WATCH: What Mark Stoops Liked About the Win Over Toledo

Labor Day is not a day for hard labor, unless you’re the Kentucky football team. The Wildcats will have a team meeting this afternoon, followed by a light practice, ahead of the SEC opener against Ole Miss. Mark Stoops started the day by speaking with the media for about 30 minutes.

The Kentucky head coach was pleased to open the season with a victory over Toledo. There is plenty of room to improve, but Stoops believes the Wildcats showed progress in a few key areas of the game.

“We talked about toughness and improving on the lines of scrimmage. Definitely felt that Saturday, and after watching the film, felt the same way. We definitely improved. Ran the ball for 225 yards and limited them to 60, so that was important,” said Stoops.

“The discipline aspect, penalties. We really improved there. Didn’t get off to a good start. The one and only offensive penalty we had was the first play of the game, but reined it in after that, did not have another offensive penalty the rest of the game.”

Kentucky only committed three penalties for 30 yards, compared to 11 for 90 yards by Toledo. Only two SEC teams, Florida and Georgia, had fewer penalties than Kentucky in week one. Usually, season openers are sloppy, but Kentucky played a relatively clean football game.

“I thought our operation was very smooth. We worked very hard throughout the summer, just with the operation, just the signals, the cadence. We went on two several times. We got a big jump late in the game by them, so our cadence was very good and the discipline was good. We were very effective on short yardage, again. Point of emphasis that we’re fell short a year ago. So it was good to get those things improved.”

Where Kentucky Must Improve

It was a relatively clean game, except for a few big mistakes in consecutive drives. An untouched pass rusher got to Zach Calzada, forcing an interception. The following drive only lasted one play and resulted in a safety. The next time Kentucky touched the ball, they only got off two plays before Willie Rodriguez fumbled the football.

“Those are things that are very frustrating, because it’s already tough. It’s already frustrating. We’re trying, we’re getting them moving, we have field position, created a good explosive on second down, and that was the kind of play that you’re talking about right there (a layup for the QB), and then we get out of rhythm there. There are things we definitely need to control and help (Calzada),” said Stoops.

Kentucky only completed 10 passes for 85 yards against Toledo, and there were only four offensive plays that went for more than 15 yards. It was not for the lack of trying. Kentucky took five shots down the field. They did not complete any of those passes, but did move the chains with a pair of pass interference penalties. The Wildcats must capitalize on opportunities down the field to have a chance against Ole Miss’ high-powered offense.

“I feel like we still had opportunities to go up and catch the ball, and need to do that,” said the Kentucky head coach.

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