Mark Stoops met with the media following Kentucky’s heartbreaking overtime loss to Texas last night.
“Okay, very difficult loss for our players,” Stoops said in his opening statement after the game. “I greatly appreciate what they’ve invested. This entire year, in particular, the past couple weeks to improve in a tough situation.”
Stoops went on to thank UK fans.
“I want to thank the fans that have supported us through some tough times, and I get it, I really acknowledge that. But it’s about the University of Kentucky, it’s about these players. I understand the position I put people in and
make a decision, and that’s on me,” Stoops said.
Check out his entire press conference here:
Here is a transcript from UK Athletics:
MARK STOOPS: OK, very difficult loss for our players. I greatly appreciate what they've
invested. This entire year, in particular, the past couple weeks to improve in a tough situation,
let's be honest. When know when you are losing games, it's real easy to cave, it's real easy to
submit and give in. And none of these guys knew that. They work their tail off and it was a
great investment by them. And it hurts, and I feel for them. I want to thank the fans that have
supported us through some tough times, and I get it, I really acknowledge that. But it's about the
University of Kentucky, it's about these players. I understand the position I put people in and
make a decision, and that's on me. I greatly appreciate the support for our team and our
players. They deserve an environment like that and, yes, they deserved to win and I want to do
that for them, for the fans. I appreciate it. I thought it was a great environment. A fun place to
play. And again, our team played exceptionally hard for a long time and put a lot into it. So,
again, thanks to the fans creating a great environment and giving us an opportunity and a
chance to help us win and our players for working exceptionally hard. We came up 6 inches
short. I'm sure that may be the first question or two to asked me about whether I regret or not
going for that. There's always a decision that I can definitely second-guess myself on, not that
one. I wanted to go to play to win and we played well the entire game and had a great
opportunity, six inches, whatever half yard, whatever you put yourself in the position to win the
game. We came up short. And that hurts. I appreciate our players and our coaches have
worked really hard. We are getting better. And I know, you know, you could look at the bottom
line and we all do, it's a bottom-line business, I understand that as much as anybody, I've been
around a long time. But I really care about the way they approach things, the way they invest
and how they work and the improvement that we're making. And we've improved each and
every week through this SEC schedule. Unfortunately, we came up short and that hurts.
Q The short situation was such a problem last year. It felt like you got it fixed. So how
frustrating was it?
MARK STOOPS: It was, it really was. It was frustrating and we had worked extremely hard to
get that fixed. We had been very efficient this year. Did some self scout, did some work during
the by week and all that. We knew going against a team like this that they are extremely stout.
They are very physical. You know, early I didn't want to burn a timeout early there but the ball
was marked a little shorter than I originally looked at it when they were walking out, and so we
originally called a play around it and I didn't want to time-out early. I wish I could reverse those
calls. Handed off with the belly on the third down and sneak it on fourth. Yeah, we weren't
effective. And again, I've got to credit Texas and them and their defense and their team for
learning the way to win, you know, in a tough game.
Q Those two runs that Dante, were they a desire for him to leap? Was that part of it?
MARK STOOPS: No, it wasn't, I think on the first one he was very close on that leap. And on
the next one, I felt like they were ready for the leap. But they were definitely creating some
push down low as well.
Q Mark, the field goal at the end of the game, again, there's 14 seconds left, did you
consider taking a shot at the end zone there, or did you want to make sure you got it?
MARK STOOPS: I wanted to make sure. That's tough. I don't want to put down our offense
because they had 26 first downs and 400 yards and I thought had an exceptional game plan,
moved the ball very well. Scoring in that situation, a touchdown, is pretty tough. If I don't get the
three then do I even walk in here?
Q Mark, what did you see on the two charges?
MARK STOOPS: Not good, not good. Dynamic returner, we knew that going into it. And
coverage units have been so good and a lot of that has to do with our punters and kickers,
they've been good and they're dynamic in the return game and very skilled. They made some
guys miss. They made some people miss. I'm very impressed with Cutter. Very impressed
because there was a couple of things early and we were coaching him and talking to him and
he's learning and staying positive and working very hard. But you know the completion
percentage against him to go 31 of 39. It was impressive. I like to see that. We needed our
completion percentage to keep on increasing and it's doing that. He's a big reason why. I
thought he was very comfortable. I thought we had time in the pocket even though we did give
up a decent amount of sacks. But we created some on the other side as well. It's hard, I
thought for throwing it during near 40 times there, probably more than that with the scrambles.
The protection was pretty decent. I liked the way he was hanging in the pocket and hitting some
unders, hitting some crossing routes and different things to move the chains. He was operating
very efficiently.
Q Mark, just a little bit about his running games. It felt like a couple of times he was dead
to rights and still able to get out there?
MARK STOOPS: I love that. He's just playing ball. You watch a lot of football, you see it all the
time, right? In college and in pros, just guys playing ball. The more he's out there, the more he's
playing, the more comfortable he's getting. It's just getting off schedule. And you know, he's
generally very accurate also when he's moving, when he's on the move. But to scramble and
actually get positive yardage is really good to see.
Q What can you say about your defense after a couple of the performances that were
substandard?
MARK STOOPS: I really greatly appreciate the way they responded. You know, we thought
they were getting DJ back and he got a setback pregame, I was told as I was getting ready he
was not able to go. That hurt but guys stepped up, they played a lot of snaps and they have a
lot of character. They responded the way we expected them to and played extremely hard.
Coaches did a great job. Brad and Bush had a great offensive plan as well. We were very
efficient, 26 first downs against that defense is pretty impressive. That's hard to do and it gives
us opportunities, you know, explosive plays are tough. Kauwe gave us an opportunity to win the
game there in overtime. I appreciate his effort and his passion and how hard he plays.
Q Mark, when you guys do have 400 yards of offense and 26 first downs and we talked
about short yardage. Is there anything else from the offense there that they’ve got to do
to get in the end zone and finish that drives that are outside of the short yardage?
MARK STOOPS: Of course, yes. You want to, at times, and we talked about it throughout the
game and I can't give you exact scenarios now but in that striking distance of trying to create
some shots. Once you get into that power red or in the red to get the ball in the end zone.
Again, you are playing a very good defense. But yeah, there are things we can do better and be
more efficient. You know, the negative yards plays hurt us as well. Just throughout the game.
The three and out situations we are losing 5 yards on first or second down. That hurts, but
you've got to try. You watch football and everybody's getting the ball in the perimeter and
different things and we have been effective that way. But tonight they played it extremely well.
Again, credit them and we try to do some perimeter things and they were hitting us in the
backfield and losing yardage. That gets frustrating and then you run the ball downhill, downhill,
well, that's hard to do against them as well.
Q Mark, we already seen you can run the ball this season. But how far-?
MARK STOOPS: Yeah. He's a very good player and he left the game for a while to get checked
and get an x-ray and played through some being banged up again and I appreciate him coming
back and doing what he can do to help us win. Very good football player, very tough and you
know how physical it is out there and for him to go to the hospital and come back and finish
says a lot about him.
Q Mark, I know you guys ended up slowing on the next drive. Because you got the ball
back. Can you walk us through what the officials were telling you there and it looked like
you had multiple extra players on the field. Can you walk through that?
MARK STOOPS: It makes no difference if it is 12 or 13 if we move. It doesn't matter. That's
one thing. But what I was upset about is I felt like the defensive end caused us to move, they
were is in the neutral zone. I don't know.
Q Mark, you had back-to-back games where end of the halves and you move the ball well
but end up with zero points. What does that say about your offense that you get another
two-minute drive but you are able to finish it off with points.
MARK STOOPS: It was really good to see. I think again you are seeing progress. I think Cutter
and his comfort level just going through the operation trusting he's going to have protection.
Delivering the football on schedule, you know, is really good to see. And he was quick, Bush
has been working hard with him about his reads and progression. But trying to operate fast, you
know and get through it, get through his reads and get rid of the ball. He's improved. We've
improved. And it was good to see us hit the ball through at the end of regulation. Appreciate
Jacob as well. Because he missed one earlier but came back and hit that one through.
Q Mark, the heartbreaking some of this, is it encouraging your players or make it even
harder?
MARK STOOPS: It hurts, but they see the investment. They clearly know the difference
between what they are putting into it and when they don't. And it's going to hurt. But there's no
other option, you know what I mean, there's no other option then to do that. That, as a coach,
for us going to work everyday and coaching them everyday, that's what matters. Sometimes,
listen, I don't want to act like the results don't matter, because they do. What I can control is the
way they approach things and do things and what their mindset is like. And they are invested.
That was the emotional locker room. As passionate and as emotional as I've seen them in a
while in a positive way of really strongly encouraging guys and not handling things the wrong
way. Because there is no option.
