I'll be following along with the coach's radio show tonight and sharing the main talking points here on the HOB for those of you who may not be able to listen in live. Show starts at 6 ET. Stay tuned...
* Stoops says you've got to put this disappointment aside as quick as possible. We laid an egg. We were a disappointment to a lot of people. But we have to move on quickly as a staff, figure out what the heck went wrong and why, second-guess yourself a bit, and try to get right. You have to own your mistakes. It starts with me, going for it early in the game. We have to learn from the film and flip the script.
* Defensively, a bunch of things in there that are easily correctable. Fundamental stuff that should not happen to a veteran defense. Offensively, have some things to figure out, protection-wise.
* Gameplan was to run downhill on them, not put the ball on the perimeter. That's on us.
* After first commercial break, show turns to a phone interview with Tim Couch, who will be honored at Saturday's game. Couch will be honored during a first-quarter timeout as part of his entry into the CFB Hall of Fame. Couch jokes that he threw an INT to Kirby Smart back in the day, so he'll probably hear about it on Saturday. Couch tells Stoops to keep his head up. He's been in this situation before, coming off a rough day on the field. ... On his advice for BVG: Don't lose your confidence. Go back to work. It's one game, not a season. He can relate because he didn't have a lot of time to throw when he was a rookie in Cleveland. He needs a total team effort around him.
* Stoops says BVG has to play better, "but over half the plays on Saturday we didn't give him a chance."
* First caller says he thinks there is more talent on the O-Line than they are showing and expresses concerns that Eric Wolford's OL at Bama was bad in pass protection. Stoops says he's got a lot of confidence in Wolford's ability to get this right. They're making no excuses. Doesn't need excuses made for him. He'll work at it and get it right. The turnover in staff and constant change in OCs and OL coaches has made it tricky, but they have a guy now who's an "elite recruiter." ... "We can play better than we did Saturday, that's for sure."
* Text question to the show asks if UK should have been passing to set up the run early in the game. Stoops says South Carolina opened in a three-man defensive front, UK handled that well and was running it well early on, but the issues popped up when Gamecocks went back to a four-man front. More negative-yardage plays when they dropped back to pass in those situations.
* Text question asks if they should just flush that game and forget about it. Stoops says no, you can't do that. Have to look at it and address it.
* Caller says his big question and concern moving forward is how the fans feel right now, losing to a bad South Carolina team and now having to face Georgia.... Stoops says he understands the frustration. He wants to represent them better. Knows how much money and time is invested by fans in this program. "How we play does matter." Says he has to accept that responsibility to the fans, but reminds caller that one game does not make or break your season. "We have a great opportunity Saturday."
* Text question asks if there are some young players who could step up and help... Says he thinks Aba Selm might be able to get some reps this week with Jager Burton dinged up. Also mentions Soles and Dooley, the Smith twins. "There's good talent there, and they're going to start helping us."
* The numbers make it look like the defense played great, but the 3rd and 11 and 3rd and 14 conversions "just killed us." Made so many negative-yardage plays. Caused so many fumbles (could not get on the ball). Too many explosives. You get rid of those, you're looking at a wonderful game defensively.
* Text question asks about WRs poor blocking on the perimeter.... Stoops says it may have been at times, but they also did not want to play on the perimeter as much as they did. Should have pulled that ball down and ran it inside more with BVG. He's a good football player. He's going to learn from this.
* Caller asks about the pace of play... Stoops says they're still trying to go faster, but so many negative-yardage plays on Saturday really disrupted things. Gotta get back in rhythm to pick up the tempo.
* Asked about the string of embarrassing penalties, Stoops says the illegal shift really bothered him because it negated a play where they'd be out around the 40, and now you're backed up around your goal line. SC really tee'd off when they had us backed up. The two holds were not good. One was worse than the other.
* Stoops says you've got to put this disappointment aside as quick as possible. We laid an egg. We were a disappointment to a lot of people. But we have to move on quickly as a staff, figure out what the heck went wrong and why, second-guess yourself a bit, and try to get right. You have to own your mistakes. It starts with me, going for it early in the game. We have to learn from the film and flip the script.
* Defensively, a bunch of things in there that are easily correctable. Fundamental stuff that should not happen to a veteran defense. Offensively, have some things to figure out, protection-wise.
* Gameplan was to run downhill on them, not put the ball on the perimeter. That's on us.
* After first commercial break, show turns to a phone interview with Tim Couch, who will be honored at Saturday's game. Couch will be honored during a first-quarter timeout as part of his entry into the CFB Hall of Fame. Couch jokes that he threw an INT to Kirby Smart back in the day, so he'll probably hear about it on Saturday. Couch tells Stoops to keep his head up. He's been in this situation before, coming off a rough day on the field. ... On his advice for BVG: Don't lose your confidence. Go back to work. It's one game, not a season. He can relate because he didn't have a lot of time to throw when he was a rookie in Cleveland. He needs a total team effort around him.
* Stoops says BVG has to play better, "but over half the plays on Saturday we didn't give him a chance."
* First caller says he thinks there is more talent on the O-Line than they are showing and expresses concerns that Eric Wolford's OL at Bama was bad in pass protection. Stoops says he's got a lot of confidence in Wolford's ability to get this right. They're making no excuses. Doesn't need excuses made for him. He'll work at it and get it right. The turnover in staff and constant change in OCs and OL coaches has made it tricky, but they have a guy now who's an "elite recruiter." ... "We can play better than we did Saturday, that's for sure."
* Text question to the show asks if UK should have been passing to set up the run early in the game. Stoops says South Carolina opened in a three-man defensive front, UK handled that well and was running it well early on, but the issues popped up when Gamecocks went back to a four-man front. More negative-yardage plays when they dropped back to pass in those situations.
* Text question asks if they should just flush that game and forget about it. Stoops says no, you can't do that. Have to look at it and address it.
* Caller says his big question and concern moving forward is how the fans feel right now, losing to a bad South Carolina team and now having to face Georgia.... Stoops says he understands the frustration. He wants to represent them better. Knows how much money and time is invested by fans in this program. "How we play does matter." Says he has to accept that responsibility to the fans, but reminds caller that one game does not make or break your season. "We have a great opportunity Saturday."
* Text question asks if there are some young players who could step up and help... Says he thinks Aba Selm might be able to get some reps this week with Jager Burton dinged up. Also mentions Soles and Dooley, the Smith twins. "There's good talent there, and they're going to start helping us."
* The numbers make it look like the defense played great, but the 3rd and 11 and 3rd and 14 conversions "just killed us." Made so many negative-yardage plays. Caused so many fumbles (could not get on the ball). Too many explosives. You get rid of those, you're looking at a wonderful game defensively.
* Text question asks about WRs poor blocking on the perimeter.... Stoops says it may have been at times, but they also did not want to play on the perimeter as much as they did. Should have pulled that ball down and ran it inside more with BVG. He's a good football player. He's going to learn from this.
* Caller asks about the pace of play... Stoops says they're still trying to go faster, but so many negative-yardage plays on Saturday really disrupted things. Gotta get back in rhythm to pick up the tempo.
* Asked about the string of embarrassing penalties, Stoops says the illegal shift really bothered him because it negated a play where they'd be out around the 40, and now you're backed up around your goal line. SC really tee'd off when they had us backed up. The two holds were not good. One was worse than the other.
