Good Monday morning, HOB. We’ll have Kentucky HC Mark Stoops joining us at Noon ET for his weekly press luncheon to review the Georgia game and preview the Week 4 matchup with Ohio. (Week 4??? How did this happen so fast?). Stay tuned for the latest news and notes…
MARK STOOPS Q&A:
* Another difficult weekend for team, equally as difficult to watch film as last week, just in a different way. Had opportunities to beat a great football team, and just came up short. Liked how they responded, though, and the resilience they showed to put themselves in a position to win. Great plan. Executed that plan for the majority of the night. Great improvement, which we really needed to see. Liked the growth we saw. Now we have to make some plays at critical moments to build on this.
* Ohio is a good team coming in here. I know fans probably think I just say that every week no matter what, but if you look at what the MAC has been doing, you pay attention. They have a defense that is going to make us earn every single yard.
* On the fumble misfortune… We work on it. In Year 1 or Year 2 when we weren’t very good we led the country in fumble recoveries, so take it FWIW. There’s been 7 thru the first two weeks, and we haven’t got one of them.
* Pass protection improved from Week 1 to Week 2. Didn’t lead to enough explosive plays, but those are hard to come by against that defense. We’re still looking to clean some things up.
* Asked about OT Courtland Ford, Stoops says he doesn’t know when he’ll be available.
* On over 200+ rush yards (non-sack figure) against a defense like Georgia… Gap schemes have been effective, and we’ve hit them with some eye candy, shifts and motions to help us run the ball effectively. We had focus, discipline and execution.
* Defense mixed it up well. Brad White did a great job of that. We were much more effective in getting off the field in some of those 3rd and 3s and 3rd and 4s that are tough to do. We made Carson Beck uncomfortable, and he’s a guy I can see in New York at the end of the year for the Heisman ceremony.
* Really important to finish some of these drives with TDs. We have to find a way to get it done.
* On Demie Sumo-Karngbaye… He really put in some work to elevate as a great running back. He was a “tweeter” before the off-season and camp. Has turned himself into a tough back.
* On Ohio’s running game… They’ll spread you out and do some of that spread/quick stuff, but the RB gives them some nice balance. They go for 200/200 on offense. Reiterates that you cannot overlook the MAC. This team has won a bowl game two years in a row.
* On Zion Childress… Had to put a rough day against SC behind him and get back to work. It was a challenging week to do that. Happy with that growth and response, not just him but the whole team. That’s leadership and growth. Zion played a really good game. Safeties overall were better than previous week.
* On whether he’s submitting any plays to the SEC office this week… Yes, Stoops says. Pausing to decide whether he should comment. I get very frustrated, but 50 grand is 50 grand. (Laughs) Says it is what it is. After 12 years, learned to just let it go or he’d completely lose his mind. Has not received an explanation on the pick-6, and is not even allowed to give an explanation if he did.
* Enocuraged by what they saw from Jamarion Wilcox. They’ve really challenged him to be better with his understanding of the offense and doing the little things, pass protection, all that stuff. This is a complex offense with all the motions and shifts. Proud of the growth he showed.
* On not scoring a TD in 8 SEC quarters…. (I’ll have to go back and review this one to make sure my notes are accurate, but he gave a very animated answer about some of the decisions he made in the game that have been controversial.). Adds that he doesn’t take offense to people questioning some of those tough decision moments.
* You make hay on 1st and 2nd down against a defense like Georgia, Stoops said. Third and fourth down can be disasters. Only had something like 3 explosives out of 70-something plays.
* On RB Chip Trayanum… Not available this week. Does not give a timetable.
* On talks with Bush Hamdan and 4th-down situations… It comes down to the specific situation. No disrespect, but we are playing Georgia and not someone in the Mountain West.
* We played really well for most of those plays Saturday night, but I’m hanging on to the one or two that we did not.
*****
UPDATED UK DEPTH CHART:
MARK STOOPS Q&A:
* Another difficult weekend for team, equally as difficult to watch film as last week, just in a different way. Had opportunities to beat a great football team, and just came up short. Liked how they responded, though, and the resilience they showed to put themselves in a position to win. Great plan. Executed that plan for the majority of the night. Great improvement, which we really needed to see. Liked the growth we saw. Now we have to make some plays at critical moments to build on this.
* Ohio is a good team coming in here. I know fans probably think I just say that every week no matter what, but if you look at what the MAC has been doing, you pay attention. They have a defense that is going to make us earn every single yard.
* On the fumble misfortune… We work on it. In Year 1 or Year 2 when we weren’t very good we led the country in fumble recoveries, so take it FWIW. There’s been 7 thru the first two weeks, and we haven’t got one of them.
* Pass protection improved from Week 1 to Week 2. Didn’t lead to enough explosive plays, but those are hard to come by against that defense. We’re still looking to clean some things up.
* Asked about OT Courtland Ford, Stoops says he doesn’t know when he’ll be available.
* On over 200+ rush yards (non-sack figure) against a defense like Georgia… Gap schemes have been effective, and we’ve hit them with some eye candy, shifts and motions to help us run the ball effectively. We had focus, discipline and execution.
* Defense mixed it up well. Brad White did a great job of that. We were much more effective in getting off the field in some of those 3rd and 3s and 3rd and 4s that are tough to do. We made Carson Beck uncomfortable, and he’s a guy I can see in New York at the end of the year for the Heisman ceremony.
* Really important to finish some of these drives with TDs. We have to find a way to get it done.
* On Demie Sumo-Karngbaye… He really put in some work to elevate as a great running back. He was a “tweeter” before the off-season and camp. Has turned himself into a tough back.
* On Ohio’s running game… They’ll spread you out and do some of that spread/quick stuff, but the RB gives them some nice balance. They go for 200/200 on offense. Reiterates that you cannot overlook the MAC. This team has won a bowl game two years in a row.
* On Zion Childress… Had to put a rough day against SC behind him and get back to work. It was a challenging week to do that. Happy with that growth and response, not just him but the whole team. That’s leadership and growth. Zion played a really good game. Safeties overall were better than previous week.
* On whether he’s submitting any plays to the SEC office this week… Yes, Stoops says. Pausing to decide whether he should comment. I get very frustrated, but 50 grand is 50 grand. (Laughs) Says it is what it is. After 12 years, learned to just let it go or he’d completely lose his mind. Has not received an explanation on the pick-6, and is not even allowed to give an explanation if he did.
* Enocuraged by what they saw from Jamarion Wilcox. They’ve really challenged him to be better with his understanding of the offense and doing the little things, pass protection, all that stuff. This is a complex offense with all the motions and shifts. Proud of the growth he showed.
* On not scoring a TD in 8 SEC quarters…. (I’ll have to go back and review this one to make sure my notes are accurate, but he gave a very animated answer about some of the decisions he made in the game that have been controversial.). Adds that he doesn’t take offense to people questioning some of those tough decision moments.
* You make hay on 1st and 2nd down against a defense like Georgia, Stoops said. Third and fourth down can be disasters. Only had something like 3 explosives out of 70-something plays.
* On RB Chip Trayanum… Not available this week. Does not give a timetable.
* On talks with Bush Hamdan and 4th-down situations… It comes down to the specific situation. No disrespect, but we are playing Georgia and not someone in the Mountain West.
* We played really well for most of those plays Saturday night, but I’m hanging on to the one or two that we did not.
*****
UPDATED UK DEPTH CHART:
