“I was like, hey, we thought we were pretty good. We just got handled and in our home stadium in front of our fans,” Marrow said. “It’s kind of like somebody coming into your house. Your wife cooked dinner and another man comes and takes the plate off your table and goes outside and eats your food.
“We got two losses in the SEC. I don’t think nothing’s not going to get our attention. Vandy is a much improved team. I watched them the first week they beat Virginia Tech.’
Virginia Tech almost beat Miami and Marrow noted that Vanderbilt could easily have won at Missouri.
“I just know this, and I heard (Mark) Stoops say this, ‘Well we lost to South Carolina, that’s just not us,’” Marrow said.
Marrow admitted UK probably did not play as hard as it could have against South Carolina but knows that won’t happen again.
“I know what kind of roster we have, and I know what kind of young men we got in that room and. So these guys want more,” Marrow said. “They know where we are trying to get done and where we’re trying to go. Vandy has got our full attention fully.”
If Vandy didn’t — and remember it won at Lexington two years ago — fully have UK’s attention it certainly would now after stunning No. 1 Alabama Saturday in Nashville. The postgame celebration not only included fans storming the field but students taking down the goal post and carrying it about three miles to place in the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville.
Marrow admitted he showed the UK offense the “Miracle on Ice” about the dramatic gold medal victory by the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team beating heavy favorite Russia in the semifinals and Finland in the final.
“There was a period in there when they got beat by a country that they were better than and the coach said, ‘Hey, you can’t win on talent alone.’ We are not good enough to win on talent alone, either,” Marrow said. “You got to have hard work every day and we have learned that, so I am not worried about us not being ready for Vanderbilt.”
Remember, that was a week before Vandy beat Alabama but hopefully players listened to Marrow and other coaches last week and were already focused on what it would take to beat Vandy before Alabama went down.
2 Responses
Luv that big Dog !!
Big Dog is the reason we are who we are. Fabulous coach who doesn’t get a ton of recognition and is the motor driving the car. I appreciate what you have done for BBN Vince. We are all in this together. I think we come out and play the best game we’ve played all year. As long as the offense continues to get better and the defense plays a normal game I think we win. I do like Vandys quarterback. That kid went from the bottom of bottoms and has been a winner every step of the way. I do think Vandy flirts with making a bowl game. They can win a couple more games on there schedule and Kentucky could be one of them teams. Usually the week after a big game like they had against Alabama the team usually lays an egg the next game. You could say the same for Kentucky coming off a bye week and beating ole miss. So this game is going to be interesting to say the least. It’s going to get much more attention than usual and the winner will be sitting in a pretty good position going into week 7. Vandy should have beat Missouri at Missouri and the other game they lost was because of turnovers. I think we win by 2 touchdowns. I just don’t see Vandy moving the ball against us. I think we will get back to running the football. I think Brock continues in the right direction and throws for 200+ yards maybe even 250. Dane Key will also get his yards. He will be close to 100 again. I think this will be Wilcox coming out game. DSK will play solid too. JJ Weaver will record 2 sacks and watch for oxendine to get another one.
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