Vicky Graff Photo
Saturday’s Kentucky-Louisville game is one that UK coach Mark Stoops has always found a way to get the best out of his players and the Cats have won five straight in the series.
“I think it has been important. You have heard me say that the first time we played them. We hadn’t done very much and they were a Top-5, Top-10 team at the time and I never shied away from the importance of this game,” Stoops said.
“Told you that game one, day one and I’ll say it again this year. It doesn’t really matter what the records are or anything like that. I have a lot of respect for (Louisville coach) Jeff (Brohm) and the way he coaches and their program.
“It is important to our fan base, it’s important for our players, it’s important to me that we go play well.”
Important? It is beyond important to UK with a disappointing 4-7 record. This is Kentucky’s bowl game. This is Stoops’ chance to reinvigorate the fan base. This is freshman quarterback Cutter Boley’s chance in his first start to prove he is the quarterback of the future.
While a win over Louisville would not wipe out the season’s low moments, it certainly would help Stoops who didn’t need long to learn what this rivalry meant to UK fans.
“Early on, the minute I got here I felt that from the fan base. Once you are in these rivalry games you get a good feel for it right away. Certainly the intensity is there and it’s important, so it didn’t take me long,” the UK coach said.
Of course, Stoops understands that Louisville’s offense has been far more productive than UK’s offense this year.
“I think they really have done a nice job built around a quarterback with a ton of experience. As I mentioned, I think Jeff and Brian (Brohm) both do a great job, Brian being the offensive coordinator. Of course, Jeff, I’m sure, heavily involved. They always do a good job. I think they have a very balanced offense,” Stoops said.
“It starts, like any good offense, starts with some run game. They are committed to the zone scheme, but he mixes in enough gap schemes with counters and even a little two-back influence to make sure you are committing to the run game and mixing up the run game to set up the pass.
“Pass game, they are always very efficient. Can spread it around when they have to horizontally but they also always are going to set up the deep shots with the run game. So, you can count on them trying to push the ball down the field once again.”
5 Responses
The Birds can score – we lose in a shootout. We need lots of D – and a big time coming out party for Boley.
I think we surprisingly win this game. Weaver dominates on defense getting 2 sacks. Deone Walker also gets a sack. We also force a couple of turnovers that’s the difference maker in this game. Cutter throws for over 200 yards and Wilcox runs for over a 100 yard for his 3rd time this year. We will get a sample of next year in this game. These young players should improve a ton this off season getting game reps. I also think Key has a big game getting close to 100 yards or over 100 yards. This game will be close. Maybe we jump out to a 14-0 or 17-0 lead and Louisville comes back and makes it close in the end. Kentucky 30 Louisville 27.
Yea Stoops, u could learn a little something about offense from the Brohms!!! Based on your quotes, it sounds like u understand pretty well what they do offensively–how bout bring some of that over to your own team!!!!
Does Stoops finds a way to get the best out of his players when UK-UL play?
It’s the players who seem to recover from the lifeless play in so many games and on their own desire & will dig deeper to use every ounce of effort & energy possible.
Players win rival games ‘Oreos than coaches.
Coaches either win or lose regular season games when emotions don’t rule the efforts & focus of players.
The collapse of UK FB this season, whcih began the day Stoops made the big mistake of hiring the complex scheme OC, is a sad state after the run UK had under Stoops peaking at 10 wins twice.
AMEN, LB—and u are right about what u said about the players recovering on their own emotionally to step up and win big rival games–guys like JJ Weaver, Deone Walker, Big OX–actually I look to those 3 guys for the game today, first and foremost, on the defensive side of the ball. We need everything we can get and MORE out of those 3 guys today. As far as the offense goes, I can only hope that this game today ends up being remembered as "THE CUTTER BOLEY GAME". I am really really excited about Cutter being given the starting job for this game today, and we can only hope that we will be seeing today the FUTURE of KY FOOTBALL!!! I believe in just his short time in back-up duty thus far that he has CLEARLY shown that he is the better QB between he and Brock. U can see his arm, his throwing rhythm, his poise and the way he handles himself in the pocket. U could see all of a sudden the offense open up, specifically the passing game–all of a sudden, Barion Brown is getting the ball in his hands like he should have been all season long, guys like Paul Rodriguez is getting passes thrown to him–when Cutter has played there has been some kind of a rhythm–some kind of an IDENTITY OFFENSIVELY–as I have talked about as being the major problem with Stoops and the offense. 13 years and still ranking in the bottom of the country in passing yardage and points scored per game and number of plays per game–I am really over that every single year–as an SEC program and a coach who is top 10 in the country in salary, I don’t think it’s too much to ask to do better than BOTTOM 10 in the country in passing offense! 13 years and still have never been able to recruit and develop good QBs from the high-school level, and a revolving door of OC’s over 13 yrs. Hopefully Cutter can begin a new era of QB play at KY today against the DIRTY BIRDS!!! And Cutter should begin with getting Wilcox involved and turning him loose in the running game first to open up that passing game!! GO CATS–BEAT THE CARDS–L’s DOWN!!!!