Mark Stoops knows the significance of Kentucky's game against Tennessee

Kentucky will arguably be playing the game of the college football weekend when they travel to Knoxville on Saturday. The 19th-ranked Wildcats will look to knock off the third-ranked Volunteers inside Neyland Stadium in what is a big SEC East matchup. For Mark Stoops, though, he only wants to put the proper amount of emphasis on it.

Stoops discussed the matchup with Tennessee during his press conference on Monday. He said he and his team can’t think about this game the same way the fanbases do while still realizing how big of an opportunity this is for Kentucky.

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“I mean that’s not for me to decide…Every game for us is important,” said Stoops. “Is this important? Of course it’s important. It’s an SEC East team that we have to go on the road (to) that’s very close in proximity to us. It’s important.”

This will be by far the highest-ranked matchup between these two programs since Stoops arrived in Lexington. A lot of that has to do with the fact that this is the highest-ranked Tennessee team he has faced. Still, Stoops doesn’t want to put loftier expectations on this game than necessary.

This game will have massive implications within the SEC and potentially on the national level depending on the result. Considering Kentucky’s last trip to Knoxville, they’ll feel better going down there than some may think. However, they also can’t forget what killed them in last year’s loss to Tennessee at Kroger Field. That’s Stoops’ message this week. The Wildcats are going to respect the Volunteers, but they also won’t be viewing this game as any more significant than they need to.