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Kentucky improved to 3-0 on the season Saturday but it got all it could handle from UT Chattanooga in the process.
The Wildcats trailed 16-14 after 3 quarters before scoring 2 late touchdowns and holding on for a 28-23 victory.
Quarterback Will Levis completed 23-of-35 passes for 254 yards and 2 touchdowns in the winning effort, but he also tossed a pair of interceptions and made some questionable decisions.
The Kentucky ground game, meanwhile, which piled up 340 yards a week ago against Missouri, could only manage 102 rushing yards against the FCS Moccasins.
After the game, as one might have expected, Kentucky coach Mark Stoops was not happy with his team’s play.
Here are some of Stoops’ thoughts about the game.
On the job he did having his team ready to play:
Mark Stoops: I’ve got to do a better job, period. Says you have to win when you’re not your best, but everyone is upset with today’s showing.
— Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) September 18, 2021
On Levis’ decision-making under center:
Mark Stoops chose his words wisely when asked about Will Levis’ decision making today. Ultimately he settled on “He’ll be better.”
— Big Blue Drew (@BigBlueDrew33) September 18, 2021
On what he saw from UT Chattanooga’s offense:
Stoops on Chattanooga's offense:
"They did a nice job of keeping us off-balance."
— Kernel Sports (@KYKernelSports) September 18, 2021
On what it means to win when you don’t play your best:
Stoops: “You’ve got to be good enough to win when you’re not at your best.”
While today’s performance was very disappointing, if you look at it like this it actually credits how far Kentucky has come. Back to back wins while no where near their peak. UK use to lose these games.
— Tres Terrell (@TerrellTres) September 18, 2021
On the effort and performance of his offense and his defense:
“We didn’t compliment each other. We didn’t play complimentary football today.” Stoops said.
Followed that up by mentioning he wanted to say something but didn’t want it to become a headline.
— Big Blue Drew (@BigBlueDrew33) September 18, 2021
On next week’s game at South Carolina:
Stoops: Let’s get this out of the way, get back to work on a big game next week at South Carolina. If they can use this as a learning opportunity, fine.
— Jeff Drummond (@JDrumUK) September 18, 2021
"Chris Wallace covers college football for Saturday Down South. He has covered college athletics for multiple newspapers and also worked previously for Rivals.com and GolfChannel.com."
