Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops wasn’t surprised by Vanderbilt’s 40-35 upset of No. 7 Alabama last Saturday in Nashville.
“You don’t have to worry about selling Vanderbilt anymore, telling you how good they are and how good (coach) Clark Lea has done,” Stoops said of the Commodores. “I have a lot of respect for Clark and what he’s done and what he’s been building for some time.
“They beat us not long ago (and) I know what he’s capable of and what type of quality person and coach he is in the job that he’s doing at Vanderbilt. Congratulations to them to see some of that hard work paying off.”
Stoops and the Wildcats (3-2, 1-2) had a bye week last week, the first of two this season. Before taking the week off, Kentucky defeated Ole Miss 20-17 on Sept. 28 in Oxford. Stoops said the bye week was good for his squad.
The week off, Stoops said, gave Kentucky a chance to “heal up, get their minds right, bodies right” and an opportunity to “get some work done.”
“It’s good to get back here after getting a couple of days off,” he said.
Despite Vanderbilt’s historic win over the Crimson Tide, Stoops said his team’s approach to Vanderbilt (3-2, 1-1) won’t change this week.
“For us, regardless of what happens to our opponents, it’s always about us and our preparation and what we try to do,” Stoops said. “I felt like last week was very productive. I feel like our team has been progressing the past several weeks and we need to continue to do that as we hit the middle part of our schedule.”
Kentucky defeated the Commodores 45-28 last year in Nashville. In their last meeting in Lexington, Vandy edged the Wildcats 24-21. He said the Commodores’ win over Alabama wasn’t a fluke.
“Vanderbilt was very impressive this past week. Before that, they had the bye and they played Missouri extremely well,” Stoops said. “They could very easily be sitting here at 2-0 in the conference against two top 10 opponents. So, very good football team. Our team just needs to be up for the challenge, we need to worry about ourselves and prepare the right way.”
Stoops also is glad to be back at home following a successful road debut at Ole Miss.
“(We’re) glad to be at home this week, in a night game, so I hope to have a tremendous environment here Saturday night,” Stoops said. “It was good to get a big victory a week ago on the road. Hopefully, our fans will be here in full effect on Saturday and our team will continue to play better and better.”
Gametracker: Vandy at Kentucky, 7:45 p.m., Saturday. TV/Radio: SEC Network, UK Radio Network