Kentucky Wildcats Football: Mark Stoops’ Monday Transcript

COACH STOOPS:  Just get back to work today and get back on the practice field with our players after a disappointing loss.  After reviewing the film, as I said in the postgame, you have to give credit to LSU.  They outplayed us, outcoached us, but there are certainly a lot of things that we need to get corrected and can get corrected, so looking forward to getting back out there. Another great challenge this week, playing the No. 1 team in the country.  We will have our hands full and need to play a whole lot better.  So, again, need to get back out there and improve this week on the practice field.

1. The way they run the ball and the way you have struggled at times stopping the run, how heavy will you handle that?

COACH STOOPS:  Well, it’s very important.  Another physical football team, but not only physical, it’s a numbers game as well.

Very well coached, puts you in some hard predicaments.  Obviously the way Dak (Prescott) is throwing the ball as well, they stretch you constantly.  So it is a concern.  If you look back at last week, I think we did ‑‑ believe me, I’m not crazy, I’ve coached defenses that were pretty darn good against the run.  The good news is if you take away some of the explosive runs, that can get corrected in certain spots, just physically we actually did some very good things.  They ran the ball, what, 51 times, something like that.  And a good portion of some of that yardage came late and it came on some finesse runs, some 11‑personnel Q run, and things like that.  So if you look at the power run game we actually improved quite a bit in that game and had some good plays and some good stops and did some good things and, again, I know you can write it how you want, I’m not crazy!  (Laughter.)

I know what good run defense looks like and does not, so certainly we all know we need to get better and improve in certain areas, but like I said, I think some of it was improved.

Oct 18, 2014; Baton Rouge, LA, USA; LSU Tigers defensive end Jermauria Rasco (59) and LSU Tigers defensive end Danielle Hunter (behind on left) tackle Kentucky Wildcats running back Stanley Williams (18) in the first half at Tiger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Crystal LoGiudice-USA TODAY Sports

1. (Question regarding updates on Stanley “Boom” Williams.)

COACH STOOPS:  Things look better, not cleared to play yet, obviously.  I’ll wait until the doctors tell me he can get on the field but, I think, yeah, things are looking better.  When he will be cleared to practice or play I have no idea.

1. Coach, maybe it will be your run defense that responds but when you have a tough loss like that is there good news for the team when you’re able to look at somebody and say this is what we do well?

COACH STOOPS:  I think that was part of it.  We all knew going into that game that was a big, physical football team that wanted to run the ball and they certainly did, but, again, I thought there were quite a few plays in there where it wasn’t, just constantly getting pushed around, where I thought ‑‑ just right at the start, again, there’s a lot of mistakes we can look at in that game but we start the game with the poor kick‑off return and get the penalty.

Then we get a zero yard gain on first down, incomplete pass on second, and get the penalty.  That’s just the discipline we need to continue to work and get better and get more disciplined on this team, but that penalty hurt.  If you look throughout the first half, when we get the punt return for a touchdown, but we were hanging in there.  We knew it was going to be difficult, not an easy task, but physically defensively we were holding up pretty well and doing some good things.

Then it gets to be a little much when you’re on the field that long, and obviously some big plays that we can and will get corrected.

1. (Follow-up question regarding needing more depth.)

COACH STOOPS:  Well, I’m not going to make any excuses, but we just need to find a way.  As I said, going into that game you really need to play well on all sides and we certainly didn’t do that.  We didn’t play good enough on any side but I thought we had a chance defensively.