Mark Stoops breaks down Kentucky's struggles in the secondary vs. Georgia

Kentucky’s secondary was nothing short of a catastrophe in the team’s 51-13 loss to Georgia. On Monday, UK head coach Mark Stoops was brutally honest about the unit’s disappointing performance.

“We [had] one of the best players in the country running basically down down the field free. There’s no excuse,” Stoops said. “We have a backup linebacker in that’s supposed to be heavily rerouting the No. 2 receiver, especially when it’s him, when it’s [Brock Bowers] and we don’t touch him.

“There was another one I mentioned that I saw during the game. I could tell how they got confused. There was motion and we just didn’t play it very good, period. I’m not going to point fingers but we just blew it. Just didn’t play it very good and there’s really no excuse.”

Simply put, Georgia dismantled Kentucky’s defensive backs. The Bulldogs rattled off 435 passing yards in the win, the most against a Kentucky team led by Stoops. UGA picked Kentucky’s defense apart like a rotisserie chicken.

Georgia finished the game with a whopping 31 first downs while amassing 608 total yards of offense. For reference, Kentucky recorded just 183 total yards. Bowers alone tallied seven receptions for 132 yards and a touchdown.

Although Kentucky’s secondary was undeniably scrambled, Stoops claims Georgia still made fantastic plays even when the Wildcats were in the correct positions.

“They weren’t necessarily running free,” Stoops said. “The first touchdown was an unbelievable throw. [Carson Beck] layered that thing in there over two or three people and they had a wideout that went up and grabbed it at a very, very high point and it hit the end zone.

“I mean it wasn’t exactly wide open, but it appeared that way to the naked eye because it looked so simple, but it was a beautiful throw and catch and finish.”

Mark Stoops looks to bounce back from disappointment

While Georgia’s dominant performance against the ‘Cats could be discouraging, Stoops is forcing his players to keep their chins up.

“We’re not going to tolerate being mopey, you know, being down,” Stoops said. “We’re going to address it, we’re going to own it, we’re gonna look at our mistakes, we’re all going to take our part and then we’ll move on.”

“You’re gonna face adversity in this league. The teams we play, you’re gonna hit some tough patches. It’s how you respond and how you react to it and how you move forward.”

Kentucky’s secondary will have a chance to redeem itself this weekend. On Saturday, UK will square off against Missouri at 7:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.