Mark Stoops confident Kentucky is "locked in" during LSU prep

After the big win over Florida, it’s only natural to worry about a hangover or letdown performance vs. LSU; however, Mark Stoops is confident his players have turned the page from last weekend’s thrilling victory to focus on the Tigers and improving to 6-0.

“I do [think they are focused],” Stoops said during a surprise appearance on KSR this morning. “I feel like every time we’re in this situation as a program, we grow. Even though there are new players here, I just feel like there are a lot of guys, a lot of experienced players who have been in this situation before and have been in our program four, five, six years. I could tell on Monday when I went in there that they were locked in and ready to go.”

The crazy thing about Kentucky’s season so far is, the Cats keep winning despite not playing their best football. Turnovers are the obvious issue, but the offense hasn’t performed up to the glimpses of potential we saw early on either. Stoops said knowing there is room to grow keeps the staff and players motivated.

“They know we can play so much better. We can do a lot of things better and I can see a genuine hunger in them. This group is business-like. They know they don’t need to get overhyped. They don’t need to do anything except be themselves and prepare. And we talked about just having a disciplined week of practice. Sacrificing, getting sleep so they’re locked in at meetings. And just being themselves. I just need them to be the best version of them. They don’t need to be Superman. We’ve had a great approach and I’m excited about it.”

Stoops wants Kroger Field to be rocking again

After the win over Florida, Mark Stoops called into the KSR Postgame Show to thank fans for creating an unbelievable atmosphere at Kroger Field. With a statewide audience listening this morning, he called on fans to bring it once again tomorrow night.

“They set the bar,” Stoops said of the crowd at the Florida game. “That’s what we need every week and we have another big-time game, as everybody knows, and we’re all looking forward to it. We need the crowd the same way as last Saturday, if not better.”

“Can’t wait to hear everybody tomorrow night.”