Mark Stoops knows his team cannot afford 12 penalties at Florida like it had in last week's loss to Vanderbilt. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops was visibly frustrated just like UK fans were after his team’s overall play in a 20-13 loss to Vanderbilt.
“I talked all week about controlling our emotions, being disciplined,” Stoops said. “Discipline and execution wins. Emotion and playing stupid is not going to win you anything. I am as frustrated as any fan. I didn’t get it done.”
Stoops admitted that UK “reverted” back to the way it played in a 31-7 loss to South Carolina when mistakes/penalties plagued the Wildcats.
“Why we think you can just roll out on the field and win …it is because you are favored and think you just win because of that,” Stoops said. “We know very clearly as coaches that if you don’t play well, you lose. You have to play winning football and we didn’t.”
Running back Demie Sumo-Karngbaye — perhaps UK’s most consistent offensive player this season — said the Cats have to “go back to the drawing board” again.
“We just can’t beat ourselves,” Sumo-Karngbaye said. “You have to keep your emotions intact. It showed tonight and we can’t point the finger at anybody but ourselves, Our true colors are about to show after this week, so whatever happens behind the scenes when adversity hits, that’s when your true character and your true colors come out.”
Kentucky plays at Florida tonight and linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson — a Georgia transfer — says enough is enough.
“I don’t want to keep repeating losing. I’m not used to that, I am not from that, and I am not trying to get used to it,” Dumas-Johnson said. “We have to make some changes, not try. We’ve got to make some changes, I’m not used to this feeling, and I don’t like this feeling.”
14 Responses
Sounds like Stoops needs to do a lot more training on self-control and focus. I’d have to have some kind of rule about "stupid" penalties. Get 2, you’re through for the game or you’ll run a mile for every penalty you get; something to make them recognize that focus and discipline win games. Stoops has never been good with discipline on the field.
Grand idea. I always wonder way a player stays in the game when he displays anything but intelligence.
You have to have leadership to impose consequences for bad behavior and not sure UK has much of that on the staff or team. I hope we get a look at Ford and Chip today and that Gavin can get some increased PT. Our offense ranks 111 out of 133 or something close to that. Putting ourselves in the transfer dependent market has not been good to us, but I guess we have earned it. Will Hamdan be one and done?
Not sure if Hamdon will be 1 & done, be he was done before he started. The OC revolving door under Stoops should be a warning to only rent a house and not try to establish a home in Lexington if you’re the OC.
The team as a whole will only reach a level of focus, concentration, interest, discipline and desire as high as the coaching staff. Therein lies the problem – lack of winning leadership.
If we lose today, one can only hope the pressure starts to mount for regime change. Think Stoopsie is 2-11 last 13 SEC and with SEC getting stronger ea yr it should be when and not if this happens. The video and audio presentation we get weekly is very gut wrenching.
One of my biggest pet peeves is ANY kind of trash talk, even good natured trash talk. Just play the damned game and shut up. I love Barion, but his big mouth is an absolute embarrassment to this program. Dane Key is a great player and a high character, class act. His bush league play where he put the ball in the Vandy players helmet in the red zone probably cost us at least a FG, if not a TD. These plays are inexcusable at any level and I think Stoops and every coach on the planet should yank these players for the rest of the game after such an incredibly stupid and selfish act. There is no place for trash talk in sports, and for that matter life in general. Show some class and shut up. There should be no second chance. One time and you sit the bench.
Sadly enough, things are turning CAL-ish with Stoops and this football program. We are better off just facing it–the season was lost last SAT–unless u were to still be able to come back and beat both FLA AND AUB, and then LOU–but that would put the final record still at just the minimum 7-5 for a winning season. That’s one streak that I hate to see come to an end this year. We have done no worse than 7 wins every year since 2016 and minimum bowl eligibility–and this team has just not instilled enough confidence and trust in me to believe that that’s going to hold up this year–so yes, the season really is on the line these next two games–but one of the biggest things that made the Vandy loss so bad is that, by winning at Ole Miss, u offset the loss to SCAR, and saved the season at that point –they at least had gotten back to even–where we expected them to be at that point. But u can’t turn around the very next game with Vandy at home and lose that, and still have the season u were hoping for and expecting–that was the absolute MUST-WIN game of the season at that point, and so the result and the performance says to me that our players did not view that game in that kind of light, and they looked at Vandy as "still just the same old Vandy"—im sorry, I know Vandy is obviously much better now than they used to be, but so is KY, right? Aren’t we supposed to be now? Or is that maybe the problem? Maybe we aren’t to the level that we thought. I honestly think Stoops has done everything he can possibly do here, I really do, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him be the next coach to call it quits at the end of the season in this new era of college athletics. I definitely do agree that the new NIL era has had an effect on the type of culture Stoops has built up here, and I think that’s what he means when he makes the comments about NIL publicly, but i don’t think he should be bringing it up as much as he does, because after awhile it does begin to sound like he is putting it on his "excuse wheel". He does not deal with accountability well at all, nor the mental aspect of the game, the intangibles, the discipline, the taking responsibility—again, the situation with Stoops has become so much like CAL’s. I am the first to say that he definitely built up our football program to a level in the SEC in recruiting and talent that we had never been on before, and he has brought us two 10-3 seasons with 8 straight bowls, and at least 7 wins every year since 2016. And we also ended long streaks against both FLA and TN too while under his watch and there have been some other big wins too, like the bowl wins, and big wins against LSU and Ole Miss, along with dominating LOU for 8 straight seasons too. So I am always the first to tip my hat to him for all of that–but just like with CAL, u can’t continue living on what has been in the past if the current and more recent trends and patterns are trending downward. U have to think about the future. The game is just changing–and it is getting to where I would about rather take my chances on somebody else, like in bball, just for the sake of re-cultivating the football program, because I’m not sure that Stoops’ approach and style is going to be the best answer going fwd for what the future of the SEC, and college football in general, is going to look like. This next 3-4 game stretch are going to tell us everything about this football team and the season hinges solely on those 4—-i honestly wish we could just forfeit the trip to TX—that will be an absolute bloodbath. I can already see now at the end of the season hoping to just be able to say we at least can still beat LOU—because that may be all we have left to play for–that game may have to be our "bowl game"—and i hate to think about this season ending with a loss to them at home, but this is a very real possibility. But even just beating LOU, if u are only sitting at 4 or 5 wins after that, doesn’t mean a whole lot in the long run–and I just don’t know what becomes of Stoops and the fan base if it ends like that—but unfortunately right now, that looks more likely than not. They have one last shot here these next 3 weeks to salvage ANYTHING—if not, it’s going to be a VERY LONG OFFSEASON, and the attention will shift to basketball very quickly–if it hasn’t already……
We lose to UF the wheels are definitely off. I expect the streak to UL to be broken this year because I think Brohm currently better coach. I don’t expect the UT dominance to be broken this year or any year as long as Stoops in place because I don’t feel the staff or the team goes into that game really expecting to win even though we have had the better team most of last few years.
Certainly agree with most of the above.
Summer Kool-Aid talk was “ this is the best team Stoops has fielded “. Don’t think those folks fully examined the schedule.
Hope he can put together a run and quite “ the talk “ but can’t put aside the schedule. The Racers are the only safe bet.
UK LOST to a FL BACKUP QB & BACKUP RB who both riddles UK D.
LONG passes vs UK sleeping secondary
5 Rishing TDs ties FL record
Nearly 500 yards
One UK receiver let ball slip thru his hands & become interception
TWO UK receivers each touched a pass that got intercepted
NO FOCUS, NO DESIRE
Then the ridiculous Stoops & OC throw cutler Boyer into the swamp when FL is peaking in the game. That’s as bad as Curry starting Tim Couch for his 1st game IN THE SWAMP
after never playing him before that game.
FIRE STOOPS & most of his staff NOW!!!
Any fan could do better!!!
These UK players beat UGA except 1 point short on score which was due to coaching bad calls
These players beat Ole Miss
Alms yet these same players without a coach who can lead let SC, Vandy & FL destroy one of the best defenses in the nation.
The UK secondary coach is useless and the players must have cement in their shoes!
chjoker could not have done any worse in not preparing a team mentally vs FL, Vandy & SC
If this season holds true to form we will lose to lowly Auburn and beat either Tennessee or Texas while playing the other in a very close game. This yo-yo type performance is hard to explain. If that holds true, Murray State and Lousyville will be must wins to go bowling. Going to a lame bowl game with a 6-6 record is not going to be much of a consolation for the expectations that I had for this team. The only way to salvage this season is to win out and win the bowl game, but I have very little confidence in that happening. With that being said, we SHOULD beat Auburn and Murray State. Losing to Lousyville and missing a bowl game altogether might get Stoops a pink slip.
I think the wheels have fell off and we’ll only beat Murray State for a 4 win season.