By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
Mark Stoops isn’t looking back as he prepares for his fifth season as coach of the Wildcats.
Although it would be easy for Stoops to use last year’s 44-35 season-opening loss to Southern Mississippi as a way to motivate his squad in Saturday’s rematch against the Golden Eagles, the Kentucky coach is focused on the present instead of the past.
“Last year was last year,” Stoops said during the Southeastern Conference teleconference earlier this week. “This year is this year. I tell the players, if that motivates them, fine. Motivate them to prepare. I don’t think it’s about that. I think it’s about our preparation and how we play and how precise we play. We’ve got to keep our poise and focus and execute.”
The loss to Southern Miss, the first of two straight to open the season last year, Stoops said the disappointing loss ended up being a “teaching moment” for the Wildcats, who rebounded and finished 7-5 last season before losing tom Georgia Tech in the TaxSlayer Bowl.
“We certainly grew from it a year ago and we have to eliminate some of those mistakes going into this year,” Stoops said. “Because last year was a home opener, everybody’s excited, and we come out of the locker room and were all jacked up and played exceptionally well. I forget what the exact numbers were, but we jumped on them pretty good, were playing good on offense and defense. We had a big lead there in the first half and went into halftime and we didn’t finish it. So, we can’t let our emotions get out of control and we have to always be prepared and play with that poise and execution more than anything. That’s been our focus.”
Kentucky also is more mature than it was a year ago, giving the coaching staff, especially the defensive coaches, more optimism as the Wildcats open the season on the road for the first time in four years. Defensive coordinator Matt House said the team’s “attitude and confidence” was evident during fall camp.
“You could tell we’re more mature,” House said. “By no means have we arrived. It’s an ongoing process, but you can definitely tell we’re a year more mature.”
Even though keeping an even keel is a priority for the Wildcats, the excitement of opening a new season can’t be ignored.
“Coordinator, or no coordinator, I’m just excited for competition,” Kentucky first-year defensive coordinator Matt House said. “At the end of the day, you finished that Georgia Tech game and you get on the bus and you’re not satisfied and you’re chomping at the bit. So it’s been a long time since that game, and I think every player, every coach, anybody that’s a competitor is ready for the game.”
Like House, Wildcats offensive coordinator Eddie Gran is also prepared to turn the page and begin his second season at Kentucky. Gran hopes to expand on the team’s playbook and build on last year’s success.
“I’m really excited about playing a game and hitting somebody else,” Gran said. “I’m excited to see where we’re at. You get in your second year of an offense and they know what to do. We’re gonna see if they can go execute now. It’s not gonna be anything magical. It’s really gonna be about going up there, executing and coming with an attitude.”
Stoops said the bottom line is learning from last year’s loss and avoiding a repeat at Carlisle-Faulkner Field in Hattiesburg.
“You have to learn from every opportunity,” Stoops said. “We have to learn from our failures and we’re gonna learn from the mistakes we made a year ago. Certainly we talk about it, discuss it and watch it, but again, it’s about our execution and how we play. Emotion has very little to do with it. We better be emotionally ready to play and very excited to play, but it’s about, throughout this week, how motivated are they throughout camp and throughout this last week here in camp, and the last week of preparations, to do what we can to put ourselves in a position to win games.”
Gametracker: Kentucky at Southern Mississippi, 4 p.m., Saturday. TV/Radio: CBS Sports Network, 98.1 WBUL, Lexington.
Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com or twitter @keithtaylor21.