Cats Have a Sense of Urgency for South Carolina Week

Mark Stoops experienced a first at his weekly press conference on Monday: Someone referred to him as “jolly.”
 
The description came in the context of a question about why Stoops seems happier now compared to past seasons, beyond the fact that Kentucky is 2-0 to start 2017.
 
Though the word caught Stoops a little off guard, he did agree with the general premise and even offered some insight into why it might be the case.
 
“I’ve never heard that word with me,” Stoops said. “I just feel like this team, they’re fun to coach. They want to get better.”
 
And Stoops wants to help them do exactly that. In fact, he says that may be the real reason why he was coming across as so cheerful.
 
“I guess that’s why I’m so jolly because I can’t wait to go rip somebody’s butt,” Stoops said. “That’s the truth.”
 
Stoops, you see, was free to head to the Joe Craft Football Training Facility once his press conference ended. There, he would be able to coach his coachable team as the Wildcats prepare for a trip to South Carolina on Saturday evening.
 
“They’re going to get coached up this week,” Stoops said. “I’m not real pleased. There’s a lot of things we have to do better and we will. I don’t know, but I know this group will take it. That’s I guess the only thing that’s different. You’re not going to go in there and just talk and talk and talk without them listening and taking them in and wanting to be better, wanting to improve. You always like that as a coach, that’s why you coach.
 
“It’s challenges and we have quite a few challenges and there’s things that aggravate the heck out of you that we have to get cleaned up. And we’re going to start doing that today.”
 
Two games into the 2017, UK is sporting an unblemished record. That, Stoops is proud of, to be sure. He’s also resolute in saying that the Wildcats must address the mistakes that kept Southern Miss and Eastern Kentucky in those two games, particularly with Southeastern Conference play starting this weekend.
 
“We know there’s work to be done,” Stoops said. “Those players know that. They’re conscientious, they care, so there’s absolutely no reason to hit the panic button, but you have to have some urgency. We have to get some things cleaned up, and that’s just the little things.”
 
On offense, the little things include poor snaps that have plagued UK’s centers and penalties. Looking back on the win over EKU, Stoops broke down 11 offensive drives, six of which resulted in scores or a missed field goal. Of the other five, two were short-circuited by bad snaps, two began with penalties and one ended late in the game when UK went with a conservative run call on third and three.
 
“The sky is not falling, but we have to get those things cleaned up,” Stoops said. “The snaps, we will continue to work on that. We’ll get those corrected. (Centers) Nick (Haynes) and Bunchy (Stallings) are very conscientious young men. They work extremely hard, they take pride in their craft. I know they’ll work on that and get that fixed. We’ve got to get the penalties fixed, and we’ve got to be just a little more disciplined in certain areas.”
 
On defense, Stoops mentioned position on the football, the precision of UK’s coverages and tackling. On special teams, kickoff coverage, which will be of paramount importance with the dangerous Deebo Samuel receiving kicks for 2-0 South Carolina.
 
“They’ve played really solid football, they’re well-coached,” Stoops said of South Carolina. “It will be a real challenge. It is quite an atmosphere, and our players have just got to concentrate on us and embrace what we do. That’s what makes it fun to go into hostile environments like this. We got to be up for the challenge.”
 
Since UK’s schedule came out, this challenge has been pointed to by fans and media as a potentially crucial one. Stoops isn’t buying into all that.
 
“It’s super important because it’s the next game,” Stoops said. “We never look beyond that. So how it affects the rest of the year doesn’t even enter our mind, to be honest with you. It’s guns loaded and ready to go to work to prepare the best we can to go play a quality team on the road in the SEC. So we don’t need any more motivation than that.”