One week ago an exasperated Mark Stoops lamented his team’s lack of resolve following an embarrassing loss to South Carolina. Kentucky added another tally to the loss column, but the Cats’ head coach did not question his team’s response following a nail-biting one-point loss to the No. 1 team in America.

“It says a lot about them because let’s be honest, it was a hard week, and nobody around our facility felt very good, and we won’t feel very good tomorrow. But at least I know a little something about this team now,” said the Kentucky head coach.

“I like the way we fought and we responded and took to coaching. I think that’s what it comes down to is being precise with our execution. Everybody gets emotional. Our guys care. They want to win. They want to play well. But you know, it comes down to executing, and then you got to make competitive plays. There’s going to be moments in games, and there’s going to be moments this season where there’s going to be 50-50 plays and we got to make our fair share to win.”

Down, Never Out

Zion Childress made one of those game-changing, 50-50 plays that tilted the game in Kentucky’s favor. When the pick six was overturned after a review, fans were obviously disappointed, but you couldn’t see it in the players’ body language.

Brock Vandagriff did a much better job avoiding pressure than a week ago. When he was stripped from behind and Georgia recovered a fumble on the Kentucky 23-yard line, the defense did not roll over and let the Dawgs take the lead. They forced a field goal.

The Georgia offense finally broke the dam that was the Kentucky defense in the second half. When the 10-play, 68-yard drive ended with a touchdown, the Cats were cooked, at least we thought. The UK offense responded with an 11-play scoring drive to get within one, then the defense got one more stop to give Kentucky a chance to win.

“To play and beat this team you were going to have to make plays, make competitive plays, and play extremely hard. I thought we did that. We had a good recipe to try to get this victory, just fell a little short,” said Stoops.

Kentucky Understands What It Takes To Win

Let’s all be honest with ourselves, optimism was few and far between from all reaches around Big Blue Nation. Many were willing to call this a lost season after week two. Instead of waving the white flag, Kentucky dug in and got back to the roots Mark Stoops established years ago.

“Our guys have to understand that it takes that kind of commitment and that kind of sacrifice to take care of themselves all throughout the week. These guys are going to be sore tomorrow, and they’re going to be sore Monday, and we’re going to put full pads on Tuesday, and we’re going to go hit each other and they’re going to hurt. That’s what we have to do,” said the Kentucky head coach.

“I think our guys need to understand that mentality. I hope we learn some things through the first three weeks of the season and we have to just continue to move forward.”

To use the head coach’s words, Kentucky is ten years past taking moral victories. A loss is a loss and they have two in the first quarter of the season. But this season is not lost. This team is not lost. They found something tonight and they’re prepared to turn it into something to be proud of.

“Today is only a stepping stone for tomorrow,” said Zion Childress.

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