Stat-Padding Pavia: Do Clark Lea and Mark Stoops have beef?

You may have missed it. After all, ESPN did cut away from the final minutes of the broadcast of Kentucky’s blowout loss to Vanderbilt and moved it to ESPNU. When the game ended, Mark Stoops and Clark Lea met at midfield. It’s a typical postgame ritual, but this conversation lasted a little longer.

Were the two arguing? Did they share any choice words?

There is certainly a feeling of respect between the two. Lea has commended Stoops for his rebuild at Kentucky and shared a similar philosophy in the one he undertook at Vanderbilt. But you could understand why either coach might not be happy with how the game unfolded.

The game got out of hand in the second half. It felt like the Commodores were trying to run up the score to not only bolster their College Football Playoff resume, but to pad stats for Pavia, who’s trying to make his case for a Heisman Trophy.

“It’s his senior game. He’s brought a lot to this institution. He’s brought an awful lot. So I have no problem with him or Clark (Lea), or them, or anything, and he might have been (chasing) a record,” said Stoops. “There’s nothing you can do; when you’re on the receiving end of that, the only way you could do something about it is do something about it. So it’s on us.”

Defensive coordinator Brad White echoed that sentiment. “If we don’t want them to score, we got to get off the field.”

The shoe was on the other foot late in the fourth quarter. Kentucky could have tried to run out the clock to get the hell out of Nashville. Instead, the Cats kept throwing the football with Cutter Boley. In the final period, he had 191 passing yards and two touchdowns, the last of which came with just two ticks on the clock.

Stoops wanted to get Cutter more snaps. He’s young, he needs the reps. One could see how that might be taken as a slight, but Stoops and Lea aren’t feuding, according to the Kentucky head coach.

“Just wishing each other luck, just talking, just talking,” said Stoops. “It’s good. We’re friends. I mean, no, that’s it.”

He may have paused to choose those few words carefully, but hey, they’re just friends wishing each other luck. Nothing to see here!

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