Everything University of Kentucky head football coach Mark Stoops said during his press conference following Saturday’s 31-6 loss to Southeastern Conference rival South Carolina at Kroger Field:

Stoops’ opening statement:

You know, last week after our game, I sat here and said I hadn’t been through anything like that in my time here. And this week I could kinda feel the exact same way. You know, we’ve been beaten, you know, pretty badly by some really good football teams. But I felt like our team always fought back. You know, we talk about it all the time. You get punched, you get hit, you swing back. Very disappointed. Not happy with us. Our coaching, our response, the way we played. You know, last week I thought under all of those chaotic circumstances, you know we played relatively clean like we’ve coached them. Today it didn’t look like we were a really well coached team and a team that didn’t really want to respond. You know, no coach — that’s 100% on me and on us. No excuses. They beat us in every facet and we didn’t respond. We didn’t play very good and we didn’t coach very good. We have a lot of work to do. It’s up to our team, how we respond and how we bounce back. I know the coaches will clearly put a lot of this on our shoulders. It is on us to get our team to compete at a higher level and execute with focus and have some discipline and execution because there wasn’t a lot of that today. Maybe get back to work. Again, there is no way to sugarcoat it. We got our butts beat and we will keep on swinging back.

Question: Not to put words in your mouth. Are you saying you felt like they quit today?

Stoops: I didn’t say that.

Mark, obviously you had injuries on the offensive line, and even before that. It seemed like you were getting whipped up front. What do you think was happening in there?

We talked about it early. We watched their game last week and we knew they had some guys up front that could wreck some plays. You know, we were concerned about that going into it and knowing that we need to chip and protect our tackles from time to time. There are things we could do better with that. We have to play better. I thought, you know, full disclosure, like some calls I wish we could do over again. Some reads, you know we talked about not getting the ball in the perimeter early and letting those guys get up the field and hit big tackles for loss. You know, that is on me again. I gotta reemphasize that. When we run for 9 yards on first down, second-and-one. I’d like to go that way again. You know, I’d like to go forward, and not sideways. You know, we go backwards and lose 7 yards and there goes that possession. It’s just things of that nature that’s on me. I’ve got to do a better job. I’m sorry.

I was going to ask you. When Gavin was out there — was not working out for him or just trying to take care of the ball?

I think both, Brock (Vandagriff) took a shot on the shoulder down there on one of those plays. And then just trying to get Gavin some reps. We wanted to him last week as well and just get him in there. Clearly, we were having a hard time with pass protection. So Gavin could scramble a little bit as well.

Could you see Brock kind of shaken up by that pressure?

Well, I don’t know if just shaken up, but they clearly affected the quarterback and that is a good job by them. You know, and not good enough by us. I would not put it on him personally. I would credit them. They certainly disrupted him and his comfort level and that is what you are looking for on defense. It is affecting the quarterback whether it is multiple or certainly pressure and mixing things up and they affected him.

Was there any common threat of the ground coverages and throwing passes?

Yeah, there was. There was two of them. There was one late and it was no excuse and we had seen it and corrected it and didn’t get it done. You know, that is the only complete blown coverage. The other ones, the same routes and they drained us out of some zones. You know, just didn’t play very good.

There seemed to be a lot of optimism in the preseason about the offensive line. Was there a disconnect between what you saw ahead of the season and what happened today?

We didn’t play good enough today. Period. I’m not going to put it all on the offensive line. But they didn’t play good enough. And I could probably say that about every group. We are in this together and every group needs to play at a higher level and they certainly do.

Mark, considering what everybody saw today, do you believe all of these problems are fixable going forward?

They are going to have to be. We are going to get it fixed. I told the team that. We are going to have total buy-in. Guys are going to get to work. And they better come Monday ready to compete and fight and get better and pay attention to details and little things. You know, if you continue to strain and work then good things will happen. I did not see that effort like that. I did not like our response. Certainly, we’ve got to do our part on the coaching end to put them into the position to be more successful.

Mark, the decision to go for it on that fourth down. Can you tell me your thought process, how do you think that impacted?

Yeah, I think that was a bad decision, obviously. When it doesn’t work it’s a real bad decision. And probably pressed a little bit there. You know, honestly. Just a little frustrated. We weren’t moving the ball very good and it cost us three points and probably wasn’t a very good decision.

Mark, this happened early in the season and it’s just a game two and every team in the country is on their way in. What is the message to the team to try to get them to respond better?

In so many words what I talk to you guys about, I mean, we are going to respond. When people hit us, we are going to hit back. I did not feel the edge and attitude and fight that we normally play with. But again, all of that stuff, it comes down to disciplined execution. You know, you have to strain, you have to play hard, but that’s during the week. That’s in the little details in doing things right and being mentally strong and physically strong and then compete when we are out there. You don’t know what’s gonna happen come to game time. Wild things happen and you have to respond. We didn’t respond to that very well today.

Mark, how surprised were you by the amount of flags on the field today?

Again, I didn’t see that coming. It hasn’t been our nature to have that many. It just goes to show you how undisciplined we were today.

On the offensive line, was there lack of cohesion there with that unit or effort?

No excuses. We will see exactly what it was. Whoever is in there and whatever time, it doesn’t matter. But cohesion, you know, we have to execute better. We’ve got to block better and strain and do things better.

Mark, is there anything on Jager (Burton) you can share with us?

Jager was not available. He was out in this game. So, you know, to look forward it will be tough for him to get back by next week.

Mark, South Carolina — a win that helped build this program and went on to win five straight — what do you feel like needs to change the gain momentum?

It’s hard, like I said, year to year with us. It’s hard for me to look back to last year and the year before. Win or lose, I said that to you guys, what? Monday? It’s an individual basis. I thought they did a nice job of responding. They felt like last week they could play better and they came in here and played a heck of a lot better and we need to do the same. I felt they did a nice job of cleaning things up and played very good football today, and beat us.

You had that nice, sustained drive in the first half and ran the ball 11 times in a row. When the offense is clicking, is that the tempo that you envision?

Yes, but we need to be more balanced. At that point we were running it and running it downhill and getting some yards and but the balance wasn’t there. We have to be able to protect and throw the ball. We were efficient doing that after this point, but not today.

I know Brock — bouncing back for him, what does that look like?

I’m sure Brock will bounce back. He’s tough, he’s resilient. He will compete, I know that. We have to do a good job of putting him in position to be successful. We’ve got to get him some time and give him something to give him an opportunity.

Mark, earlier when you were talking about going sideways instead of forward. With Brock — was that the wrong read or the wrong play?

It was the wrong read. Yeah.

I don’t want to put words in your mouth either. Are you implying it’s a loss of effort issue today?

You know, I stand by what I said. I don’t need to put a headline out there. I’m not real happy with the way we played. I’m not real happy with the way we coached. I’m not real happy with the way we responded, you know, the way we executed, our effort, any of it. It’s not good enough. It’s not acceptable.

There was so much emphasis on how the team perform on Saturdays and how they do during the week. In hindsight, is there anything looking back at the build up that you could put your finger on?

No, that’s what’s crazy. I felt like this week was cleaner and a little more focused than last week, you know. Again, no excuse whatsoever. This felt like game one. You know what I mean? Where you walk out there and it’s like — there are some things that happened today I can’t explain.

He (Demie Sumo-Karngbaye) had a pretty decent game. Rushed for 70 yards. What do you have to say about him and the impact he’s had so far?

He is a guy that has been very steady. He works hard. He ran the ball very tough today. He had some tough yards. I think we were efficient at time running the ball downhill. We have to get the balance that I talked about. When you drop back to pass you have to be able to protect, get the ball down the field, you know, when you can run the ball downfield it’s going to open up some play action if you can get it protected.

How do you feel about your offensive line depth? …

Guys are going to have to step up, bottom line. We need some guys to improve and get better. I think we all know that we need to continue to build depth in the offensive line and is a big point of emphasis for us.

Coach, there was a couple of times when Brock had his hands up before the snap and it was almost like he was confused or maybe — how do you feel like the communication was for this game? Because the last game you said the communication kind of took a second.

I’m sure there were some issues, as I said. Across the board, there were some problems out there. I’m not sure exactly what play you were referring to. Thank you.