Mark Stoops evaluates difference coaching in a bowl game

Nobody on the Kentucky sideline was pleased with the outcome of the 21-0 Music City Bowl loss to Iowa. The offense was non-existent as the ‘Cats started a true freshman quarterback who didn’t take a single snap during the regular season and was listed as the fourth-stringer for most of the season. Predictably, a top-ranked Iowa defense swallowed the poor kid whole as he failed to lead the UK offense to a single point.

By starting a true freshman in that situation, Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops essentially threw away any real stakes in the game. Of course, he and the team desperately wanted to win and fought their butts off to get there. But a loss in that game just doesn’t mean the same as a loss in the regular season, since every team in the country played bowl games with depleted rosters due to the Transfer Portal.

Bowl games were always less serious than the regular season for most of these lower-tier bowls between power conference foes. That’s more true now than ever, evidenced by Kentucky and Iowa both starting backups at quarterback. So Mark Stoops wanted to win but knows the bowl game was a unique situation. Here he was explaining that mindset:

Mark Stoops on coaching mindset in bowl game

“Very different. Very different. I don’t know what else to say. We compete to win the game. We came up short. None of us are happy with that. You know, these guys work and prepare to win, but is this exactly a great situation to throw him into? Here’s a bowl game against a top-ten defense and because of the way this is. I don’t know if that’s right either, but I don’t have all the answers. You know, I know we tried our best. I know we compete to win no matter what the stakes are, and we lost today, and I give Iowa credit for that.”

Definitely a somber tone from a competitive head coach that wants to win. But it was just too tough a spot for true freshman Destin Wade to come through. Wade himself even admitted the Iowa defense was just overwhelming at this point in his career.

“They’re just one of those tough defenses that are true to their defense, run their base-downs, and they have good secondary and that linebacker, Jack Campbell. Just their pressures too made it hard.”