Josh Kattus had a touchdown catch at Georgia and says the loss won't keep Kentucky from continuing to play hard. (UK Athletics Photo)
By LARRY VAUGHT
After Kentucky lost another Southeastern Conference game at Georgia Saturday, UK coach Mark Stoops admitted he knew the “noise” surrounding the program and his status as head coach.
Many Kentucky fans have abandoned ship — or at least the ship guided by Stoops — and feel a coaching change is needed, no matter what a buyout would cost.
“It is not fun for the coaches, me, or any of these guys (to lose). Keeping them together and in the right mindset is what we have to do. The outside noise is going to be there,” Stoops said. “I hope it doesn’t affect them (UK players). It does not affect me. I try to talk to them (players) about having the right mentality.”
Kentucky went 4-8 in 2024, and the team did quit on the coach. UK’s effort was lacking in the second half of the season. The Cats are 2-3 this season, going into an open week and then have Texas and Tennessee at home.
That’s no cakewalk, especially with the fan negativity that comes with losing and not being able to score. In the last 12 SEC games — and 13 straight against power conference teams — Kentucky has not scored more than two offensive touchdowns in any game.
Stoops insists he is not worried about this team folding on him.
“The guys, I just told them again, I mean, they care,” he said after Saturday’s game. “You know, they work hard and their preparation is important to us. You think we’re the only ones? You know, nobody feels sorry for you in this league. I mean, throughout the country, you think we’re the only people? I mean, that happens.
‘So you’ve got to block it out, go back to work, and, you know, that’s what matters to me. And I told them it’s about continuing to stay very positive. I mean, we’re not even halfway through the season yet. We’ve played five, so we’ve got seven games left.”
Senior tight end Josh Kattus had a touchdown catch at Georgia and confirms Stoops’ belief that the team will not quit despite the record.
“We know how the SEC is and will get tougher and tougher each week. There is no other option. This is my senior year. Just keep going and punching the clock. There is no other option,” Kattus said. “We are not going to lose a game because we didn’t play hard. We have to make plays and score touchdowns. We have to do better.”
12 Responses
BBN is tired of hearing the TALK coming from Stoops, we want to see wins! If Stoops can't cut it in the bigger SEC, he needs to move on and do something else, somewhere else. It would be nice if he would take Barney with him.
What a grand idea – depart & take his money supplier with him!
Kattus is one of the best receivers who also gets a lot of yardage after a catch.
He only got one pass and scored a TD on a long run.
Why hasn’t Kattus been a top target for a few seasons instead of still getting limited touches.
UK coaches (HC & OC) may not know it’s leagal to pass to the TE ?!
At the present time, there are only 50 million reasons (thanks to Barnie) why UK isn’t getting g a new coach.
Just to be on the offensive instead of waiting on the deranged commenter to try to insult me by referring to his friend, Satan, let me be clear that he needs helped- very serious help, the radical loonies who have committed major crimes getting national attention have had a history of such ridiculous comments on websites. Please, go seek help from a professional “counselor”.
I love Kattus
Little Bitty Baron you are the one that makes stupid political statements. Every one knows you love Dictators, Traitors, and Communism. If you don't want me to tell you so, keep your radical right mouth shut!
You need therapy. TDS is serious & some do major crimes because of their hatred. Your filthy insulting comments are so childish.
Let's be nice Jimmy. Remember no personal attacks please
Thanks. I unfortunately eventually react after personal attacks continue.
This is a wholesome site with friendly bantering at times when disagreeing but typically not personal attacks. Thanks for featuring a winning site! This is my one source of UK sports and fortunately the Professor shares a lot of amazing analysis and stats with me.
Big Blue fan thru thick & thin, but the thin can be very trying with its a steep slope downward.
Professor is amazing with his numbers
We know that Stoops is not blocking out all the noise and that is a good thing. He wears out the same talking points each and every opportunity. He and his staff do not have any control over this team. Hopefully the rumors about Hamden being fired have some teeth.
Hamden was a bad hire. Brad White has declined every single year he's been here it gets a little bit worse every year until the point we dont have a defense. We don't have a offense. We will have a another mass exodus at the end of the year. Why is Brian Robinson not playing? Why is Quisenberry not playing? They finally played Cameron millier who I've been saying to play also DJ Miller. We need to get all these freshman on the same page as Boley. Rodriguez is going to be a must have returner. Gilmore as well. He should be a true Freshman this year. Next year he will be ready. They need to play all the freshman and tell them this is there team. We are in too deep of a hole to Stoops to crawl out of and hes not going to step down. Please stop attending the games. That's the only way we will get what we all want.
The program is in a crash dive.
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