Kentucky coach Mark Stoops’ portion of Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference was as brief as the promising start to his team’s season.

After building an early 25-point lead against Southern Miss two weeks ago, the Wildcats have been outscored 79-7. Kentucky followed its season-opening collapse by suffering a 45-7 thrashing at Florida last Saturday.

“I did not see that coming,” Stoops said of his team’s rough start. “We came out and played well on all sides for the first half (against Southern Miss). We have not handled adversity well.”

The coach said he hasn’t changed his approach of addressing the psyche of his team, which hosts New Mexico State at 4 p.m. this Saturday.

“It’s 12 one-week seasons,” he said. “We hit the reset button and get back to work.”

Stoops wrapped up his session by confirming he will “take a more active role” in terms of coaching the defense. He said he’ll be assisting defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot, who is still serving in that role despite many calling for his firing.