Stoops thanks fans for waiting through weather delays: "That was truly amazing"

Like the rest of us, Mark Stoops is still digesting what happened tonight at Kroger Field. He started his press conference by walking through the weather delays that postponed the start of Kentucky’s season opener vs. Southern Miss by two hours and ended it after two and a half quarters. Stoops was so concerned about his team getting home to get some rest following the 31-0 win that he almost forgot to address one of the most remarkable things about tonight: the crowd.

“I meant to open with that, thank you,” Stoops said when asked about the 50,000-plus fans who stuck around Kroger Field through numerous lightning delays to cheer the Cats on. “Let me redo my opening statement. No, I sincerely can’t even begin to thank the fans for what they were like. I mean, to go out there two hours after we were supposed to and see them just going nuts and cheering us on and rooting us, that was truly amazing.”

Yes, it was. After lining up for the Cat Walk, which had to be moved inside the Nutter Field House, and waiting in the rain to get inside the stadium, the BBN turned lemons into lemonade. Led by a raucous student section, fans danced and cheered to the music and LED light show as lightning strike after lightning strike postponed the start of the game. That energy continued well through kickoff, even when lightning struck again with just under ten minutes to go in the third quarter. When Stoops met with Mitch Barnhart to discuss what to do about the game, he couldn’t help but laugh at some fans near the tunnel.

“Just now, as we were walking down, Mitch [Barnhart] and I were walking down and discussing. We didn’t know what was going to transpire. We’re just going down to communicate, get on the same page with them, and a bunch of fans are still out there going nuts. And I’m like, ‘Easy now, the game’s not over.’

“But just, you know, just great appreciation for our fanbase, and I’m glad we played, a pretty decent game, relatively clean. I know our guys played hard. I know they were excited to play for them. And I feel like our team really, really did that. I feel like they played their hearts out.”

Well done, BBN. Rest up so we can party even harder when Kentucky beats South Carolina next week — hopefully with no weather delays.

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