Mark Stoops says UK player and coaches are all upset about losing. (Vicky Graff Photo)
There was really not a lot Kentucky coach Mark Stoops could say on the UK Radio Network postgame show as his team was embarrassed 48-20 by Florida Saturday night.
So much for UK’s historical three-game win streak over the Gators. Florida buried that streak because it was the better, more physical game and added to what has already been a very disappointing season for a team coaches and players seemed to truly believe could play with anyone in the SEC.
Kentucky did almost beat Georgia. It did win at Ole Miss. But it sure was not close to the better team against South Carolina, Vanderbilt and now Florida.
“Our team will respond. Nobody is very happy. A lot of people here are not happy, including every coach and every player,” Stoops said. “We have to look for solutions. Just getting made will not help. We have to play better.
“We are getting guys beat up. This was a very physical game. We have to get guys healthy. It’s not going to get any easier. We will get home about 5 a.m. and get back to work.
“I am not worried about our guys. We will continue to battle. We just have to play darn near perfect right now.”
The last sentence is the scary part. This was supposed to be Stoops’ deepest and most talented team at Kentucky even compared to his two 10-win teams. Yet now he’s saying UK has to “play darn near perfect” to win.
Stoops told Tom Leach he was not ready about his team losing its edge. He said the team was prepared and wanted to play well against Florida even though UK fell behind early and even when it cut the lead to 27-20 it still seemed like the Gators were in firm control because of their physical dominance and big-play potential.
“I have no issue with our approach. Do we need to play better and do we make mistakes? Put it on me. Players are trying to play hard and trying to do what is right,” Stoops said. “Florida played very well. Probably the best they have played all year and we didn’t. It is a combination of things but our guys will get back to work.
“There is a thin line between success and failure. We have to play darn near perfect. We are getting beat up. But no excuses. Nobody gives a crap.”
There it was again — must play darn near perfect to win.
“We really worked hard this week. I know the product didn’t show it. I can’t fault the players. I felt their minds were good. Put it on me. I am not down on them that way,” Stoops said.
Fans are putting the loss on Stoops. Many are frustrated with his team’s play calling, time management, personnel choices and more. And while the coach might not be down on his players, fans are or are at least severely disappointed.
“Obviously any time you lose like that there is some frustration that sets in. We just have to play better,” Stoops said. “On the road in an environment like this it is tough and it can get away from you quick.”
Maybe but South Carolina and Vanderbilt had no trouble handling the road environment at Kentucky and UK had no trouble withstanding playing on the road at Ole Miss. Kentucky just was not as sharp as Florida.
“We are not good at playing from behind. It was a very frustrating, very tough game. I give them the credit. They are much better than people think,” Stoops said. “They are very physical. They moved us better than most people do. They moved us up front. I thought the run game created big pass plays. When you have an effective run game it opens things in the pass game.”
Kentucky was 4-for-13 on third-down conversions and 1-for-5 on fourth down. The Cats again could not score after getting inside the 5-yard line. Quarterback Brock Vandagriff was 12-for-26 passing for 165 yards. Kentucky did average 4.1 yards per play but Florida averaged 8.5.
Stoops made it clear he did not plan any major personnel changes before UK hosts Auburn.
“We are playing the best personnel we can. We need all hands on deck. We are getting thin. Just get the best guys we can and just keep on working,” Stoops said. “Obviously I am concerned and there are things we have to do better but a lot of guys are playing as hard as they can and playing banged up and really hurting. This is a very unforgiving league.”
13 Responses
It has become rather obvious that Stoops has lost many on the team and many in BBN as well. He continues to look LOST on the field with that deer in headlights gaze and still only shows a pulse when disagreeing with a call. He needs to spend less time in the buffet line and more time in the coaching 101 classroom. We now spend more time protecting other coaches’s records than we do our own. With exception of 2 games we are a total embarrassment on the field and TV.
I had high hopes this team would get better and better after the Ole Miss win. It has gone the opposite way hatst puzzle me. Good thing basketball is around the corner.
UK has only ONE 20 win team. Due to cheating, they had to vacate a bunch of ‘wins’.
"We are not as good at playing from behind". We always play behind. Stoops never has the team looking ready at kickoff and we have always played bad in the first quarter. Stoops needs to leave. He needs to step down at the years end. Everyone says this is the most talented team? Where? In practice? This team is nowhere near as good as Levis first year team. Or the Terry Touchdown 10 win team. You can also make the case for the boom Williams team. Or the Stephen Johnson team. All these teams played harder and smarter than this team. What kills this team is nobody looks tuned into the game. Everyone looks like they want to fight all the time like Brown and Key what’s up with there attitude?.. Very bad attitudes. Brown had his only good game of the season and it wasn’t great. Brock stares down whoever he’s going to throw it too. We will not go to a bowl game with Brock V as our quarterback. We don’t have good receivers. We don’t have a good oline. And again Brock was overrated like Leary. I actually think Leary played better than Brock. Maybe that’s why Leary got drafted. He had no line and poor receivers. Brock televisions his passes everyone watching the game knows he’s going to throw it to Key no matter what even if he’s double covered. I’m done with this team. Its onto basketball for me. Thank God its time for basketball. I don’t even care to watch Kentucky in football this year anymore. Its the most boring offense I’ve ever seen. Like I said I would have Eddie gran calling plays. Bush Hamden is rich scanarun but worse. Stoops made a terrible hire. Stoops should step down at years end like cal did. The one thing I admire cal about is 90% of college coaches would have taken all that buyout money. Cal didn’t do it because he stepped down as coach. Stoops should do the same. Barnhart did the same thing wrong with cal a lifetime contract that hes done with stoops. Gave him to long of a contract. I’m so tired of watching this 1980s football. Slow offense. Lets the defense set up how they want to. He defense plays not to get beat. So they font put any pressure on the quarterback. The last 2 games even the ole miss game was very boring to watch.
Our offense has issues for sure, but when the defense also has issues, it’s going to be a long game.
It takes a special skill to lull an entire team to sleep EVERY GAAME just before kickoff & just after the half.
I just don’t think it’s worth $9 Million a year.
I don’t put the offensive woes on Brock. The receivers are INCONSISTENT and NOT focused – letting a pass slide through hands into an opponent for an interception and letting a pass bounce off 2 receivers hands before ending up in an opponents’ hands.
This is an excerpt from an article by Nick Wheatley:
Coaching malpractice:
As has become commonplace under Mark Stoops, the offensive coordinator has no idea what he’s doing and Stoops has no idea how to make adjustments.
On paper, this is the best Kentucky team Stoops has had. The schedule is a beast, so a 7-5 season seemed reasonable, despite all the talent, but besides the Ole Miss win, Kentucky looks like it’ll be lucky to win one more game this season.
The talent is abundant, but the coaching apparently isn’t. I think Stoops has phoned it in, and it’s obvious to just about everyone who continues to waste four hours every Saturday watching his team play.
It’s fair to wonder if Mark Stoops has lost his program.
That says it all, except that it’s time for a change.
It’s right on the money (pun accepted but not intended)
When Stoops opted to go to TX A&M, he had already given up any interest in UK FB other than to rake in over $2 Million per win!!!
Is there another clueless Arkansas out there somewhere.
The BBN promises not to complain if you take Stoops.
Who will UK hire? It does not matter. UK is back to the cellar in the SEC and it’s a deeper cellar than ever before. And if Barnie is given the open ticket to hire without ever being held accountable, he is not likely to luck out and hire another great coach like Pope.
Stoops has killed any hope we had of someone hiring him away. I don’t see any major college program that would try to hire him. Why would they?
Same old stuff Coach, and we’re sick of hearing it.
In 5 SEC games, Cat’s offense has scored: 6, 12, 17, 13 & 20*. That’s an average of less than 2 TDs per game (*that includes the kickoff return TD vs Florida). That just won’t cut it.
Time to end the Vandagriff experiment.
How can RB Wilcox only have 3 carries?
And now it looks like the defense has folded.
Stoops’ teams do not improve during the season. As mentioned, this was supposed to be a competitive, talented group. What happened?
We’re on the downhill side of the Stoops era. The N.I.L. and transfer portal just are not his forte. Meanwhile, we’re stuck with more disappointment unless we can clean the slate, modernize and start fresh with someone new.
Sure glad basketball season looks to have a brighter future and a new spark!
Vol golf buddy told me yesterday Stoops is old school – but has never graduated.
Great comments, all of you! We all can go on and on, there is so much we can say, and we all know what the problems are–but it’s really painful to see whats happening to our football program right before our eyes—in a span of two weeks, we went from upsetting the #6-ranked team on the road to back in the cellar of the SEC. I see this morning that Vandy has made the top 25! Unbelievable–i think this is the first time in my life that I have seen Vandy in the polls. LSU and TX A&M are both having great seasons, but are flying under the radar—they both have been quietly handling their business without much attention or coverage on them. Watch out for them as dark-horses in the SEC race. But yes, this is painful to watch right now–as are all of our games–i just cannot believe how bad the offense is, and how bad it has always been under Stoops. Except for Will Levis, the QB play during Stoops’ entire time here has been atrocious. It has been a common theme through the entire 12 yrs. When u look back and examine our best teams here under Stoops, what made them so successful? What enabled us to overcome the subpar QB play and still win 10 games twice and win big bowl games in those years? THE OFFENSIVE LINE AND THE RUNNING GAME. We had weapons and playmakers that we could put the ball in their hands and those guys could get us the tough yards, they could get the yards and plays that were essential to winning the game. Guys like JoJo Kemp, Boom Williams, Benny Snell, Lynn Bowden, C-ROD, Ray Davis—we don’t have anybody like that on this team. We don’t have that "one" running back that u know going into the season that he is going to be the one to carry the load for us all year. This is the first year since the first couple of years under Stoops that we haven’t had that guy. And that’s a major problem. Because the running game would open up that passing game where we were able to strike on those big pass plays downfield. We would even throw to the backs sometimes. And that group of O-linemen we had that were here and together for about 6 years was the most important ingredient in the run that we made with our program from 2016-2021. We ended up losing all of them except Jager Burton and Eli Cox—but those other guys like Kinnard, Jackson, Young, Toth, Horsey, Stenberg, etc–those guys were together for about 6 yrs and were crucial to all the success we had with the offense. And we also can’t forget our guy CJ Conrad–he was a part of that blocking with that group, and he wasn’t able to open up his pass-catching abilities all the way because u know Stoops doesnt like throwing that ball to the tight ends!!! But when we DID throw to CJ, he always came up with the catch. But back to the point: With Stoops’ style, we HAVE to have a strong O-Line and strong running game in order to compete in the SEC because in all those big wins we got, what was the common denominator in all those games? WINNING THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE. We would beat teams down physically with our O-Line and D-LINE, and wear teams down with the running game and controlling the clock and the time of possession. We are NOT playing that way NOW!!! We are not even CLOSE to that! So what has happened? Is it recruiting? Is it NIL? I really do think Stoops is over it–i would not at all be shocked to hear him announce his resignation at the end of the season. At this point, I would welcome a fresh start with a new coach for the football program just like both bball programs got. We need a coach who has somewhat of a brain and some imagination when it comes to the offensive side of the game. I know Stoops has brought us some of the best defensive teams we have had in the modern era of our football, and I’m not trying to take that away from him. I always have liked what he built up here–his philosophy and his style–he has definitely upgraded us as far as being competitive in the SEC, and upgraded our recruiting ability. But then that’s where we get back to our current issues that are now on Year 3 of this major downtown of the program. All of a sudden, we can’t beat Vandy, SCAR—Missouri last year, and we have lost two straight to Vandy at home, and THREE STRAIGHT to SCAR. For UK to be successful, they have to win the games against the teams they are even with competitively, and that includes LOU too. I knew when we lost to SCAR the second game of the year that this season was already over. That was the big RED FLAG that alot of fans just seemed to dismiss as not that big of a deal–but those games are crucial–u HAVE to beat SCAR—now when they beat Ole Miss, that win offset the SCAR loss, so they got back to where they should have been, so they had a second chance to save their season–then they go out and lose to Vandy. I know Vandy is alot better than 10-20 yrs ago, but so are WE—or we are SUPPOSED TO BE—so when they lost to Vandy, that was it for me. It amazed me how many of our fans still thought we could win at FLA after that loss. I’m telling u guys, the way this team is playing, we are going to be lucky just to show up and beat Murray St—AND THAT GAME COMES AFTER A BYE-WEEK!!!!!!!!!! By that time, it will be cold and I just feel like they are all going to be done mentally, I think they already are now, I think they all have given up, honestly………13 pts against Vandy. Their max scoring is 20 pts unless they are playing out of conference. They will slop around against Murray and end up winning like 24-6. I think all we are going to have left to hold on to at the end will be hoping we can end up saying that Little Brother lost to a 5-7 UK team!!!!! If that’s all we have left, I’ll take it!!! LOL I will always take that!!!!!
Stoops has Calipari-itis. He is playing the game like it was played 20 years ago. And like The Fraud, Stoops thinks he is untouchable because of our numb nuts athletic director. The sad truth is he is right. Barnhart will not fire Stoops; he will wait for Stoops to either retire or move on to another school. Then Barnhart will stick his head up his butt and go look for another coach.