By Keith Taylor
KyForward senior sports writer
Mark Stoops is happy about his team’s mental and physical approach going into Saturday’s TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville.
“I think we’ve gotten our work done when we needed to,” Stoops said Thursday. “They’ve been very attentive in the meetings. Again, there’s so many guys here. We normally don’t travel all these guys, so there’s quite a few players here and when you’re dealing with that many numbers you’re trying to stay away from the outside distractions. We haven’t had those. They’ve been locked in at meetings and the practices have been very good.”
The Wildcats (7-5) have been preparing for their first postseason appearance in six years this week in a warmer climate. Kentucky won seven of its last 10 games, including a 41-38 thriller over Louisville to earn a ticket to one of the upper tier bowl games allotted for the Southeastern Conference. Kentucky made five straight bowl appearances from 2006-2010, four of those under Rich Brooks. In Joker Phillips’ first season, the Wildcats lost to Pittsburgh 27-10 in the BBVA Compass Bowl in 2011.
In addition to the practice sessions at the University of North Florida this week, the Wildcats have mixed business with pleasure. The team visited the Mayport Naval Station Monday, the Top Golf facility in Jacksonville Thursday and was scheduled to visit the Wolfson Children’s Hospital Friday.
“I think (our preparation has) been very good,” Stoops said. “I feel like our players have been very energetic, they’ve been focused in practice. We’ve embraced having this opportunity to get back in general, for the future, and also preparing for this game.”
Although he’s been to several bowl games as an assistant coach, the contest will be the first for Stoops as a head coach and he’s relied on other sources, including Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher and his brother, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops for help in dealing with calling the shots from all angles.
“I looked at a lot of options,” he said. “I took a lot of people’s schedules. Obviously I consulted with my brothers and I relied a lot on what Jimbo (Fisher) has done and what Florida State has done. I looked a lot at their format as well.”
Stoops added the school and bowl administrators have made the transition easy and tireless, allowing Stoops and his staff to concentrate on strictly football.
“I’ve been to many bowls before, never as a head coach, but to be honest with you, the people here have made it so seamless, it’s been very easy,” he said. “Our operations people, our administration, the folks here have made it very easy for us. There’s been no issues.”
Both teams enter the New Year’s Eve encounter riding the wave of momentum. Aside from a two-game losing streak late in the season, Kentucky finished strong after losing their first two games that put an early damper on Stoops’ fourth season as coach of the Wildcats. Much like Kentucky, the Yellowjackets (8-4) overcame a slow start and won five of their last six games to earn a ticket to the postseason.
In addition to first-game jitters and a long layoff, Stoops and his staff also have to deal with stopping Georgia Tech’s running game, which relies heavily on the triple-option scheme. Traditionally, Kentucky has struggled with stopping the run, but made strides late in the season. Stoops said all phases of the defense, including the secondary must focus on the run instead of the pass and said depth also will be a key.
“I think there’s a challenge for them always to stay on their feet and not get blocked,” he said. “They’ve got to be great in secondary run support. They’ve got to be great on their rotations and what we’re doing and playing play-action.”
Gametracker: Kentucky vs. Georgia Tech, TaxSlayer Bowl, Saturday, 11 a.m. TV/Radio: ESPN, 98.1 FM WBUL.
Keith Taylor is a senior sports writer for KyForward, where he primarily covers University of Kentucky sports. Reach him at keith.taylor@kyforward.com or @keithtaylor21 on Twitter