Kentucky Wildcats Football: Mark Stoops’ Monday Press Conference Transcript

Nov 9, 2013; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Jalen Whitlow (2) runs the ball against the Missouri Tigers at Commonwealth Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Q. When you watch him on film, what are some of the things that you guys are telling him?

COACH STOOPS: Well, to continue to make good decisions is a big thing. Our offense, as a lot of offenses in this day and age, you have options, and the quarterback has to make that decision very quickly. He’s got to make the right decisions with the football with what plays to get into. I think that is a big part of it.
I think we’re improving in that area, and then to hit some open receivers at times we’re just a little bit inconsistent in our execution of the pass game.

Q. What about Ryan Timmons? Do you think you can get him back this week?

COACH STOOPS: I hope so. We’re going to see. That’s what we’re shooting for. He’s going to be out there working with our trainers today and running around a little bit. The idea is to try to get him out there tomorrow.

Q. You had to play a lot of young guys all season, but with three games left, do you play those guys more times to prepare for next year?

COACH STOOPS: Well, yes, I think we have to. We have to continue to build our program and develop our young guys. Yes, we will do that. Jaleel (Hytchye) got a bunch of snaps last week. It looks like he may have to play a little bit more again this week. So we’ll see how he does. Even the guys that are redshirting, we’ll work with them and bring them along and get them up to speed, I think, for two reasons: We need to know exactly where they’re at and where they’re going to be in the spring and just to continue to work with those guys. We’re going to prepare to win. I’m talking about depth and how we go about our practice and just continue to work with those guys.

Q. You were able to play Jason Hatcher a little bit more?

COACH STOOPS: Yeah.

Q. Did he look like he lost much?

COACH STOOPS: That was the best he’s played in a while because he’s playing with that (broken) hand. In the previous weeks we’ve been saying we need to play him more and bring him along, and we want to. It’s hard for him to play in our four down stuff when he’s on the ground because we have to use our hand so much at D‑line, and he’s had that big club on him. With the 3‑4 stuff where he’s up moving around, he’s been able to do some of that. So we need to continue to bring him along and work with him.
He got good snaps last week, and he is getting better. He is. We’re able to trim that cast down a little bit more and have a little more function with his hand.

Q. Re: mentality of the seniors with no hope for a bowl game?

COACH STOOPS: I think you do. I think I really like the mentality of our senior class. I don’t think ‑‑ there’s not a guy in that group that’s going to lay down. I think they’ll work extremely hard and help turn the page in this program. I think they take pride in that and wanting to help being a part of turning it around and building for the future.

Q. Is it clear for the quarterback specifically what he does over the next three weeks could impact the depth chart next spring?

COACH STOOPS: No, I mean, we always go about our business. It’s no different than any other day. He (Whitlow) knows he’s got to perform. We’re just looking to get him better. Every guy on our program knows we need to improve at every position, and he’s no different. He knows he needs to continue to work.

Q. You seem to be at a crossroads in this particular season ?

COACH STOOPS: I don’t feel like we’re at a crossroads. I just feel like ‑‑ I understand. It’s tough. It’s frustrating. I get up on Sunday and I’m frustrated. I admitted it after the game that I was frustrated during the game. There are plays in there ‑‑ you know, I’ll go back and I look at everything we’re doing and we all do. We’re very critical of ourselves and we know we can do things better, that’s for sure. You look at some plays and you see a lot of good plays out there. I saw some plays that we didn’t have very good match‑ups on, and we aren’t going to win those battles right now all the time.
But I saw a good percentage of plays that were good football plays. And that we have to build on, that we have to learn to play a hundred percent of those plays as best we can. Then we have an opportunity to beat a top 10 team. Until then, we have no chance to beat a top 10 team. If we play 80% of our snaps on one side of the ball or the other that’s pretty effective, that 20% is going to get you beat.

Q. Was Missouri a particular case of bad match‑ups for you considering what their strengths are?

COACH STOOPS: Yeah, I think they’re a difficult match‑up also for a lot of people. I really do. Offensively and defensively, they’re a complete team right now. They’re very explosive. You feel very good when you get some stops against them. Then you have to put it together, move the ball, score some points and keep it a very manageable game.
You turn it over, a shank punt here, block punt there, and you get out of here real quick. You know, there are a lot of good plays in there. I thought our run defense, we played them as good as anybody. I know they hit the long run that skewed the statistics. But if you look at how we fundamentally played them, I was proud of that. We gave up the long run. That is something that’s very easily corrected. But the rest of it is fundamentally toughness, responsibility, our hands and our feet. I thought we did some very good things as good as anybody played in the run game.

Q. With special teams, is there one thing you can kind of pinpoint on how things fell apart?

COACH STOOPS: How it fell apart? No, I think we’ve done a nice job. It’s no mystery. We don’t have the depth that we need to have. That’s not an excuse, this is a fact. We’re running out of bodies to play defensive back in that last game. We were just running out of guys. You start taking those guys off special teams and you have other guys in there.
Coach (Bradley Dale) Peveto has done a great job with what he’s had to work with. I thought those guys have really worked hard. Our players have bought in, worked hard and been effective in special teams. We weren’t so effective this past week. They just didn’t play good enough. We had assignment mistakes on the blocked punt and that cost us. You can’t ever have those. Those win or lose games for you.
I’m not saying that one play changed this game, but it certainly can. You know, we just didn’t play as well. The kickoff coverage unit was not nearly as good as we’ve been. We got blocked and they made somebody miss. You make one guy miss, and it’s an extra 60, 70 yards and that doesn’t help either.
Again, one of our DBs was out of that spot where he makes it in the first kickoff for basically three or four extra yards early in the game. We have somebody, a freshman in there later, and it’s an extra 70.

Q. What do you say to the fan who, just like you, is frustrated?

COACH STOOPS: Yeah, I understand. I understand their frustration is what I say. I appreciate your support. I appreciate them being there. I think they’ve been very fair. I know they’re frustrated because they haven’t been here nine, ten months. They’ve been here nine, ten years or 20 years or 30 years and they want to see things changed. I recognize that and I understand that.
The only thing I ask them is to continue to stay with this team because, again, I’m not ever one to make excuses. It’s just a fact that we have some work to do.
I’ve never said since day one that I was going to come in here and change it overnight. I promised to work extremely hard, and the players will work extremely hard to build this program the right way to get better. That’s what we’re going to continue to do. I appreciate the people that have stuck with us, and I know it’s tough. It takes a lot of people to be successful, and I think there are a lot of people pulling in the same direction, and we need to continue to have that.

Q. Re: officials calls. Did you talk to the SEC and get any answers?

COACH STOOPS: No, I did not. Just staying away from that. Just moving on to Vanderbilt. It’s just on to Vandy. It’s just tough, you know, but it is what it is. We have a tough time overcoming things. We’ve got to coach better, we’ve got to play better. There’s no excuse there.

Q. Re: good start running the ball in the second half. Can you talk about getting off to that start? Going forward, how do you change that?

COACH STOOPS: I made that point very clear at halftime. I was tired of going the wrong way. We were going to go forward, and that was a way to go forward and not take sacks and negative yardage plays and moving the wrong direction.

Q. What kind of challenges do you think you’ll face against Vandy?

COACH STOOPS: I think they’ve been just a good football team across the board. Not flashy in any area. Just good, sound, fundamental football team. They play very smart. They’re a good team. I think they’ve been very efficient at quarterback. They have the wideout that’s lighting it up, Jordan Matthews is one heck of a player, and defensively they play very hard.
Just like last week they made some great plays in certain situations that set them up to win the game. They’ve just been a good, solid football team.

Q. Do you ever look at Vandy as a team you can draw comparisons to as far as in the SEC?

COACH STOOPS: Yeah, I certainly can compare it to back when we were back in Arizona and everything, and you’re just doing the very best you can with what you’ve got. Just trying to play good football. Like I’ve told you guys, and that’s what’s frustrating, you talk about that whether it’s fans or other people or anything else, we’ve resembled a good football team at times. We’ve got to put it together and play a complete game.
I think we’re making strides. That’s frustrating to everybody. Like I said you can’t play 80% and beat a good football team or beat anybody.

Q. (No microphone)?

COACH STOOPS: It was very similar. It was very hard to go through this. But, again, I’ve said it before, I know what I was getting into. Sure, we come in here to prepare to win every game. You know, I don’t care who we’re playing. That is where the frustration sets in because you’re competitive and you want to win. But it is similar. You’ve got to get to the point where you play good football across the board. Just good, sound football in all phases. Coach them to play the right way.
What I take some (indecipherable) in is when I turn on that film and see good, sound football, and I see that from 80%, and I know that’s not good enough to the common fan. But I see us coaching and putting into position and see the players executing and playing hard. I see some good plays, and I know there is progress being made, even though that’s difficult to see on the scoreboard and all that. But I know when we’re moving forward and we’re getting better and when we’re not.
We have our limitations. We all have to overcome them and do a better job, but I think you just get to the point where you play good football across the board.