Mark Stoops Letting Old Scars Lead to Greater Success For Kentucky's Season-Opener
Winning the season-opener has never been a shoe-in for Kentucky, even amidst the upward trajectory head coach Mark Stoops currently has his team on. Big Blue Nation looks forward to the beginning of football season now, but that wasn't the case less than a decade ago.
Stoops' first game as head coach back in 2013 proved that there was much work to do, as the Wildcats fell 35-26 to Western Kentucky. That was the beginning of another long, 2-10 season in the Bluegrass.
The program has taken a complete turn for the better across those nine seasons, but it's taken time to shake the thoughts of misery that once held a chokehold on Kentucky football.
Since that loss to WKU, the Cats are 6-2 in Week 1 games under Stoops, with one of those losses coming against Auburn in 2020, when teams played a 10-game all-conference schedule due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The 7-2 overall record may seem good on paper, but when evaluating the caliber of opponents and final score of the games, it tells a much different story—one of struggle.
Kentucky's average margin of victory in those games is 20.5 points, but that's thanks to two drubbings of Tennessee-Martin (2014) and Louisiana-Monroe (2021.)
In 2015, the Wildcats staved off a late comeback bid by Louisiana Lafayette, who added 16 points in the fourth quarter to lose by just a touchdown, 40-33. One year later, a nosedive seemed like it was on the horizon as Southern Mississippi waltzed out of Kroger Field with a 44-35 victory.
Kentucky would return the favor a year later, getting a 24-17 win back over Southern Miss in Hattiesburg. The next two years featured wins over MAC opponents in Central Michigan (35-20) and Toledo (38-24), though neither was convincing.
Stoops is no secret to getting in a Week 1 dogfight. In fact, he's all too familiar with it.
“I’ve seen it before where we’ve come out, just gone crazy, get exhausted before the game, play really good for a half, then lose it in the second half. I don’t need to bring that one up,” Stoops said.
While Stoops is 6-0 as Kentucky head coach against the MAC, he knows the talented football that frequently comes out of programs like Miami (OH), so the prep stays the same as it would for a team of Georgia's stature.
"As I tell these players...you learn from all these scars,” he said. "It's a respect you have for the game. You can't just roll out there and play anybody. This game is just not meant to be played that way. You'll be embarrassed and humbled if you're not prepared and ready to play."
Those scars have had multiple years to heal, as it feels like the program has turned a new leaf. Long gone should be the days of falling victim to the smaller schools that now have no business hanging around in a game with an SEC school, though last season's 28-23 win over Chattanooga would suggest otherwise.
Kentucky is coming off of its second Citrus Bowl trophy in four years, and expectations are that the ceiling is even higher for Stoops' team this season.
"Crossing the T's, dotting the I's, finishing our preparation and making sure the team is in a really good spot. I worry about that and think about that a lot. The approach, sometimes it changes depending on what they're doing," he said. "They know what to expect from me."
There's plenty of football left to be played, but a convincing win over Miami on Saturday night would officially get the hype train on the move and the 2022 season off on the right foot.
