‘I wanted to see the future.’ Everything Mark Stoops said after UK’s Music City Bowl loss.

Everything University of Kentucky head football coach Mark Stoops said during his press conference following Saturday’s 21-0 loss to Iowa in the Music City Bowl at Nashville, Tennessee:

Opening statement:

Obviously, very disappointed in this defeat. You want to start by recognizing and congratulating Iowa. They played a very good game.

Both of us were down some players and a bit short-handed, and they did what they had to do to win the football game. Starting right at the onset I think just getting us in bad field position. They played very good defense. We know that going into it that they’re a very good defensive team.

They played better than us in special teams in certain areas early and put us behind the 8-ball. Defensively I thought we played really good for the majority of the game, but by being backed up early, it helped them have a short drive and set up their one offensive touchdown, and really we were playing a bit of catch-up from that point on.

Very proud of these guys. Very proud of (quarterback) Destin (Wade) and (linebacker) Trevin (Wallace). As I told the players in there, we have a great group in there. We were a bit short-handed today, but it is what it is. So were they.

We came in here to compete to win, but I also wanted to let Destin play. I wanted to see the future and what it looks like and give him an opportunity to just go out there and play ball and play it within the confines of our offense and our system and down a coordinator. You know, he was put in a tough situation. He will learn from it without a doubt, and we look forward to that and his growth.

You know, defensively Trevin and the defensive guys I thought played pretty darn solid all day. Played really hard. Iowa was creative early trying to get their playmakers, their tight ends, the ball with some deception screens, if you will, and did a nice job of getting them the ball, and they make some people miss. They’re very good players. Very close game to that point.

The third-and-1, you know, I’ll put that on me. I won’t put that on Destin. I probably should have ran the ball there and got out of the half. Once we got that, it kind of put us in a really bad spot.

That’s the confidence I have in him and us and our future. Things are going to be fine. We have a very good football team that wants to come back hungry. Obviously there was just something a bit off this year from time to time. I just told the players this, and I’ll tell you that’s on me. I have to get that fixed to get back to being who we are.

I think Iowa won today by being Iowa, and credit them. I say that with a compliment. We’ve got to get back to being us and doing some things better.

I have a lot of work to do, but I’m really excited about it because I feel like there’s a great nucleus of young players. There’s a really good set of guys with experience coming back.

As I just talked about Trevin and some guys right in the middle that have some experience now that are ready to explode and be really big-time players. So I feel like we have a lot of good pieces in place, and we just have to get back to work.

Coach, you said you wanted to see Destin play. What did you see?

I saw a young man that has a bright future. Destin was put in a tough situation today. So there will be a lot of armchair quarterbacks that sit back and want to critique this guy, but I tell you right now, let them go back there and play against that defense and see how easy that is. It’s a tough row to hoe. Believe me, we know that going into it. It’s a tough spot, but he manned up and did some good things.

We needed to play very well around him. We talked about it all week that it’s not just on the quarterback or any one player. We need to do some good things around them, and I think there were certain areas where we fell short. It’s not a time to point fingers. We all accept it, but we know we’re going to grow from this, and I know he will grow from this.

I know it’s different without (running back) Chris (Rodriguez). Most first-time starters — Destin attempted 30 passes. Was that part of the game plan to kind of let him let it rip?

It was. We felt like we had to spread it out a bit. Iowa, if you watch them — we weren’t quite the same team we were a year ago. They are still very physical and very tough up front, so hitting in big sets and playing smash-mouth with them I think was going to be a tough spot.

You know, certainly there’s things we can do a lot better and put him in a better position to be successful and so on, and so we’ll look at all our areas. But, yeah, we did feel like we had to spread him out a bit and use his legs, use some quarterback run game, which gave us some good plays.

We actually had — I’m not going to say — I’m not going to tell them because then they’re going to make a story out of it, but just read a script wrong. You know what I mean? We signaled it wrong. You know what I mean? Little things like that.

In a game like this, field position was always going to be key. The special teams and running part of it. How much of hiring Coach (Jay) Boulware is designed to address that part of this?

100%. Yeah, definitely. We have to turn the table there. You know, there were games this year where we won the hidden yards in the core four, but not enough. And there were certainly games that it impacted it in a negative way, and I had to address it, and I did.

Mark, when you say the time it takes ... (inaudible)

I already addressed certain things. I think you see I have two new coordinators come coming in here. That’s two-thirds of it right there. You want me to just hit the reset button and blow up the whole thing? We’re playing pretty good defense. No, I’m teasing.

But there were just things. I have it on my part. That’s what I just told the team in there. The environment of college football, I don’t have all those answers. I can’t go on that dissertation right now. You know, it is what it is.

We are going to manage it the best way we can. We feel like we have a strong culture. There were pieces that needed to be better. It’s that simple, right? I mean, I have to address them, and I have to make it better. It’s not pointing any fingers. It is what it is.

If you want to throw darts at somebody, throw them at me. I can take them. I’m putting that weight back on, so I can take a few more darts. You know, there are things that we need to re-address.

You know, with bringing in the coordinator that I believe I’m going to get on the offensive side of the ball will help. It will help hit the reset button.

Coach, you mentioned a couple of times your quarterback in the future. No matter what happens in the transfer portal ... (inaudible)

Destin knows just like Trevin knows that they’re going to go out there and compete every day. Nothing is given. Everything is going to be earned, and they have an opportunity to do that every day.

What can you say about the performance of Iowa’s defense?

It’s rough. We knew they were very good going into it, and our defense, Trevin and them, we gave up seven. So a very good defensive game.

There’s going to be people out there knocking that, but there’s a lot of people that still love and appreciate defense, right? So I think it was a good game in that way.

The punting seemed to keep you back pretty much all day long deep in your own territory. How much did that affect you?

It did back us up. You’re right. We lost on that, there’s no question. They hit some really good punts, covered it well, and then the one punt return that we gave up hurt us because they got it out to around the 40-yard line and continued to play the field-position game.

You know, we’ve done that before, played very good defense, played with great field position. They started that way. They deferred. They deferred, and they won that situation early and put us in a hole.

There’s a lot of hidden yards.

There is a lot of hidden yards. Put us in a bad spot.

Mark, your run game struggled. Those first four games of C-Rod not playing and again today. What do you need to see out of your running backs moving forward?

In general I think it’s one of the areas that we have to address that I mentioned where we maybe touch off from where we’ve been. We’re just not as physical as we have been.

We haven’t been as effective in the run game, and we’ve got to look at all of that. What is it? Is it personnel? Is it schemes? Is it too much, too little? We’ll look at all of that.

Mark, you had all three of the quarterbacks listed on the depth chart heading in. What was it that separated to give (Destin) the start?

I think just a belief. I think everybody had a strong belief in him, you know, and his ability to make plays.

This is just his first game. You can imagine more games under his belt how comfortable he will be out there moving around in that pocket, you know, knowing when to step up, knowing when to escape, when to throw the ball away.

It’s hard. It’s a tough position to play, and you’re going to get better with every rep, with every opportunity. That’s part of the difficulty with young quarterbacks and quarterbacks in general, and that’s why you see it all the time.

I mean, they need the reps, but they all do. If you have three good quarterbacks, they can’t get enough reps in practice, especially at a full-tilt in a scrimmage-like situation because I’m always yelling at these guys to stay off them because I don’t want them to break their hand or step on their foot or do something. It’s really tough.

Until you get in there and do that, and we really wanted to see him go do that, and he really did some good things. Yeah, there’s a couple of plays, a couple of those picks he and I would probably rather have over, but he is going to learn from that. And, again, it was a really difficult situation to go into no matter who was playing quarterback today.

You know, even with Will with all those reps and the experience that he has, we know it would be tough with that defense.

Coach, did it frustrate you at all that in the waning seconds Iowa kept throwing the ball?

No, I chuckled. I don’t know. I was ready to get the hell out of there myself. I know that.

But that’s to their credit. On the other hand, I would probably hand it off, and I would still be ready to get the hell out of there (laughing).

It was pretty a crazy season for the linebacker room with those injuries. What do you feel like that position group has going for it moving forward? Losing a lot of experience, but a lot of talent there, too.

It excites me. I have such respect for the guys we’re losing. I absolutely love them. You know that. I’ve always talked so highly of those guys, and I love them.

I’ll be there for them the rest of their life, but it excites me when I see young guys that come up because as I’m telling them all, I’m trying to recruit somebody to take their job. We want good, strong, talented players like this to keep on coming up through our program. So it excites me when these guys get the opportunity to move forward.

Mark, I’m curious how you compartmentalize. Obviously January 1st, earlier this year, you won the Citrus Bowl. Turn the page of this season, end the year. Going into 2023 with a loss and moving into the next season. How do you process that and kind of set 2022 aside and look ahead to 2023?

Yeah, it’s exciting. You kind of got through the very difficult parts. We all have, right? I mean, I think everybody has their issues I would think at times, and things are tough, but I think that part of it really excites me, you know, because we have to go to work.

We have a lot of work to do, but we have a good group of guys. We have good coaches. I get great support to have the ability to make changes when I have to. If I feel like I’ve made a mistake or for whatever reason it’s not working, I have that ability and the autonomy to make the changes that I feel need to be made.

I feel like we’re addressing them, and it excites me to get back to work. You know, if you can’t handle those things, you’re in the wrong business because this is challenging, to say the least.

Have you seen a tight end play quarterback before in a college game?

I probably have. I think I have. With the Wildcat package I think that back in the day, if I’m not mistaken. I think the Sooners when Bob (Stoops) was there maybe had a package like that.

We all run a Wildcat in certain forms or fashion. It depends on what type of person.

Coach, could you speak to the unavailability or the reason that Keaton (Wade) wasn’t in today?

Probably because they only played 31 snaps. That’s pretty low. Is that right? Is that right?

Sounds right, yeah. Eight three-and-outs.

You go eight three-and-outs, it’s hard to rotate guys.

Mark, there was probably a time when bowl games were different and you wouldn’t put a freshman in a bowl game in that situation. How much different is it coaching up to bowl games, not just you but for everybody, given the way college football is now? Your team changes drastically from the end of the season to this game.

Very different. Very different. I don’t know what else to say. We compete to win the game. We came up short. None of us are happy with that. You know, these guys work and prepare to win, but is this exactly a great situation to throw him into? Here’s a bowl game against a top-10 defense and because of the way this is. I don’t know if that’s right, either, but I don’t have all the answers. You know, I know we tried our best. I know we compete to win no matter what the stakes are, and we lost today, and I give Iowa credit for that.