By KEITH TAYLOR, Kentucky Today
LEXINGTON, Ky. (KT) — Mark Stoops isn’t worried about his demeanor going into No. 16 Kentucky’s showdown against LSU on Saturday.
“We’ve been humbled already this year with our play,” Stoops said earlier this week. “I always tell the players that in our business you’re going to get the opportunity to be humbled every seven days. We have been humbled. Fortunately, we were able to get away with a win but we haven’t played our best football.”
As Stoops indicated, Kentucky defensive coordinator Brad White said the Wildcats have already been humbled by close wins this season and added that a 28-23 triumph over Chattanooga served as a learning experience for the Wildcats during the second week of the regular season.
"I think the game against Chattanooga helps," White said. "You can't just roll the ball out and play. At any moment, if you're not focused, it can all go away."
Coming off an emotional 20-13 win over Florida that lifted the Wildcats into the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time this season, Kentucky (5-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) seeks to get its offense on track following a pair of sub-par performances in a 16-7 win at South Carolina, followed by last week’s seven-point victory over the Gators. Kentucky’s offense, which scored 45 points in the season-opener, has managed just two offensive touchdowns during the past two weeks.
Despite the recent struggles scoring points, Kentucky offensive coordinator Liam Coen believes the Wildcats are within striking distance of reaching their full potential and said earlier this week that in a matter of time, “it’s going to click.”
“It’s clicked at times,” Coen said. “We’ve shown flashes in multiple different games, different situations, whether it be red zone or third down, we’ve been very good and we’ve also not been very good. When it does click, it’s going to be special. Just stay the course. When you’re 5-0, it is tough but it’s actually better for us because we’re not sitting there 5-0 like we’re just all good. We’re sitting there 5-0 and hungry to get it right.”
Two years after winning the national championship, LSU (3-2, 1-1) has struggled to maintain the consistency it achieved after running the table with a perfect 15-0 finish and is coming off a 24-19 setback to Auburn last week. The Tigers, however, have enjoyed past success in two of its past three games against the Wildcats in Lexington. The Tigers recorded back-to-back victories in 2001-02 in a pair of games that went down to the wire, including a thrilling finish in the “Bluegrass Miracle" in 2002.
Kentucky avenged the two heartbreaking losses with a 43-37 triple-overtime triumph in LSU’s last visit to Lexington in 2007. Since those three games in a seven-year span, the two teams last met in 2014 with the Tigers rolling to a 41-3 victory. Although the Tigers have struggled somewhat this season, Stoops knows the Tigers won’t be easy to overcome this weekend.
“(They are a) very, very good football team,” Stoops said. “They have players at every position. Offensively, they have weapons all over the field. Defensively, they have weapons all over the field. It’s always that way, they have guys at every level that can certainly hurt you.”
Gametracker: LSU at Kentucky, 7:30 p.m., Saturday. TV/Radio: SEC Network, UK Radio Network.
Keith Taylor is the sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at Keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com or via Twitter at keithtaylor21.
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