The Devil is in the Details: Kentucky has Fundamental Mistakes to Correct in Week 2

by:Nick Roush•09/04/23•

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The Kentucky Wildcats were far from perfect in their season-opening win over Ball State. It was a 30-point victory, albeit one that will bring plenty of learning opportunities to the film room this week.

“The biggest compliment I could say for our team is they were definitely ready to play the game emotionally. I thought physically, we were ready to play the game,” Mark Stoops opened his Labor Day press conference.

It was a classic case of ‘I love you, but.’ He appreciated the effort and energy from his team, but is unhappy with how they executed at Kroger Field.

“Our guys played physical on both sides of the ball. Mentally, they were ready to play. What we did not play was very clean…. It’s a fundamental game. We played hard, we played physical, we were not always fundamentally sound and that will bite us eventually.”

Kentucky committed six penalties for 40 yards in the first half. The Cats cleaned it up after intermission, yet the offense only ran 11 plays until the final drive, in large part by allowing Ball State to move the chains seven times on 12 third and fourth down attempts.

“It was frustrating and there were some things in there that we have to get cleaned up,” said the Kentucky head coach.

The Coaching Did Not Take in Week 1

Mark Stoops had one succinct, clear message for his team ahead of the season-opener: play clean football. It was echoed from the top down, but the Cats did not take their medicine.

“I tried like heck to constantly preach that in game one, because in game one, they have been training for so long and putting in all that hard work. They want everything to happen immediately. Instead of doing their job and doing it fundamentally sound, doing all of the things they’ve been coached to do,” said Stoops.

“We get out there and they mean well and want to do too much and want to help make an impact, and therefore you fundamentally suffer sometimes on both sides.”

If you’re a parent, you’ve been here before. No matter how many times you’ve warned your toddler to stay away from the dangerous stairs, or your teenager to be leery of their troublemaking friends, kids are going to make the mistakes you saw coming from a mile away. Stoops tried to head this problem off at the pass, all to no avail. Now it’s his job to make the message more palatable for his players.

“I told the staff this we have to teach better. We have to teach off this,” said Stoops. “Our team had great effort and I love that. They wanted to be physical, they wanted to be dominant, to impose their will on both sides and I thought our guys came out ready to play. But with that with the hype, it’s maturity it’s us coaching… We just got to do a better job of teaching and the players got to be coachable.”

The Bottom Line for Mark Stoops and Kentucky in Week 2

Mark Stoops shares a great deal of respect for EKU. Not only did the Colonels give his team a scare almost a decade ago, they’re coached by Walt Wells, the two-time OVC Coach of the Year who was a quality control assistant for Stoops in 2018 and ’19. Wells also employs two of Stoops’ former players, Maxwell Smith (quarterbacks coach) and CJ Conrad (tight ends coach). Despite a lopsided loss to Cincinnati in week 1, Stoops expects a fight from the instate foe. Regardless, this week it’s all about the Wildcats.

“The bottom line is that it comes down to the details and being more detailed, being more focused and executing at a higher level,” said Stoops. “If we could keep the same intensity, keep working on the physicality, just being more detailed and execute better in critical moments we could get some things fixed.”