Mark Stoops talks team's attitude in practice, Missouri on SEC Teleconference

Coming off the loss to Tennessee, Kentucky is at a crossroads with four games left in the regular season. Beat Missouri and you’re back on track to finish strong. Lose to Mizzou and, well, the postseason could look much different than we all anticipated back in September.

On today’s SEC Teleconference, Mark Stoops said he is pleased with how his team is responding this week in practice. He also praised Eliah Drinkwitz and Missouri for how they bounced back from consecutive tough losses to Auburn, Georgia, and Florida. As Stoops says, Kentucky must do the same on Saturday.

Check out the replay and transcript below.

Watch the latest Mark Stoops press conference on the KSR YouTube Channel.

Opening Statement…

Obviously, a quick week for us getting back super late Saturday after a difficult loss on the road and playing the early game here this week with Missouri. We better regroup in a hurry. It’s a Missouri team, I think you have to give Coach Drinkwitz a lot of credit for the way his team is playing. They’re playing extremely hard, extremely physical, and it would have been really easy to kind of cave in a little bit after essentially playing so well and having a great opportunity to win that tough game against Auburn and then having a difficult schedule with Georgia. Played extremely well against Georgia with an opportunity to win and then same with Florida, and then bouncing back with two more victories. It says a lot about Coach Drink and Missouri and their players and just the way they’re handling their business and approaching the season and it’s evident on tape.

We have to do the same. We really have to get back to taking a good look at ourselves and the things that we’ve done good throughout this season and the areas where we’re falling short and put it together and have a great week of practice and go compete against a team that is really sitting almost identical to us with a lot of statistical data. Offensively, very similar, and defensively very similar. So a very, very close matchup, and looking forward to another great challenge.

On Missouri’s defensive front…

I’ve been very impressed. I think just how active they are. It just doesn’t take long to put on the film and see how hard they’re playing and you know, it starts there. You better have a good scheme and a bunch of players that play very hard and they’re certainly doing that. A guy like [Isaiah] McGuire really jumps out at you, that can be a guy upfront along with [Trajan] Jeffcoat so they’re good across the board. They play really hard and they’re playing physical.

On similarities between Kentucky and Missouri in recruiting in terms of being geographical outliers in the SEC…

I definitely think there’s some similarities. I think we all understand and accept and embrace the challenges of coaching and competing in this league and for us and Missouri to be a little bit unique in where and how we have to recruit, definitely some similarities.

On how Kentucky’s practice has been this week…

It’s gone good. Our players have responded. They understand that, as we talked Monday during our first meeting, nobody, any competitor doesn’t like getting beat and going through that, but if you’re gonna get out here and compete and fight and continue to battle then you’re better pick yourself up real quick off the mat and get back to work and embrace a new challenge. That’s a great thing as coaches. As hard as it is Saturday night and Sunday, on Monday you better get ready, at least mentally. Of course, we get in and work and get ready to gameplan on Sunday but mentally when you get around the players, I know myself and the staff, you better pick it up and bring the energy and bring the juice and regroup and get ready to embrace the next opportunity because nobody’s feeling sorry for you.

On Missouri’s progression this season and Brady Cook’s development…

I’ve been really impressed. Again, I think Coach Drink and his staff do a wonderful job. You can see it coming together for them and being what they do well. You saw it last week in a very hostile tough environment. I think the second drive of the game, 97 yards, 98 yards, or whatever it was and Brady Cook has a lot to do with that. I think they do a really nice job. They’re physical. They work really well together as an offensive line. I think Coach Drink and his staff do a really nice job of dressing things up and then doing what they do and I think Brady is really executing at a high level. Very efficient quarterback the last couple of games and you can see his confidence growing.