Everything Mark Stoops said after Kentucky football’s blowout loss at Louisville

A full transcript of Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops’ postgame press conference after a 41-0 loss at rival Louisville on Saturday.

Some questions have been modified for length and clarity.

Mark Stoops: Not very proud of our effort here today, obviously. Want to give Jeff and Louisville a bunch of credit. They played one heck of a game, regrouped and played extremely well. Not very pleased with the way we finished the season, obviously. Felt like we made some improvements throughout the middle of the season there and then towards the end just couldn’t hang out. Didn’t play very good, didn’t coach very good and got our butts kicked.

Q: You’ve been pretty adamant when we’ve asked you that you don’t have any interest in walking away. Does the way this ended and knowing what’s ahead of you change your mind at all?

Stoops: Come on. I don’t mean to be disrespectful to you. I’m gonna walk away? Are you kidding me? Zero means zero. Zero; 0% chance I walk.

Q: What’s your argument for running it back?

Stoops: I’m gonna be here as far as I’m concerned. I can’t control decisions that are made. You’re asking me, I said zero. Zero means zero. Zero percent chance I walk.

Q: Can you talk about the range of emotions beating Auburn and Florida and the back-to-back losses?

Stoops: Yeah, again, I was proud of the growth we were making; we were improving and getting better and we couldn’t sustain it. We didn’t play very good here these past couple weeks, and it’s a tough situation. And I have to continue to get the depth that’s needed to hang on. We have some injuries at some positions that we’re just not getting it done. Not playing very good football. But truthfully we didn’t play good in any area today.

Q: Did you think there was any carryover from last weekend?

Stoops: I don’t know. Can’t let it. We can’t give in. We can’t cave. We can’t quit. I don’t like the way we finished.

Q: If you’re back, what would you tell fans that things can be better than they’ve been the past two years?

Stoops: Well, we’re gonna work like we always do. We’re gonna try to build this roster. We’ve been in tough spots before, and we’re gonna continue to improve. I mean, I love the young players we have on our team. I have to get more. We have to get more depth. We have to be good across the board to play the schedule that we do. I think depth is a big issue. We have to have enough players. We have a good young quarterback that’s a redshirt freshman.

Q: You have coaches on expiring contracts. When will those decisions start to come if you are back?

Stoops: This week coming up. Next couple weeks. Just got done with this last game. Get back in the office tomorrow.

Q: What’s your vision for the offense moving forward? You made strides during that three-game winning streak but it kind of all went away the last two games.

Stoops: Yeah, it certainly did. We just didn’t play very good here in particular these last two games. We were making some strides, and we certainly didn’t here at the end.

Q: You typically have guys fired up to play in this game. Why were things so flat?

Stoops: I just don’t think we were good enough. We just weren’t good enough today. Give them credit, and we need to be better and play better and coach better and put them in a better position; get some positive momentum. I think early in the game, both teams were feeling the game out, and the blocked punt certainly gave them a big spark.

Q: There were issues on special teams, and that had been a strength for you guys this year.

Stoops: Yeah. It has been a strength. I think it’s just, we can do better. There’s attrition, but nobody’s interested in excuses right now.

Q: As far as the game today, how can you explain getting dominated in the trenches?

Stoops: It wasn’t good. We had… our moments, certainly, this year of being physically when we needed to, and were not good enough today.

Q: How far away are you guys from getting where you’d like to be in this rivalry and in the SEC?

Stoops: We have work to do. We have a lot of things to do. Again, I feel like there’s a good foundation to work with. We need more players, and we need the players that we have to continue to be developed.

Q: This is probably in your time as far down morale-wise as the fan base has been. Is that a fair statement, and how does that affect you?

Stoops: I can’t answer that. I don’t know. I don’t really look at anything other than my office and our building, and I understand that. I do. I own that. It is what it is. I can promise you we care, we work hard, and there’s been ups and downs and we will improve.

Q: How surprised were you with a bowl bid on the line that they didn’t come out and play a lot better?

Stoops: I’m disappointed we didn’t play better. I can’t put my finger on it. I felt like after last week, I feel like they have a lot to do with it. I felt like we would respond the right way. We talked about it all week. I felt like the preparation was there. I felt like the energy was there. I felt like we couldn’t get anything going to get any life, to get some excitement, to get some fight. We just didn’t make it happen.

Q: Is that why you went for the fourth down?

Stoops: Yeah. I did. I just felt like it was so flat and stagnant that I just needed to – I pushed. I don’t think it would have mattered either way, the way they took care of their business today, but certainly at that point in time, was probably pressing.

Q: What’s the selling point to players to get more of them here?

Stoops: We’ll be able to assemble the right thing. You see it all the time now with rosters, and we have a really good foundation and we need more. We’ll continue to add to the team. I think in this day and age it’s a lot easier to flip a roster in some ways where you’re short certain guys than in the past.