What Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said to start Tennessee week

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops met with reporters Monday, previewing his team’s game against No. 21 Tennessee on Saturday night (7 Eastern Time, ESPN) at Kroger Field in Lexington. The Wildcats are coming off the bye week while the Vols are looking to bounce back from a 34-20 loss at Alabama.

Here’s what Stoops said about Tennessee during his weekly press conference:

Opening statement, facing Tennessee off the bye week

“Certainly get some things corrected (during the bye week), improve as a team and get prepared for a great game this week with hosting Tennessee. Looking forward to being back home and having another sellout crowd and strongly encourage ours fans to come and be loud. We’re certainly going to need it when you’re facing a team as explosive as Tennessee and with tempo that they use and they’re a very efficient football team. We know it’s going to be a great challenge and I think our team is ready to get back out, get to work here this week, put in a solid week of preparation and go back to work and try to get in the (win) column. And we know this’ll be an exciting game for us.”

What makes Tennessee so explosive under Josh Heupel 

“You’ve seen a lot of it, the last couple years. Their tempo creates problems, but I think they’re very balanced when you’re looking for balance. You know you’ve heard me talk about it a lot and as a defensive coach, defending somebody that is, they’re about exactly 50/50 right now — 217 (rushing yards per game) to 220 (passing). It’s about as balanced as you can get. And they have a very efficient offense that’s hard to defend, I think the way they spread you out, the tempo that they use, the schemes that they use. Very talented quarterback in Joe Milton, with a ton of experience. He’s been around a long time, senior, and I think they have dynamic running backs along with always having explosive receivers, so very good team.”

If he has learned how to simulate Tennessee’s wide splits and uptempo offense in practice

“I think we definitely try different ways to help and to simulate that, as you heard me say, and probably most, it’s almost impossible to simulate them in practice, that’s for sure. You could run two units at them, as far as two scout teams. You could practice against our offense, that can be efficient just being, playing good football. It’s not the same offense, but as far as us getting our cleats in the ground, getting calls, communicating, getting lined up, getting set. I think that you know that was a piece of it a year ago, where we’re playing certain downs very well, certain plays very well, and the tempo stresses some kids mentally. And just you can’t have that. You can’t have any mental breakdowns, that’s for sure. It’s hard enough and they put enough stress on you and make enough one-on-one catches that you can’t have your own mental breakdowns.”

Kentucky’s defense being fundamentally sound against Tennessee’s offense

“I think fundamentals is a big piece of it and I think your mind is such a big part, to get locked in. At times when you hear me talk about defense and cleats in the ground and reading keys and doing all those things well happens so fast and you can get erratic. So I think that’s a big part of it, having the guys really settle in and doing their job, And also this is no team to sit there and watch the game. By that I mean a defensive player just sitting there watching things that are going on in front of him. They better do their jobs, and they better do it at a very, very high level.”

Comparing Tennessee this year versus last year

“I think it’s very similar in a lot of ways. I think this past week you saw Joe really throw in some good deep passes and very accurate, maybe one drop in a critical moment. They’re the same in that they can really be explosive at any moment.”

Tennessee’s defensive line

“They’re just being very disruptive. They’re very good as a unit, want to say they’re averaging 310 yards per game (allowed). They’ve been very disruptive up front, getting a bunch of sacks. They’re playing strong across the board.”

Preparing to face Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton

“A couple things. The deep shots itself, he has an extremely strong arm that’s well documented — that he could get the ball down the field as good as anybody that we will see. So just judging and playing the ball on deep shots is one thing. And then the first part of your question is plastering and playing. Off-schedule is important to reaffirm that and practice that and just make sure that we’re plastering to our guys with scramble drills.”