‘We needed a win.’ Everything Mark Stoops said after UK’s victory at Mississippi State.

Everything University of Kentucky head football coach Mark Stoops said during his press conference following Saturday’s 24-3 win over Southeastern Conference rival Mississippi State in Starkville:

Opening statement:

I was very pleased with the victory, obviously. Make no mistake about it, we needed a win. To come on the road in a place we haven’t won in a long time, we needed to win by any means necessary. It was far from pretty, but our team showed the grit and the resolve and the things we need in the program. You need to win this way sometimes. You go on the road, get a victory in a game that we desperately needed, so very proud of the team. Great team victory. We got some things that we’ve got to get fixed, obviously.

On the defense playing well outside the 20-play drive in the first half:

It did. It felt like a 20-play drive, you know? At half, that was still sticking in my head because after that drive I said, ‘How many plays was that?’ I think they told me 19, but yeah we had a few penalties on that drive, they converted some third downs. It was an aggravating drive, but we held them to three, which was huge. So, outside of that, I thought the defense really flew around pretty good, made some good plays. I think early on that drive we missed some open-field tackles again. They got the ball out quick. We’ve got to a better job of leveraging the football, making clean tackles, but they played really hard. That’s the good thing. That was really good to see, because we played some explosive offenses, took it on the chin some and bounced back. Really dug deep and got a victory in a game where we needed to play defense like that today because their defense, you knew was going to be disruptive. They always are. They bring pressure from everywhere, create problems. … We needed to play a great game defensively, and we did.

On if holding Devin Leary out of the fourth quarter was a precaution or due to him being unavailable:

Oh, he had something going on. Had something in his eye. That was leading to reading the cards (wrong). That’s why things were taking a long time. So, hopefully he’ll be all right. We’ll see.

On Leary avoiding pressure to convert big throws:

Yeah, almost converted that one to Dane (Key). Would have been one heck of a play. It just showed that toughness and resolve, just getting out of it. I believe it was on a scoring drive he wiggled out of one and got off schedule, converted a big 15- or 20-yard play, kept a drive moving. If I’m not mistaken, it was a third down. He really just showed some toughness and some grit. It wasn’t easy. We didn’t run the ball very efficiently. We’ve got to do a better job. We’ve got to put our players in a better position to have success. We knew — credit them. It’s hard, and it was an aggravating preparation because of the way they make you target things and ID things. They did a really good job. We need to do a better job.

On D’Eryk Jackson’s pick-six:

I think that was a really big play. To get the points. You could tell at that moment it was going to be one of those games they were going to make you earn the yards and earn the points, so getting the defensive points was huge.

On finally winning in Starkville and winning an SEC West road game:

I told the team to just be grateful and be happy. We had talked about that, being very selfless and playing for each other. Just getting a victory by any way we can. They did that, so I’m very happy and very proud of them.

On if he could feel the pressure of the losing streak in Starkville:

No, I don’t feel that. I felt the weight of losing the games that we had in this moment in this season. I don’t really think about those. Really, singular focus on this. I’m relieved and grateful for this victory, but I wasn’t worried about the other ones.

On what an eighth consecutive bowl berth means:

We do have bigger goals, but it’s not like you can just take that for granted. It’s not easy. It’s not an easy league because as you know — you see it, you cover it — physically and mentally teams get drained, you get challenged. That’s the resolve that I like to see from our team, just that type of grit. Hopefully we can build on that and put some things together.

On how important getting a win was for confidence before facing Alabama:

Yeah, regardless of who we have next week, this one was big. There’s no denying that. It was big. Nobody likes to lose for three in a row with a bye in there. We needed to come on the road and get a win.

On if he feels like Leary is more in command of Liam Coen’s offensive scheme now:

You know, I hope so. I hope we can build on that. I think we missed some things tonight just overall as an offense. Again, credit them. We knew it was going to be very difficult and challenging, and it is. They’ve very disruptive, but we need to play better.

On J.J. Weaver’s late sack:

It was good to see him continue to play hard and get the sack. For him, it’s important too because he’s been working hard. The production, the numbers aren’t there, but he’s really working hard. He’s been a mainstay for us for a long time.

On limiting the quarterback run game:

I think that was important. It was a game where it was nice I felt like we had a good plan. I felt like we were in pretty good control, even though we did give up a long, long drive. We felt like we were going to make them work and earn it as well.

On Leary’s pass and Dane Key’s TD catch in traffic:

I can’t even remember it. (Laughter). I know we made some nice catches. We made some nice catches today. We really did. I just wish we’d have been a little more efficient. That’s two games in a row our run game hasn’t been as efficient as it needs to be. We’ve got to work on that, but they did make some tough, competitive catches.

On the importance of holding Mississippi State to a field goal on the long drive:

I think it was really important. Even late when they got it down to the 2 or 3, the penalty obviously helped us, but the guys kept on playing. If they score there, go for an onside, you never know what happens. Just continue to fight, grind it out, continue to play. That’s what we want to see.

This story was originally published November 5, 2023 at 12:41 AM.