Mark Stoops had an edge about him.

When the Kentucky coach addressed the media after his team silenced South Carolina on Saturday night, he had something to get off his chest.

He felt that his team was disrespected as the touchdown underdog. He saw what everyone had been saying about the Gamecocks all offseason and for the first two weeks of the regular season.

It didn’t exactly put him in his happy place.

“Quite honestly, we were tired of it,” Stoops said. “What, like we didn’t get better? Like we’re not a better football team? Whatever. We’re better.”

Kentucky was the better team at South Carolina on Saturday night. But for a team that came in having won only 25 percent of its SEC games under Stoops, it was obvious why his team was the underdog.

Kentucky's 30-game losing streak to Florida is the longest in SEC history and longest active streak in the NCAA.

On Saturday night against Florida, Stoops’ team will be the underdog once again. Vegas already showed the Wildcats more respect by making them just 3-point dogs against a top-20 team. That’s saying a lot considering Kentucky lost its past 30 games against Florida.

You know what else would say a lot? If Stoops stopped one of the most stunning droughts in college football.

Credit: Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports

For the record, I have no problem with Stoops playing the “disrespect card.” We know that coaches do it to motivate their teams. They just rarely share that information with the media. Quite frankly, it’s surprising that more coaches don’t have the same kind of attitude when they hit the podium minutes after pulling off what the experts declared “an upset.”

Stoops can talk about disrespect, but there’s a reason many feel his team hasn’t earned it yet.

If you think the Florida skid is bad, what about the fact that the Wildcats haven’t finished with a winning record against the SEC in 40 years? Or the fact that the same 1977 season was the last time Kentucky started 2-0 in conference play?

He can put an end to all of that if his team plays like it did on Saturday.

If that happens, then people will start to give Kentucky its due. After all, look at what a win on Saturday would do for the Wildcats:

  • 2 consecutive wins vs. Top-25 teams (dating back to Louisville win in 2016)
  • 11-4 mark since losing to Florida in Week 2 of 2016
  • Three “upset” victories in past four regular season games (including Louisville win in 2016)
  • One game division lead plus tiebreaker on two-time SEC East champs

Shoot, if Kentucky wins Saturday, it would probably be in line to take Florida’s spot in the Associated Press Top 25, too. And with home games against Eastern Michigan and Missouri on deck, the Wildcats could easily be 6-0 (!) by the midway point.

But let’s not get carried away. That’s what Stoops criticized the experts of doing with South Carolina. He doesn’t want the same thing to happen to his team.

He feels that the best way to maximize his team’s ability is to carry the same chip on the shoulder he had at the post-South Carolina game press conference. And who’s to say he’s wrong? It’s the middle of September and we’re realistically talking about Kentucky doing things it hasn’t done in 40 years.

Respect isn’t earned overnight. Stoops knows that.

And he knows that in order for his program to change its national perception, it starts with a win on Saturday night.