Two years ago, Kentucky came into The Swamp and snapped its 31-game losing streak to Florida, a signature-win for Mark Stoops.
On Saturday, Stoops’ squad got off to the right start to make it two Swamp wins in a row. The Wildcats dominated time-of-possession in the first half and looked to be on track to take a 10-7 lead into the half.
A Kentucky punt, however, was returned for a Florida touchdown. UF took a 14-10 lead and it was all Gators the rest of the way as Florida went on to win 34-10.
In his postgame press conference, Stoops talked special teams, second-half struggles on offense and more:
- Tough loss. Tried to come out and play hard but didn’t execute.
- On if he “regrets” not having a dedicated special teams coach this year: Not sure if regret is the right word. On the punt, had a Ray Guy Award- winner (Max Duffy) shank one. Added that nothing has changed in the way they work with special teams.
- On Kentucky’s dominance in first half, Florida pulling away in second half: Wildcats knew Florida would go into halftime and try to take away the things the Cats had success with in the first half.
- On Kentucky’s second-half offense:
- “It’s losing football… it’s not good enough.”
- “We have to be able to counter [second half adjustments]… we’ve got to be able to convert… we’ve got to be able to complete some passes.”
- “We’re not efficient enough, we’re not good enough.”
Saturday Down South reports and comments on the news around the Southeastern Conference as well as larger college football topics.
