Stoops is Proud of Team's Fight in Second Half Rally

After the last Kentucky football game, fans were embarrassed by the team's fight.  When adversity struck against Louisville, they fought after the whistles rather than in-between them.  The Music City Bowl was a completely different story. It would have been easy to give up after Benny Snell's ejection and Stephen Johnson's late-hit injury.  Instead of folding, the Cats used it as motivation. "Benny getting ejected, and also when Stephen went down and got hit late after the play, that just made everybody come together and want to play ball even harder," Tavin Richardson said after the game. "Everybody was very confident that we'd go out and put ourselves in a position to win the game and give ourselves an opportunity," Mark Stoops said.  "We talked about just getting our composure, executing and playing the game the way it's supposed to be played.  I was very proud of this group to do that." Outside observers were unsure if Stephen Johnson would return from the halftime locker room ready to play.  Stoops had a feeling his quarterback would be ready to go.  Sure enough, Stephen was prepared to mount a comeback.   "It doesn't surprise me because I've seen it.  I know the way he competes and I know how tough he is and I know if there's any way he can play, he will play," Stoops said.  "He's pushed it to the limit as much as any player I've been around, particularly a quarterback.  He'll always be remembered for that, for his toughness and his guts." Johnson gutted Kentucky to a score on UK's first drive of the second half.  With Johnson in the game, Kentucky had a fighting chance.  Even after a pick six, they persisted.  The defense made two clutch fourth down stops and the offense did everything right...until Johnson failed to connect with Richardson on the final pass of the game. "It's a matter of inches.  It says a lot about the identity of our team and the character and I appreciate it.  We fought and we played," said Stoops. Many fans needed to see a victory to erase the Louisville embarrassment.  Kentucky did not leave Nashville with a victory, but their fight gave fans something to be proud of. "I'm proud of this football team," Stoops said.  "I'm proud of the way we fought back and competed and put ourselves in a position to win this game.  We came up inches short and that hurts.  I hurt for these players more than anything because they laid it on the line...Sometimes you come up yards and inches off, and that was the case today." [mobile_ad]