Mark Stoops 'needs clarification' on controversial penalty against Ja'Mori Maclin

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops “needed clarification” on a controversial penalty on Ja’Mori Maclin in the first half Saturday. The Wildcats lost 30-23 to Ole Miss, narrowly missing the upset.

Towards the end of the first half, Kentucky had the ball at the Ole Miss 42 with 13 seconds left, giving themselves a shot at a field goal, maybe even a touchdown if things broke right. However, Maclin was called for an ineligible man downfield, pushing Kentucky back. Then, the Wildcats had a holding penalty followed by a broken play that led to the end of the half.

Trailing 17-13 at the beginning of that sequence, Kentucky could’ve cut into the lead. But Maclin’s penalty basically summed up the type of day Stoops saw from his team.

“I thought, two critical plays. Well, critical plays. I mean, we had an explosive that we were, you know, our receiver pointed to be on the line. He didn’t confirm it with the official,” Stoops said. “But, I mean, you’re six inches from an explosive that got called back and, you know, you can’t do that. It’s the same with basically the last play of the first half. We’re four inches from finishing that drive to perfection.”

Stoops was asked what exactly the issue was for Maclin lining up offsides, or at least not in the right alignment. Stoops couldn’t give a straight answer as the drive ended in a mess.

“I need clarification. Mac was on, JJ was a yard off. Mac was in but, you know, supposed to be on, but maybe he was six inches (off),” Stoops said. “And I think they called it on JJ, but he was a yard off the ball on a legal set, so I don’t know.”

Maclin had just two catches, but led the team in receiving with 56 yards. Kentucky ended up falling short with the passing game being pedestrian and fell to 1-1 on the season.

“I told you I addressed it at half,” Stoops said of potential changes to the offense. “I was very frustrated at half, and even after the game that was still lingering. You watch it, and again, some of it is inexcusable. It happens. In game two, it’s going to happen, you have to be able to overcome them. Our operation in game one was clean. The intensity picks up in game two, you add a lot more wrinkles, you add some different things. It’s very correctible, there’s things that, you watch it, and you’re so close. Like I mentioned, the end of the first half frustrated everybody. 

“We ran four plays before it got out of reach. The first three plays were perfect, I mean perfection, and then the fourth play we were six inches away from being perfect. But it frustrates everybody because that six inches matters. Really, to be honest with you, i wish they had called a false start, and then no time would have went off. And when they didn’t call the false start, we were six inches from being perfect.”