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Kentucky Wildcats

Kentucky’s upset of South Carolina the biggest win of Mark Stoops’ career

Ethan Levine

By Ethan Levine

Published:

Prior to Kentucky’s win over South Carolina last weekend, Mark Stoops had just five career wins as a head coach, and none of those wins could be considered impressive.

Stoops beat Miami (Ohio) and Alabama State in 2013, and beat UT Martin, Ohio and a woeful Vanderbilt team in 2014. A win is always a good thing, but that collection of wins didn’t prove anything about the first-time head coach.

The win over South Carolina, however, was a win Stoops can build from. He led UK in its largest fourth quarter comeback in school history (14 points), and helped the Wildcats score their first back-to-back wins over conference opponents since 2009. He led Kentucky to its first victory over South Carolina since 2010, and now has his team well on its way to a winning record and subsequent bowl berth.

It was definitively the biggest win of Stoops’ brief tenure in Lexington. He was asked about the significance of the win in his weekly press conference Monday, and the head coach didn’t shy away from embracing the memorable victory in a public forum.

“It is different when you’re the head coach. As (the reporter asking the question) said, (I’ve) been in a lot of great environments and big games, certainly felt that pressure before. But as a head coach, it was special because, you know, the progress that we’ve made.We know we’re better. Our team knows we’re better, but until you go out there and win some of those big games, it’s hard to quantify it. So I feel very good about where we’re headed.”

It’s clear this wasn’t just another game for Stoops and the Wildcats. Winning this game made a statement about the head coach, about the current collection of players and about the culture surrounding the football program at the SEC’s truest basketball school. Kentucky is for real, and it’s all thanks to Stoops. Seeing how much the win fired up the head coach is a sign that wins like this will become much more regular as his tenure at UK continues.

He’s already won over the fan base in just 17 career games at Kentucky. The Wildcats hosted one of their largest crowds in years for the game against the Gamecocks, and the team’s “blackout” was a huge emotional lift in a tightly contested game.

That kind of atmosphere is relatively new in the Bluegrass, and it was earned through Stoops’ work in recruiting and player development.

Those black-clad fans stormed the field in masses after the win, epitomizing the excitement surrounding the team and the new culture Stoops has established in Kentucky. Before Saturday’s game kicked off, he’d already won more games in 2014 than UK did each of the last two seasons. There’s concrete evidence to prove what Stoops is doing is working, and that’s all a long-suffering football fan base can ask for.

But had Kentucky lost to South Carolina, even though it was expected that UK would lose, it would have been another quiet Monday in Lexington. Stoops had done so much to turn the program around, but he needed a win to push it over the top. He’d come close to beating Florida in the Swamp, but couldn’t finish the job. Similar coaches in rebuilding situations like Tennessee’s Butch Jones have also come close to scoring defining victories, but to this point Tennessee remains winless in the conference.

Now we have proof that Kentucky can win meaningful SEC games. Now we have proof that UK can actually compete in the nation’s toughest conference. It’s been years since either of those statements were anything more than sarcastic punchlines. Now they’re statements of fact.

If Kentucky reaches a bowl game (which it ought to considering it needs just two wins in its final seven games), the win over South Carolina will be the defining win of the season. If the Cats pull off a string of successful seasons, the win will mean even more. It will be the defining win of one of the richest chapters in Kentucky football history.

Yes, that’s getting ahead of ourselves. But a win like the one over South Carolina does more than simply build the confidence of the current team.

This win announced to the rest of the nation that Kentucky is emerging in the college football world. Recruits are noticing, and they’re flocking to Kentucky in bunches like never before. Stoops has strong ties in Ohio, Georgia and Florida, and those ties just got even stronger with a win over an aging Steve Spurrier. With a win like that, the Cats only stand to add more talent in the coming years, improving their standing in the SEC’s East division long-term.

We could be heading towards the most talent-rich era in school history. A fantastic recruiter just helped his own cause with a big win on a national stage. His team runs an Air Raid offense most athletes dream of playing in, and his history as a defensive genius speaks for itself when recruiting on that side of the ball.

All Stoops had to do was prove he can hang in the SEC among all its traditional power programs. He proved that with a win over USC, and now there’s nothing holding his Wildcats back from soaring to the top of the East in the coming years.

Will UK ever win the East? Who knows. There have been some very talented teams that never won a division title during their runs of success. But will Kentucky be a regular factor in the East? Yes, and it all leads back to Saturday’s win.

It was the biggest win of Stoops’ career, and the way he’s trending, it could become one of the most important wins in school history.

Ethan Levine

A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.

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