UK says one loss can’t turn into more. ‘I feel them being down, but we’ve got to get up.’

Benny Snell was hurting both physically and mentally after a loss to Georgia ended Kentucky’s hopes of winning its first Southeastern Conference division title.

But the junior running back told the younger players around him with their heads down after the 34-17 loss to sit up straighter and focus on what’s ahead.

“We’ve got more games ahead of us,” Snell said he told them. “This is the best we’ve ever been.

“We’ve still got more games to play. It’s fresh. We’re fresh off the loss, but we’ve still got a good Tennessee team we’ve got to play and games we’ve got to win. I feel them being down, but we’ve got to get up.”

It was a similar message from Terry Wilson, who noted that while Kentucky doesn’t have an SEC title possibility any more, there’s still plenty left to play for with three regular-season games ahead.

Kentucky (7-2, 5-2 SEC) has games left first at Tennessee, then at home against Middle Tennessee and then a regular-season finale at Louisville before learning its bowl destination.

The possibility of a 10-win season at Kentucky, something that hasn’t happened since 1977, still looms large. A New Year’s Six bowl game is still on the table.

“This team is special,” the sophomore quarterback said. “I know we’ll win out and the thing about this team is we’re not going to give up. We’re going to just keep playing hard and just keep getting after it. This team is special, so I know we can do big things.”

Mark Stoops said Kentucky can’t let this loss snowball into more losses, that UK can’t let a special season slip through its fingers while playing the what-if game.

“You let them lean on the leaders of this football team,” Stoops said of the players who are down. “The guys, they are good in there. We got beat tonight, and we have to regroup and go about our business. We have strong leaders in there and I anticipate that we’ll be ready to go.”

This story was originally published November 3, 2018 at 9:35 PM.