Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops reveals details on Will Levis injury, keys to victory following 27-17 win over Mississippi State

The Kentucky Wildcats escaped Saturday night’s game against Mississippi State with a 27-17 victory, but it was certainly a battle tested victory in which their starting quarterback Will Levis was knocked out of the game briefly with a left shoulder injury in the third quarter. The Bulldog defense blasted Levis with a number of punishing hits, including one which sent him crashing to the ground, landing awkwardly on his left shoulder. Running back Chris Rodriguez, Jr. carried the Wildcat offense with 31 carries for 197 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the night. Following the game, SEC Network’s Cole Cubelic spoke with Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops. He discussed some of the keys to victory and helped to add some more clarity on the Will Levis left shoulder injury.

Cubelic noted that Stoops and the Wildcats just went back to their defense tackling well in the open field and that they were able to find success in the ground game–two of the successful cornerstones of the Wildcats’ program that he’s built over the years. “Yeah, without a doubt. We had to go back and do what we do. You know, the o-line really stepped it up. Chris [Rodriguez] ran really hard. We counted on Will [Levis] in some really difficult moments. He made some big-time throws. And it was a great team effort. Defense played really solid all day,” Stoops said.

Cubelic then asked about the fullbacks and the tight ends in the zone game and why that allows the Wildcats to be so successful. “They [Mississippi State] do a really good job on defense bringing pressures and you know and I know that we’ve got a problem with it. So, really, out of respect for all the different things that they do, we felt like we had to get in big sets a little bit and settle ’em down and try to get the run game going,” the Kentucky head man said.

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Mark Stoops added clarity to the Will Levis injury

Cubelic then discussed what a wild sequence of events it was when Levis was knocked out of the game. He grabbed his shoulder and jogged to the locker room, then sprinted back out on the field and eventually re-entered the game. Cubelic wanted to know, emotionally, what was going through Stoops’ mind through the whole situation. Stoops then helped to add clarity to the injury and what happened in the process. “Well, without a doubt, he took a good shot. Our trainer wanted to look at it right away and he took a good hit with the AC joint. They had to go in and make sure the X-rays were negative and nothing was out of place or broken or anything like that. But I knew if it wasn’t broken, that guy was gonna be back [smiles],” Stoops said.

Cubelic then mentioned how he thought the Mississippi State game was as close of a “must-win” game as it could have been for the Wildcats. He asked why his team was able to bounce back on Saturday night. “That was seven years ago when I felt like that. But every game in this league is a must-win. It’s tough, you know. It’s very difficult. I wasn’t very proud of the way we played a week ago. But you know, you’re gonna have some ups and some downs. You’ve gotta be tough and resilient and bounce back. And we knew we had a really good opponent coming in here today and we had to play some really good football,” Stoops said.

Kentucky has now won 9 of their last 11 games. With the win, the Wildcats moved to 5-2 overall for the 2022 campaign. Mississippi State dropped to 5-2 overall on the season.