Kentucky Wildcats Football: Mark Stoops Interview after Missouri Tigers Game

Nov 9, 2013; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops during the game against the Missouri Tigers at Commonwealth Stadium. Missouri defeated Kentucky 47-17. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

Q. Did you destroy anything in the locker room?

COACH STOOPS: No, no. I mean, we’ll get it. We’ll get it done, believe me. It’s hard, it’s frustrating, but we’re going to keep on going to work and getting better every day. This team is showing signs. We’re not nearly as consistent as we need to be. You’re playing a top-10 team that’s grown up an awful lot themselves. They had some wideouts that we couldn’t match up with quite frankly, and that wasn’t a good match‑up for us. Green‑Beckham was the No. 1 player in the country a couple years ago, right? He’s a beast. They’re big, and they have great balance, and they put you in a real bind.
I thought, like I said, we had some chances at some stops on 3rd down. They made some good plays.

Q. In the second half when it looked like you might make it interesting, Raymond (Sanders) has a fumble, then they had the long kickoff return. Is that more of the execution issues you’ve been talking about all season?

COACH STOOPS: We’re not making the play. I thought Neal (Brown) was set up perfectly. We had some runs off that same action. We had a nice beautiful play action pass set up. We get it out to the 40 after we had just moved it. He’s got to hold onto the ball. That’s it.

Q. Second quarter I thought their defensive line really dominated you guys in the trenches. Did you think so?

COACH STOOPS: Well, they did. They overwhelmed us at times, and the pressures got to us. But yeah, I mean, they did. We’ve got to do a better job of picking up the pressure, and they overwhelmed us at times, and we’ve got to be one step ahead of them right there, as well, and keep them off balance with some of the other things. I think we hurt them on some screens later. Obviously we could have timed some things up better in that second quarter.

Q. Have you found that to be ‑‑ obviously you talk about skill on the outside, but have you found the trenches, the match‑ups up front to be the biggest thing about finding a way to compete in this league?

COACH STOOPS: It is. I mean, I think they’re a good example of that, that this is a mature football team now. I think watching them play last year and watching them play this year, it’s a big difference. They’ve got some guys outside that are very difficult to match up with, and their inside guys, O‑line and D‑line, have grown up and they’re big and physical and they’re playing extremely hard. They’ve done a nice job.

Q. I know you keep talking about the mismatch, but was your secondary doing anything to make it any easier for them?

COACH STOOPS: No, we were trying to get up there and play tight coverage, and we didn’t play it very well. We were mixing some things up with 3‑4 early, and it was good, but they spread you out. You see them. They’re all over the field. You want to play two safeties high, they’re going to run it all over you. You want to play one safety high, you’ve got to win, and we didn’t win; it’s that simple.

Q. When your quarterback is kind of hurting, but shows toughness to stay in the game does that increase his leadership value for the rest of the team?

COACH STOOPS: I think so. I think so. Yeah, it does.

Q. Every week you run into a new coach. Is this league as good as advertised coaching‑wise? Are these teams as well coached as you thought they’d be?

COACH STOOPS: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. They’re a very well‑coached team, and I think the big difference is they’ve got some players now, between this year and last year, and guys have grown up and got more physical. Quarterback play has been outstanding. They’re tough.

Q. You talked about the frustration and so forth. You’re coming from a program where you lost just a handful of games, and you knew what you were getting into here, but how do you keep that frustration from bubbling over when you’re losing game after game?

COACH STOOPS: Yeah, it’s hard, but you’ve just got to go back to work, and you’ve got to stick to what I preach all the time, and that’s getting better. I’ve got to get these guys up. We’ve got to get them mentally prepared to practice on Monday and to prepare, and to go out there and compete and try to win a game. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to go back to work and stick to the things that I feel are necessary to help build this program. I may get frustrated, but I’m not discouraged.

Q. You talked about Missouri has grown up so much from last year to this year. Do you kind of file that away for your own team?

COACH STOOPS: Yeah, I think so. I know guys are working hard and doing the right things. We need to do things better in all areas. I always take responsibility. It starts with myself and the coaching staff, and on to the players, we all need to do better.

Q. They hurt you with a couple of long returns. Did you guys break down?

COACH STOOPS: Yeah, we need to do some things better. The guys have been solid all year, and it wasn’t a good game for us to break down in the special teams area.

Q. I know you’ve still got obviously three games to go, but is there anything going through the league that changes your thinking about what you need personnel‑wise or any other way?

COACH STOOPS: Well, I think there’s so many areas that we need to improve. I think that’s our focus is really improving in all areas. I mean, we need play‑making ability, we need big, physical guys, we need a lot of things. We need linebackers. You’ve got to have a secondary. The match‑ups are so difficult, you play a team like this that spreads you out all over the place with extremely talented wide receivers, and then you go play. We had to play Alabama and all the rest and on the road next year at LSU and then you’ve got to be physical as heck, so you need a lot of bodies. You need a lot of good players and you need some guys that are versatile.