Stoops Implores Kentucky to Respond, but there are No Easy Answers

Mark Stoops described it as a butt-kicking and a butt-whoopin’. Whatever you want to call it, Kentucky’s 48-20 loss to Florida was bad. Very bad.

We thought Kentucky got the clunker out of its system against South Carolina. The Cats were the betting favorite in Vegas to win a fourth-straight game over the Gators. Then Florida scored 21 unanswered points to leave the Cats in the rearview mirror.

Three Kentucky turnovers turned into 14 Florida points. That was hardly the most startling stat from the night. The Cats had given up four rushing touchdowns all year. Florida’s Jadan Baugh, a true freshman, had five tonight. Kentucky had given up two passing plays of 40+ yards in six games. Five of DJ Lagway‘s seven completions went for 40+ yards. Stoops couldn’t believe the Florida quarterback only completed seven passes.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in any secondary I’ve been a part of,” the Kentucky head coach said in his postgame presser.

The Kentucky defense knew on Monday that Lagway would spend all night hunting for big plays. They still couldn’t prevent them from happening.

“Big plays, the place gets rocking, they happen. We’ll just stay the course. Our guys have responded and responded well at times on the road. Tonight, we took a butt-kicking. Give them credit, they played very well. I have no worries about our guys falling apart or anything. We need to play better.“

That’s what makes this loss so tough to comprehend. The offense only scored two touchdowns. They struggled to finish scoring opportunities, nothing new for this group. We did not know the defense was capable of getting gashed in such a manner, and two true freshmen were the primary culprits.

From the outside looking in, it’s hard to put your finger on exactly what will make this team click and it’s so demoralizing for Kentucky football fans. Even though the players and coaches looked shell-shocked after the loss in The Swamp, Stoops is challenging his Kentucky football team to get off the mat.

“Like I always talk to the guys about — it gets a little bit redundant, but it’s the truth — when you get knocked down and you don’t play well, you have to respond. You gotta be resilient,” said Stoops.

“This is a tough league. It’s rough. Believe me, I’m very disappointed, but not defeated. We will get back to work. It’s a long, long night. These night games are absolutely brutal. We’ll try to get a little bit of rest on the plane and get back to work tomorrow. We’ll bounce back. Our team does. I’m not worried about that. I want to see improvement. I know we need to play better and I promise you everybody in there cares and is going to go to work.”

They may care. They may work hard. But is it enough to turn the season around? That’s a question that may have a very difficult answer that nobody wants to hear.

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