UK could get a bowl invitation with 3 wins. Would it go? ‘I’m not sure,’ Stoops says.
Whether it wins or loses it’s regular-season finale, the University of Kentucky could get invited to a bowl game.
A victory, obviously, is the goal, and would improve the Wildcats’ chances of receiving such an invitation. With the Southeastern Conference expected to have at least 10 postseason slots to fill (maybe 11 if the Las Vegas Bowl gets played), however, a three-win Kentucky team would be in as good a standing by year’s end as most of the league in terms of résumé (only seven teams in the league entering this weekend have four or more wins).
There’s a variable that could make that discussion moot, though: Would UK actually want to play in a bowl game following an emotionally-ravaging season played amid a pandemic?
“I’m not sure,” Coach Mark Stoops said during his Monday news conference. “I really haven’t addressed that yet. I need to visit with our team. I think the biggest thing would be the mindset of our team and to make sure that they would want to be all-in and do that. I definitely don’t want to go in there half-hearted. I want to go in with an all-in mentality.”
Stoops says he “certainly would want to” play in a bowl game, and believes the same would be said for his staff. The “temperature” of among the players will be the deciding factor, though.
A bowl game typically is viewed as something of a reward following the completion of a regular season, but the 2020 season has been anything but regular. After an 11-week schedule featuring 10 SEC opponents and all the personal limitations in effect due to COVID-19, it’d be understandable if a majority of UK’s players thought it best to sit this postseason out.
On the other hand, Kentucky has been an exception in college football this season in one area: none of its players opted out of the 2020 season despite having the freedom to do so without penalty from the school or SEC. Collectively deciding to forego a postseason opportunity wouldn’t be congruous with the attitude demonstrated to this point, but things can change.
Stoops said no player came to him this season with wishes to opt out, and that he would not have tried to convince any individual to do otherwise if that had happened. He’s uncertain why UK managed to be opt-out free while other programs in the SEC were riddled with them; its final opponent, South Carolina, has had seven players step away, including several starters since the firing of Will Muschamp.
“I hope it’s the long work that we’ve done with the culture of our program,” Stoops said. “I hope that it’s because of the obligation that they have for each other. … I understand, there’s good reasons. I’m not criticizing anybody. I’m proud of the fact that nobody on our team has done that, but that’s not to say that people don’t have their reasons and that they’re valid and they’re good. Each individual, each person must do what’s right for them, but I think it does say a lot for our program and our team that we haven’t had anybody.”
COVID-19 timing
Kentucky and South Carolina are among 13 Power Five programs, and the only two SEC schools, to not have had at least one game postponed because of COVID-19 procedures in 2020.
Asked if UK just had good luck on its side or if there was something better to how it handled the situation, Stoops wondered aloud if the Wildcats maybe wouldn’t have been better off dealing with the virus sooner. While it didn’t have games postponed, UK was down multiple starters and reserves each of the last two weeks.
“I’d say it’s just a matter of circumstance,” Stoops said. “It’s very different. In hindsight, the teams that really, I don’t want to use the word ‘exposed,’ but that kind of used the herd immunity and got a lot of guys that contracted it a lot early, were able to overcome it. We were very, very good for a long time and then it hit us, and it hit us at a very bad time.
“When you’re already thin and you’re beat up at the end of the year, and you’re playing two of the top five or sixth-ranked teams in the country, that’s not when you want to be thin. It’s just circumstance. It is what it is.”
As of 2 p.m. Monday, the 11 other Power Five teams that hadn’t had a game postponed this season were: Indiana, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State, Michigan, Oregon, Oregon State, Penn State, Rutgers, Syracuse and Texas Tech.
Next game
South Carolina at Kentucky
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Records: South Carolina 2-7; Kentucky 3-6
TV: SEC Network
