Fake Punt Gut Punch Sign that Kentucky Needs to Grow Up

Mark Stoops made a promise to the Big Blue Nation following the loss to Georgia. He could not guarantee a win, but he was ready to deliver a product fans could be proud of. Responding to adversity was the theme of the week and it’s exactly what Kentucky did not do against Missouri.

Yes, the Wildcats took the field like 22 walking flamethrowers. Missouri trailed 14-0 by the Tigers’ eighth offensive snap. Kentucky punched them in the mouth in the opening round. The Tigers took it to the chin and prepared to land a haymaker.

It was delivered in an unlikely form, a fake punt pass. Kentucky was ready and waiting for it, yet the Tigers still executed the deep ball to Marquis Johnson for a 39-yard touchdown.

“It is one of those plays that feels like it punches you right in the gut,” Mark Stoops said after the loss, “and we didn’t respond very good after that.”

Time for Kentucky to Grow Up

Kentucky let one bad play turn into one quarter of bad football. Missouri scored 20 unanswered points and the Wildcats only netted nine total yards over the next six possessions. By the time the Cats came up for air, the wind was sucked out of the stadium.

“When things are going right, you have momentum and in an SEC home game you have to keep it. I think it speaks to the way that sometimes as a team we need to grow up. It’s a four quarter game,” said offensive lineman Eli Cox.

“They responded. Missouri was down 14-0 in the first quarter — you can flip it that way — they responded and we didn’t. And when they punched us, we didn’t respond. That’s something as a team we need to grow up and realize it’s a four quarter game. There’s so much football left to be played after one (bad) thing. We can’t let one mistake become two, and two become three, top to bottom as a team, all of us included. We need to focus on playing all four quarters.”

Even though Kentucky showed a little life with a third quarter rally, it did not last. The Wildcats were outscored 35-0 in the second and fourth quarters.

Plenty of Football Still to be Played

Football is a four-quarter game and Kentucky is playing in a 12-game season. Mark Stoops and the rest of the Kentucky football coaches will be reminding their players over the next two weeks that there’s still plenty of time to respond to the haymakers they received in the month of October.

“When I show them the standings when we take the field against that team in two weeks, there’s going to be, what, 3, 4, 5 teams in our league with a better record. I mean, it’s tough. This is a tough league,” said Mark Stoops. “We beat each other up and right now we are a little bit battered and we have got a bye week and we have to become a better football team 

Brad White added: “We still got five games left in this season coming off the bye. Stick together, regroup and let’s go.”