WATCH: Stoops and the Cats talk Kentucky's win over No. 6 Ole Miss

After celebrating with his players on the field, Mark Stoops spoke to the media about Kentucky’s 20-17 win over No. 6 Ole Miss. As you might expect, he was thrilled with his team’s performance, which he sees as a culmination of the hard work they’ve put in after he challenged them following the loss to South Carolina three weeks ago.

“I told you, I thought our team grew between Week Two and Week Three. We came up short. Again, we’re looking to play to win, but you played a great team, and we improved. Week Four, I thought, again, we went out and did what we had to do. The guys kept on fighting, the coaches were good and then this week, we needed to be better. We needed to continue to be that much better to go and beat a ranked team on the road. A great football team that’s super well-coached that I have a ton of respect for.”

For ten minutes with “Go Big Blue” chants ringing in the background, Stoops fielded questions about the victory, including the decision to go for it on 4th and 7, which resulted in a 63-yard pass from Brock Vandagriff to Barion Brown. Two plays later, Gavin Wimsatt fumbled the ball at the two-yard line and Josh Kattus recovered it to score the game-winning touchdown. The offense did enough to win but the defense was the star of the day, holding the nation’s top offense to just 17 points.

“For us to play that way defensively, just took a total team effort. I thought our offense controlled the ball, our defense got stops, some big stops, and big plays. We had to win some one-on-ones but that’s a tough offense. They’re gonna roll a lot of people and score a lot of points, but we played really well today.”

Ultimately, Mark Stoops is happy to deliver a big win. Not just for his players but for the Big Blue Nation.

“Proud for our fanbase. They deserved a win like that. We’ve been close a lot and we’re very proud to get the victory.”

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