Mark Stoops comments on Kentucky's narrow road win at South Carolina
Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats are 4-0 and 2-0 in SEC play, but these past 2 games haven’t been easy against FCS Chattanooga and at South Carolina on Saturday night.
But, wins are wins, and even with the Wildcats’ struggles, they’ll head back to Lexington with a perfect record with big smiles on their faces.
However, Stoops wasn’t exactly thrilled with his team after losing the turnover battle 3-0 to the Gamecocks in the 16-10 victory.
Here’s some of what the Kentucky coach said after the game in his press conference:
On winning an SEC road game:
Mark Stoops presser under way…
"Any time you win an SEC game on the road, it's a good thing, but we didn't make it easy." Noted that his heart rate is up and the blood pressure is probably high again this week.
— Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) September 26, 2021
On Chris Rodriguez’s fumbling issues:
Stoops asked about Chris Rodriguez's ball-security issues: It's unacceptable, and he's played too much football for us to do that. But they relied on him at the end and went back to him. "Only thing I can say is we can't make excuses, we've got to go back to work and correct it."
— Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) September 26, 2021
On rush defense and open-field tackling:
Stoops praised the open-field tackling tonight. Noted that young DB Jalen Geiger really stepped up and did some nice things in his return home for this game.
— Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) September 26, 2021
On becoming Kentucky’s all-time leader in SEC victories:
Stoops on passing Fran Curci for the most SEC wins by a UK coach in program history:
“I’m grateful, it’s always a tough grind in this league…it’s been a team effort.”
— Kernel Sports (@KYKernelSports) September 26, 2021
Kentucky has a huge home game against Florida next weekend. We’ll see if the Wildcats can take a step toward being a top-2 team in the SEC East in that big-time contest.
