What Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said after the 28-18 loss at No. 7 Tennessee

Everything Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops said after the 28-18 loss to No. 7 Tennessee Saturday night at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville:

Opening Statement

“Okay, it’s not the outcome that we were looking for at all, but I really do appreciate the toughness that our team displayed just in preparation throughout this week and coming in here and really playing really tough and playing winning football in a lot of ways in certain areas that obviously we didn’t. Credit to them (Tennessee), that’s a very good team and we knew coming in here in a tough environment was going to be very challenging, but our team was up for it. I think we finished the game down 10 starters and it’s no excuse, it’s just a fact. I really do appreciate the effort of some of our other guys just stepping up, battling and giving us an opportunity in the fourth quarter to take the lead and it didn’t happen. So, again, not the outcome we’re looking for, but proud of the effort.”

What inspires Kentucky to embrace a challenge like Tennessee

“We just have to. There’s no other option. We have to play like that to have a chance. That’s where we’re at right now. So, we just have to play extremely hard and put our guys in a position to be successful. Against a team like that, it’s always balanced and good on both sides and good on all three phases, but you have to make tough plays in critical moments. They make the pick and we have a read on there. We wanted them to run it there and go for it on fourth, but they thought it was open and got the pick.”

Whether the players that were injured will return after the bye

“I don’t. I don’t know. I’ll get that update. We’re pretty beat up right now, so I don’t know where we’re at.”

Starting Brock Vandagriff at quarterback before the injury

“I thought he was playing ball. It was a tough environment, tough defense. I thought he was doing some really good things and obviously, you have to have some help when we had time. I thought we had some protection early, mixed it up pretty good, and then obviously, a critical moment was the sack fumble. Earlier in the second half, the third quarter there, that was a critical moment, but I thought he was playing some good football.”

If his team overcoming adversity during the game was encouraging despite the loss

“You know in an environment like this, in an SEC road game that you’re going to hit adversity. We talked about it all week. Just swing back. I do think our guys did that.”

What he saw out of running back Jamarion Wilcox

“Yeah, I thought he really did some good things, starting with the first run of the game. I think that was explosive, and then they slowed him down a little bit, but he still ended up with 100. He made some people miss, and he’s doing a good job. So, we have to keep feeding them the ball.”

The performance of Kentucky’s secondary

“Overall, considering the situation we were in with being extremely thin, I thought we held up okay. The inexperience showed late with not being tight enough on that third down there late. We have to tighten up there. Obviously, we had an inexperienced guy out there, but we have to coach him. We have to do a better job with that play. But overall, in a tough situation and being down a lot of guys, they fought pretty hard.”

Defending third and long

“Yeah, it’s hard. Against good teams, it’s hard. It’s challenging, but yeah, I mean, it’s frustrating.”

The play of Ja’Mori Smith

“I think even late there when we are throwing it in our hurry-up, the ball is still not finding him in those situations. Whether it’s rushing or the quarterback running around, things like that. When you have an opportunity to throw him a competitive ball, he has an opportunity to come down with it a lot of times. That’s one of his strengths, and we do have to try to get him in a position like tonight when he got in a one-on-one, fifty-fifty ball. He came down with two in a row there. That was good to see, and I think we would all like to see more opportunities follow that way. A lot of times, it’s not just as simple. People are mixing things up; they’re not just pressing us and giving us a chance at those with the inside fade. It just hasn’t presented itself as much for one way or another. I’d like to see him get some more opportunities.”

The Kentucky rushing performance against Tennessee

“I thought we showed some growth. They played better. I thought we showed a presence of being physical. Even the protection was good at times. It was not good enough. That was a really good group we were going against. I thought we had a good plan. There were some critical moments in there and critical downs that I wish we would have executed better.”

If there were any significant changes to the offensive game plan going into the week

“I think the ability to be fifty-fifty and be able to run and throw it early was the key. We made some plays on first down. We had some good protections and hit some explosives or intermediate throws there early. I think that’s the key. The first run was an explosive run to start the game and it helps you to keep them a little bit off balance. If it’s a predictable pass, then it’s not our strength.”

What the message to the team is after the loss

“We just have to keep doing what we did with the preparation. With getting our bodies healed up, getting our minds healed up and trying to use our time wisely. We have to look at options to play better. I love their resolve. I love the way we prepared. We fought. The outcome was not what we were looking for. If they’ll continue to prepare that way and fight, then that is all we can do.”

How big the bye week is for Kentucky

“It’s important. Like any team down the stretch, it’s about building your roster and finishing strong. Our mindset will be to finish strong. As coaches and as the head coach, of course you have to look at big picture, your roster and what’s going on. There are a lot of things to keep up with right now.”

Gavin Wimsatt chasing down the interception he threw in the second half

“He should have. I say that tongue in cheek. I appreciate his effort. I love the young man, and he went out there and played some good football. It’s not going to be perfect, and he did some good things in some tough situations as well. We have confidence in him, and I appreciate him running him down.”

If he’s had a quarterback that is better at long throws than short passes

“I think it happens. Gavin is plenty capable of throwing intermediates as well. It’s really a matter of us executing, making the simple look simple and making the routine look routine. He certainly can do that. He’s under a lot of duress. This is a team that is going to put your quarterback in an uncomfortable situation. You have to credit them (Tennessee) for that. You knew that going into it. I think talking about Tennessee, they have a really complete team. They have a great opportunity here to make some noise down the stretch.”

The status of Barion Brown

“I don’t know. He had to go get checked out. He went to the hospital, came back, and he wanted to go back in but was not cleared to go back in.”

The thought process going for it on fourth down during their first possession of the game

“We just went for it. I felt like we were going to have to score some points.”