Mark Stoops sat at the podium Saturday night looking like a coach searching for answers after his Kentucky team was dismantled 56-34 by Tennessee. There were no excuses offered, only blunt assessments of a defensive meltdown and an understanding of the mounting fan frustration.
'We simply did not cover them'
Tennessee's offense, led by quarterback Joey Aguilar's 396 yards and 3 touchdowns, sliced through the Kentucky defense with alarming ease. The 56 points allowed were the most Kentucky had surrendered to the Vols since 2000.
"Tough matchup for us right now, and give them credit. They are extremely explosive," Stoops admitted. "No excuses... they are very good and they took it to us... We simply did not cover them today." If you know it is a tough matchup, why do you keep doing the same thing over and over? Do something to fix it.
He acknowledged the painful irony, given his preseason praise for the secondary's potential. "Yeah I did, I said it had a chance to be... and we had to stay healthy, but we didn't stay healthy," Stoops lamented, referencing injuries that have thinned the unit. "It hasn't been good enough.... We weren't up to the challenge."
Acknowledging the fan anger
Stoops also directly addressed the mood surrounding the program after a 10th straight SEC home loss dropped the Wildcats to 2-5 (0-5 SEC).
"I understand its a results business... For me I cant get caught up and worried about all that. I hurt for our team. I hurt for our fans," he stated. "I understand that the fans, anybody else has a right to be frustrated, mad, whatever it is."
While he praised his team's continued fight "Guys fought, we couldn't keep up... I know our guys are fighting." The overwhelming feeling was one of a program struggling against superior competition and its own costly mistakes, like the bizarre multi-fumble play Stoops could only describe with one word: "disbelief."
Drew Holbrook is an avid Kentucky fan who has been covering the Cats for over 10 years. In his free time he enjoys downtime with his family and Premier League soccer. You can find him on X here. Micah 7:7. #UptheAlbion