Kentucky Responded to Mark Stoops' Challenge in Mississippi State Win

Stoops challenged his team after the South Carolina loss, and was eventually met with a positive response on Saturday night against Mississippi State

Kentucky's first loss of the season to Ole Miss was a heartbreaking one. After getting down to the redzone in their final possession of the game, the Wildcats couldn't get one final score to take down the Rebels on the road. 

That one hurt, sure. 

Road losses happen, however, and Ole Miss' undefeated record stands the test of time as an okay defeat for UK, even if it's a game the Cats felt like they should've won. 

Moving on to the following week, all the talk was about "not letting one turn into two." 

All you heard in the lead-up to the South Carolina game was how good of a week of practice Kentucky had. The page was turned on the Ole Miss game, and the team was focused on the new task at hand. Hungry, excited, focused, whatever word you want to use, it was mentioned. 

Then the game came and went...Kentucky was without Will Levis...four quarters later the Gamecocks were leaving Lexington with a 24-14 win, stunning Big Blue Nation. 

Head coach Mark Stoops said this after the loss to SC: 

"I don’t think our team played with the normal competitive character that we generally play with," he said. "That’s, obviously, the job of a head coach, to get the team prepared and to put them in position to be successful. And, you know, that wasn’t done. I got to do a better job." 

However you want to pinpoint that second loss of the season for the Wildcats...it stuck with them. Stoops might not've been able to get totally through to his group a week ago, but he and UK's coaching staff did the trick on Saturday against Mississippi State. 

Kentucky scratched and clawed its way to a 27-17 win over the Bulldogs. The team played with a grit and intensity that has become characteristic of Stoops-coached rosters, but was missing the previous weekend. 

"Much better feeling this week than last week at this time. So, really proud of our team," Stoops said after the win. "Obviously. As I told the team, I didn't know the outcome going into this game, but I knew we would play like that. I knew we would play like we play; tough, resilient, together, and play hard like we do. And I knew we would respond." 

Given Stoops and Kentucky's recent success against South Carolina, a loss like that could derail a season. Instead of letting it cloud the remainder of the 2022 campaign, Stoops used it to get his guys back on track in a big way. 

"I just greatly appreciate the players and their attitude and the way they prepared. The way, you know, all of our pride was hurt just a week ago, just by the way we played," Stoops said. "Like I said, you're going to have some wins, you're going to have some losses. The results are what they are. It's all about preparation and the way you play. And, again, I felt really good about the response for our team." 

Stoops said that he "challenged" his group ahead of the Mississippi State win. Whether that means some tough love, harsh criticism, a mixture of both or something else somewhere in-between, the 10th-year skipper did what he had to do to get a message through to his players. 

"I took probably a different approach in the locker room last week. But they deserved it. You know, the truth is the truth. And we all have to share in that responsibility when things go wrong. And I felt like they would respond. I felt good about it all week," Stoops said. "But, you know, probably more than anything, their pride was hurt. And so, they responded in the right way. So I felt pretty good that we played again with the energy and passion and toughness that we play with."

Following practice on Tuesday, offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello said this about Stoops and his ability to connect to his players: 

“He’s probably the best coach I’ve ever heard post-game, in those meetings, just the messages he sends to the players, sensing the pulse of the team, the coaches, getting them to hone in the way they need to." 

After striking out a week ago, Stoops stepped right back into the box and swung his team right back into the right frame of mind as they continue through a grueling SEC slog. 

As a result, the team responded for its most important victory of the season, heading into the bye week and a challenging back half of its schedule. 

For more on Kentucky's win over Mississippi State, click here.

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