Kentucky has spent the past week healing up and preparing for the rest of the season in its bye week.
The Wildcats (5-2, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) just concluded an open date week, giving coach Mark Stoops and his team a break from the grind of the first seven games, which began with four straight victories.
“The open date probably comes at a good time for us,” Stoops said earlier this week. “We’ve gone seven straight and have quite a few guys who have injuries and bumps and bruises and kind of beat down a little bit, so the bye probably comes at a good time.”
A 27-17 win over Mississippi State last Saturday gave the Wildcats a boost after suffering back-to-back losses to Mississippi and South Carolina, respectively. Kentucky moved up three spots to No. 19 in this week’s Associated Press Top-25 poll.
“I thought our team responded very well this past week, bouncing back and playing a good Mississippi State team and playing very good at home and getting a much-needed victory,” Stoops said. “it didn’t surprise me, that’s who our team is. None of us were very proud of the effort that we had prior to that, in the way we played and the way we prepared and the way I had them ready to go. So we all share in that responsibility and take a good look at ourselves and bounce back. So that’s what I was most proud about.”
Instead of focusing on an upcoming opponent, the Wildcats have stayed in-house, healing, fine-tuning on both sides of the ball and preparing for the rest of the season. The final stretch of games include back-to-back road encounters at Tennessee (Oct. 29) and Missouri (Nov. 5). Kentucky hosts Vanderbilt (Nov. 12), top-ranked Georgia (Nov. 19) and in-state rival Louisville (Nov. 26) to close out the regular season.
“We get to concentrate on Kentucky and worry about ourselves and get better in the areas where we’re falling short and take a good look at ourselves and see why, whether it’s injury or personnel or coaching, scheme, you name it, things we can do better and the areas we’re falling short,” the Kentucky coach said.
Stoops added the Wildcats are “doing some good things” and wants his team to continue to improve in all three phases of the game.
“Usually, the players fall into one of three categories: they either need to get challenged, corrected, and coached extremely hard or encouraged,” he said. “We have to spend some time with our players and continue to build for the future as well, along with trying to finish the back half of this season.”
Gametracker: Kentucky at Tennessee, 7 p.m., Oct. 29. TV/Radio: ESPN, UK Radio Network.
Keith Taylor is the sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com and via Twitter at keithtaylor21.