‘It’s what our league is.’ UK, SEC plow into postseason as others step away.
By saying a few weeks ago that Kentucky would accept a bowl bid if invited, Mark Stoops sent a message: UK isn’t backing down from a fight.
Its players reinforced Stoops’ call to action. After getting about two weeks off after their win over South Carolina to close the regular season, they all returned to play in what will now be the Wildcats’ season finale: the 2020 TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, where it will play N.C. State.
Kelvin Joseph remains the only UK player to opt out of the 2020 campaign.
“We’ve had two good practices the past two days,” Stoops said during a news conference following the bowl announcement Sunday. “We’re at 100 percent. The guys are all back, out there practicing and having some fun.”
Fun was had as a team earlier Sunday. Stoops and his staff took the the players to Malibu Jack’s for a team meal and some bonding over games, the kind of group outing was in short supply throughout a regular season riddled with contact tracing and quarantine protocols.
UK’s players were sent home following the South Carolina game for a refresh, and it had the result Stoops hoped for.
“When you go on this big break, this long break, you kind of miss (football),” offensive guard Luke Fortner said. “You do, even though it’s always hard work and, especially this year, it’s been a long year. You go home and you’re not playing football and you start to miss it. You say, ‘I can’t wait to get back.’ I think everyone came back from this break ready to go.”
The Southeastern Conference only had one program — Vanderbilt, which battled COVID-19 outbreaks through much of the season — opt out of bowl consideration, while another, LSU, earlier this month self-imposed a bowl ban for this season. All 12 other teams in the league are set to play in a postseason bowl; no other Power Five conference had more than six teams opt into the postseason (Conference USA was second overall with seven bowl participants).
“It’s what our league is,” Stoops said. “You better man up in this league, and that’s just the truth. There’s nobody running. There’s nobody hiding. You have to be competitive and everybody in your organization’s gotta be competitive. It’s tough.
“It doesn’t surprise me. What we’ve been through and what other schools in this league have been through? And the schedule? It’s very taxing, and to see us have so many teams be willing to go to bowl games just says a lot about this conference.”
Bowl preparations
Due to Christmas being so soon and because of the ongoing pandemic, bowl prep this year will look a little different. The team will get work in Monday and Tuesday before a brief holiday break, then gather back next Monday of game week for practices that’ll happen predominantly in Lexington. Typically teams travel to the bowl destination about a week or so before the game and squeeze in practices in the area between functions hosted by the bowl. This year the team events will only encompass about two days.
Recruiting coordinator and tight ends coach Vince Marrow is “handling the offense” in practice and will likely call plays in the bowl game, Stoops said. Quality-control assistants Mark Perry, formerly the head coach at Lexington Catholic, and Josh Estes-Waugh will be elevated to fill in holes on the offensive staff left in the wake of Eddie Gran and Darin Hinshaw’s firings.
“My man Vince Marrow will be out there at the head of the controllers, but I’m gonna have to be in that room a little more than I normally am,” Stoops said with a laugh. “I’ll be in there helping.”
Kentucky opened as a three-point favorite over the Wolfpack, which finished their regular season on a four-game win streak and with an overall record of 8-3. They were ranked 23rd in the newest College Football Playoff rankings.
Stoops didn’t want to speak specifically on the point spread, but he thinks that Kentucky is perceived well in part because of how it battled adversity this season.
“I will say, those guys are generally pretty sharp,” Stoops said with a grin. “They don’t build those big buildings for no reason.”
Gator Bowl
Kentucky vs. N.C. State
When: Noon Saturday, Jan. 2
Where: TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Fla.
Records: UK 4-6; N.C. State 8-3
Series: Tied 1-1
Last meeting: UK won 27-2 on Oct. 31, 1970, in Lexington
TV: ESPN
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
