Mark Stoops' gut told him to 'go win' on 4th down conversion to Barion Brown

Mark Stoops‘ gut was the subject of controversy the past couple of weeks, the 12th-year coach slammed for his conservative approach in Kentucky‘s loss to No. 1 Georgia, punting on 4th and 8 at midfield down one with three minutes to go. A week later, he decided to keep the offense on the field rather than take three points going into halftime, leading to a sack and a scoreless finish before the break in what became a 41-6 win for the Cats over Ohio.

“I should have gone with my gut, that’s on me,” Stoops told Dick Gabriel at halftime.

This time around, his gut won Kentucky the game over No. 6 Ole Miss in Oxford, the Wildcats’ highest ranked road win since 1977.

Down 17-13 with 4:02 to go, the offense found itself in a difficult 4th and 7 at its own 20. The analytics will tell you to punt in that situation, a chance to flip the field and allow a defense playing out of its mind against the most dangerous scoring team in college football to get another stop. Force a punt and you’ve got one final chance to find the end zone.

Instead, Stoops saw an opportunity and felt his offense could capitalize with their backs against the wall.

“It was the gut, it was the gut. Again, I understand the position I was in a couple weeks ago, I clearly do. But I also was going to have great field position there if we pin them. We had been playing so well. I also know what this offense is capable of,” Stoops said after the win. “Analytics will tell you on 4th and 6 or less to go for it, and we were on 4th and 8, but I felt good about the matchup. I felt like they were going to be very aggressive, I felt like we were going to get a one-on-one. And we did.

“To me, that’s 50-50, and we wanted to go win. We wanted to go put it away. We still had to go play defense. But that fourth down? I mean, gosh, so dramatic.”

Dramatic, indeed. Brock Vandagriff found Barion Brown on a go route down the left sideline and the speedy receiver turned it into a 63-yard gain down to the Ole Miss 17. Kentucky would score two plays later for the go-ahead touchdown to close out the 20-17 victory.

An all-time gutsy call wound up being the difference in a historic win for the program.

“I felt they were going to be aggressive, I thought we’d get a one-on-one. Barion separated himself and it was a huge play,” Stoops said. “You’re a genius when it works, but I’d have been second guessed forever if we didn’t convert that.”

how did he stop and cut back??? pic.twitter.com/Hw7gn0l86r

— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) September 28, 2024

Interestingly enough, that call was in the game plan all week long — along with the Wildcats’ other aggressive attempts on do-or-die downs. Kentucky went for it three times on fourth down and converted on all three, none bigger than Brown’s game-changing catch in the final minutes.

To beat a team like Ole Miss, the nation’s top-ranked offense that entered the game averaging 670.8 yards and 55.0 points per contest, you have to make the most of each momentum-shifting opportunity that comes your way.

And sometimes you have to go create them.

“I had it in the game plan all week, I knew I had to steal a possession or two,” Stoops said. “This one came down to the end, obviously, but I went for it on my own 30 from a half-yard, I think. And went for it on a 4th and 2, maybe a 4th and 1. They don’t turn it over much and they can move the ball so fast. Believe it or not, this style is a harder matchup even than maybe Georgia sometimes. Does that make sense? They score so fast and they spread out, they just go so fast.

“In the game plan, I told Bush (Hamdan) all week we had to have critical third downs, and we had to have critical fourth downs ready to play today. We went into it throughout the week preparing for fourth downs. I felt like we had to steal a possession or two. And rather than a fake punt or an onside kick, I just wanted to steal it with our offense. We had it in the plan to go for it on some.”

Needless to say, the game plan worked.