Mark Stoops Believes Physical Cats Are Back

Vicky Graff Photo

He was not swaggy Mark Stoops but he certainly did sound like the Stoops from a few years ago when Kentucky football was at its best under him.

Kentucky went 4-8 in 2024 and was a major disappointment based on the talent and depth UK coaches, players and fans thought the team had. The Cats are picked to finish near the bottom of the Southeastern Conference and have a losing season this year against one of the nation’s most difficult schedules.

“I feel like we are a physical football team again,” said Stoops Monday at his weekly press conference. “I hope we can go prove that. We will see.”

Kentucky fans hope the Cats can as well when the season starts Saturday afternoon against Toledo, a MAC team confident it can play with Kentucky and is only a touchdown underdog against its SEC foe.

“I’d say consistency, throughout camp,” Stoops said when asked how his team had improved the most during preseason practice. “Towards the end, I just felt like we were playing cleaner football.  I think we’ve worked hard and (made) improvement in certain areas, but I’d say consistency is the big thing.”

Stoops was not overly talkative during the summer months and the coach and his staff have been cautious with their praise/hype this month after watching the 2024 season implode when players even admitted some players quit on the team the second half of the season.

“We’ve been working hard,” Stoops said. “Proud of this team and the work that we’ve done to get to this point, and it’s time to go tee it up. And I’m glad game week is here. and we have to go play some good football and, if we want to change the narrative, then we have to go play well.

“Our performance we’ll dictate what’s said about us. And, you know, it’s time to tee it up and go play.”

Yes it is because if UK could win impressively against Toledo and then beat Ole Miss for a second straight year in the second week it could flip the narrative about this season.

The Rockets are the favorite to win the Mid-American Conference and received votes in national preseason polls, something Kentucky did not do for obvious reasons.

“They are team that you have to beat. They are not going to beat themselves. They’re very sound, and they’re very well coached, and we’re excited about that opportunity for our team,” Stoops said.

“Here’s a team that a lot of people are saying has the chance to be in the playoffs, of the non-Power Four representatives. We have an opportunity to go showcase what we’ve been working on.”

Stoops remembered playing Toledo in 2019 early in the season when “I thought we had a chance to have one of our best teams that we’ve had in a long time” before injuries at quarterback changed that outlook even though UK still won a bowl game.

“I think we were really hitting on all cylinders early and this game was very difficult. We were down 14-7, ended up going into halftime tied 14-14, got a big turnover to start the third quarter and kind of pulled away,” Stoops said.