Mark Stoops happy with result vs. ULM but "pissed off" by early mistakes

Kentucky’s start vs. ULM was not ideal, to say the least. On his first throw as a Wildcat, Will Levis zinged it to Josh Ali. The pass hit Ali in the hands, bounced in the air, and landed in the hands of a ULM defender. Not exactly the start Levis was hoping for, but the junior brushed it off, finishing 18-26 for 367 yards and four touchdowns, one of the most impressive debuts in Kentucky Football history.

“That was one thing that I just needed a more accurate ball there so Josh could catch that ball,” Levis said of the interception. “We’ll clean it up and we’re going to need to make those plays in bigger games for sure.”

“I just kind of chuckled about it,” Levis said of his reaction to the interception. “I was like, of course this is how it starts. And then they go on to score and I’m like, alright, let’s go. But yeah, honestly, I just laughed about it. It was kind of funny.”

First-Game Jitters

Even though he had 15 games under his belt from his time at Penn State, Levis admitted that nerves came into play today at Kroger Field

“I was nervous for sure. I know that I have the experience and it’s not my first time playing a college football game. But it was the first time starting for a new program, pretty high expectations and I knew a lot of people were waiting to see how the game goes. After the first play, the nerves kind of just went away but I think the nerves were a good thing. It was an indication of highs expectations and it means that I care a lot about the team and the outcome and how it goes. Things went pretty well and I’m glad the game went how it did. 

“I didn’t even worry about it,” Mark Stoops said of Levis’ interception. “I didn’t notice anything, I didn’t flinch. Honestly, I thought at the time live that it was on Josh, but then you look at the replay and that’s when I noticed it definitely had some heat on it and it was a little behind. In that situation, it’s just some game reps. He needs to be a little more patient. That was a clean pitch. We don’t need to rush that and drill that so hard. That was a good play. That should have been a really good play, you know, 10, 12-yard gain or so and turned into an interception.”

Bad first drive aside, Kentucky’s offense finished with 564 yards, 419 passing, the most since Kentucky’s 422 vs. UT-Martin in 2014.

Stoops on early defensive penalties: “That just pisses me off”

Kentucky’s defense held ULM to 87 yards, the fewest in a game for an opponent since Central Michigan totaled 78 yards in the 1988 season opener. The Warhawks averaged only 1.4 yards per play. Still, the defense’s mistakes on ULM’s first drive, particularly two big penalties, drove Stoops bonkers.

After Levis turned the ball over at Kentucky’s 43-yard line, ULM used Rich Rodriguez’s up-tempo offense to keep the Cats on their heels. Yusuf Corker sacked Rhett Rodriguez to force the Warhawks to kick a field goal; however, a personal foul by Abule Abadi-Fitzgerald gave ULM a first down. On 3rd and 4, an offsides penalty on DeAndre Square moved the ball to the three-yard line, and from there, Kadyn Roach ran it in to make the score 7-0 Warhawks.

“None of us want that,” Stoops said. “You work all year long and you come out and start down 7-0. It just pisses you off but you just regroup. And truly, I have to practice what I preach as well. Go on to the next play. It is what it is. And I have a lot of confidence that we would. [Levis] was hyped up and he throws the ball hard as you could see today. You could see all that he’s been advertised for with his arm strength. So, it was good to go through adversity. Same defensively. Ah, well, not really. That just pisses me off.” 

Defensive coordinator Brad White admitted ULM offensive coordinator Rodriguez’s fast-paced offense caught his guys off guard on the first series.

“That first drive, we knew they would go tempo and we were in good shape,” White said. “They did something on the first third down that, they got us.”

A senior and three-time captain, Josh Paschal did not seem concerned about the early jitters.

“It was just the first drive of our season and we just had to calm down. It was more of a thing, look guys, we had some foolish penalties and we gave up a touchdown but let’s lock back in.”

On to the next one.