Mark Stoops explains keeping players calm during fourth quarter of bowl game

In their Gator Bowl matchup against the Clemson Tigers, the Kentucky Wildcats entered the fourth quarter with a double-digit lead, leading 21-10. Unfortunately, when the smoke settled, the Tigers claimed a 3-point 38-35 victory over the Wildcats and head coach Mark Stoops.

After the game, Stoops addressed his team’s performance but spent additional time discussing their fourth quarter woes. The Kentucky head coach would take a deep dive into explaining how he attempted to keep his players calm during all the late-game fireworks.

“Well, I think there’s a fine line there,” said Stoops. “There’s also — there’s some mistakes that we made as well that we’ve got to get corrected, and you’ve got to — you could always second guess yourself on whether I could take a time-out and get the defense a little bit of rest and making sure we’re putting ourselves in a position. You want to get to keep that clock moving as well for them.”

The Clemson offense exploded in the fourth quarter, nearly tripling their point output in that one frame compared to the first three combined. The Kentucky defense could do little to stop running back Phil Mafah, who was able to get in the end zone three times in the fourth quarter.

It wasn’t as if Kentucky took the assault from Clemson lying down. The Wildcats were able to score two touchdowns of their own in the frame as the score sea-sawed back and forth down the stretch. In fact, Kentucky held a five-point lead, 35-30, following a one-yard Ray Davis touchdown run that had less than 3 minutes to go in the game.

Stoops tips his hat to Dabo and the Tigers

For what it’s worth, despite the loss, Clemson and Kentucky had quite the battle on Friday. And Stoops does not want that to get lost after the fact, as he also took some time to acknowledge the effort of both teams while congratulating Clemson and their head coach, Dabo Sweeney, for not only what they achieved in the Gator Bowl but also what the program has been able to do during his time as head coach.

“It was a heck of a football game. I would be remiss if I didn’t recognize Dabo and the job that he’s done and winning five straight, and his team is a very good football team. It’s very well-coached. It’s a great organization, and they played a very good game. We both did.

“They made a few more than us to win it, and [so] credit them.”