Kentucky Wildcats Football: Mark Stoops’ Monday Transcript

Oct 11, 2014; Starkville, MS, USA; Mississippi State Bulldogs quarterback Dak Prescott (15) passing against the Auburn Tigers during the fourth quarter at Davis Wade Stadium. Mississippi State defeated Auburn 38-23. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

1. Is there anything specific you remember about Prescott from that game last year?

COACH STOOPS:  Physically, good‑looking guy, strong, leader, tough, just everything you want in your quarterback and in particular with what they do, with the dual threat and putting that stress on you.

1. Is what Dan has done down there sort of a model for what you would like to do?  He sort of chipped away and had a low spot and built up the program?

COACH STOOPS:  Certainly anybody that’s having success in your league and guys you watch, certainly you look at them and see what they’ve done.

I think they’ve done a nice job of recruiting and a lot of times, give them credit under the radar with some of the guys that they get out of their state, that maybe not a lot of people know about, but they have that great length and size and you gotta give them credit for developing those players.   They’re a good‑looking team top to bottom.

1. Do you have any fear at all about the confidence of your team after a loss like that, since you’re in the process of rebuilding?

COACH STOOPS:  Yeah, you worry about it and we need to address it, because you’re going to go through ups and downs, you’re going to lose some games.  When you self‑inflict against a good team and I’m not taking anything away from LSU because they flat beat us across the board, but when you make a lot of mistakes, you can have a tendency to lose confidence.

I told you, other times, speaking to you and to our team, we’ve gotten beyond the belief, then it’s about execution and doing things and then we go out and don’t do it very well, so now we got to make sure they don’t slip back and start doubting, and it goes back to preparation and work and controlling the things we can control.

1. (Question regarding if this is unfamiliar territory for UK having not sustained a lopsided loss this season like last weekend.)

COACH STOOPS:  Yeah, it is this year.  It’s a new team, first time we have gone through that, it is new to this football team and every team is different.  So, yeah, we’ll see how we respond.

1. What do you hope that your young wide receivers learned from that LSU tgame?

COACH STOOPS:  I hope they learned how to get open versus press.  That’s a physical bunch that doesn’t give you a lot of space.  You have to beat ’em, you have to make plays.

We can compete at a higher level.  We need to be more detailed on some of our routes, and there is a lot of things we can all do better.

1. When you’re playing a No. 1 team do you find yourself trying to not let the guys get too psyched about playing a No. 1 team one way or the other?

COACH STOOPS:  As I have said many times I would rather say “whoa” than giddy-up, so if we have a good practice and I got to hold them back, that will be a good thing!  But the emotion ‑‑ I’m only looking forward in our preparation.  You certainly don’t want them flat walking into the building, you don’t want them being “down” and all those things but the excitement level and how we prepare and as long as they’re focused and they go through preparation and are mentally ready to practice every day and putting ourselves into a position to win a game, that’s what I’m looking for.

1. How important is it for them to get the confidence back?

COACH STOOPS:  I think it’s always important.  It was important last week on the road and we fought it uphill the whole game. This week, even though we are at home, we’re playing the No. 1 team in the country, you can’t fall behind, I think it’s important.  If we do, we got to learn to face adversity a little better than we did last week.