{"id":267230,"date":"2025-11-02T17:03:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T17:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/267230\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T17:03:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T17:03:08","slug":"ksr-today-mark-stoops-didnt-hear-no-bell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/267230\/","title":{"rendered":"KSR Today: Mark Stoops didn’t hear no bell"},"content":{"rendered":"

The leaders of both programs were undoubtedly coaching for their jobs on the sidelines at Jordan-Hare Stadium late Saturday night, Kentucky <\/a>and Auburn both monitoring their situations closely under Mark Stoops<\/a> and Hugh Freeze<\/a>, respectively. <\/p>\n

For the former, it was about picking up not only the first SEC win of the season, but also ending a 10-game losing streak in conference play. The Wildcats will have to end their 11-game losing streak at Kroger Field against Power Four competition another day, but this one was just about getting back in the win column if there was any chance of salvaging the relationship. For the latter, it was about positioning to avoid a third straight losing season under Freeze\u2019s leadership and a fifth outright as a program.<\/p>\n

The result? Loud and proud \u201cFire Hugh!\u201d chants at the final buzzer as a teary-eyed Stoops got choked up talking about the importance of the 10-3 win that should allow him to fight for at least another week in the blue and white. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a team effort,\u201d Stoops told SEC Network\u2019s Alyssa Lang.<\/a> \u201cSo happy, so proud. We have been getting better. We have been up and down, like a lot of people. It is tough. I am just grateful for this team and these players. They hung in there, they believe, they don\u2019t flinch.\u00a0I love them. \u2026 It means an awful lot. It\u2019s one victory, but we\u2019ve been through a lot, and it has been a long time, let\u2019s be honest. So it means a lot. It\u2019s emotional.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are trying to get me to cry.\u201d <\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the prettiest display of football the sport has ever seen with 13 combined points and more punt yards (269) for Kentucky than offensive yards (240), but have we ever talked about Stoops coaching pretty football? For this week maybe more than ever in his career, it was about doing whatever it took to leave the Plains with more points than the competition \u2014 he would have taken a 2-0 win on a safety, if I had to guess.<\/p>\n

He knows the noise is out there regarding job security with his seat essentially on fire at this point, listed at No. 1 in the Hot Seat Rankings by On3\u2019s Andy & Ari going into the weekend<\/a>. That wasn\u2019t the focus for him personally, though, Stoops crossing that bridge when he gets there and taking things week by week. Instead, he was just happy for his players, who finally got to see their work turn into results against SEC competition. They\u2019ve had their hearts broken too many times this season, so for them to finally experience joy, especially when it would have been easy to give up? That meant a lot to the 13-year coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur players deserve it. I\u2019m proud of them,\u201d Stoops said at the podium. \u201cI thank them for their effort, along with the coaches. No, it\u2019s fair to say, it\u2019s been a tough year. \u2026 Our players never flinch. They never submit to any outside noise or pressure; they just stay the course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stoops lives to see another day at Kentucky while Hugh Freeze is probably packing up his office as we speak after losing the Hot Seat Bowl. What does it mean long-term in Lexington? Probably not a whole lot \u2014 we could be having the same conversation next Sunday if things go poorly at Kroger Field against the coachless Florida Gators at 3-5. Win that one, and the Wildcats are just two victories away from bowl eligibility (with a home matchup still to come vs. Tennessee Tech). It\u2019s not likely, but a 7-5 finish is still on the table with an eighth win sitting there for the taking in the postseason.<\/p>\n

Definitely a different tune this week than last. The ball is in Stoops\u2019 court to decide his future.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Stoops, White, Hamdan and players recap the win<\/p>\n

We know how Stoops felt after the win, but how about Brad White putting together a bounce-back masterpiece after a disaster last week against Tennessee? What did Bush Hamdan think about an up-and-down day for the offense \u2014 doing just enough to pull off the victory? Cutter Boley, Cam Miller and Sam Greene made appearances at the podium, too.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

KSR\u2019s Rapid Reaction from Jordan-Hare Stadium<\/p>\n

Vibes are much, much better with the KSR crew now than they were last week. With Nick Roush out for a wedding, Steven Peake stepped in next to Adam Luckett on the Plains to talk about sending Tiger fans home sad and angry while crediting Stoops and the Wildcats for their resiliency when the college football world already counted them out.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.<\/a><\/p>\n

No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 2 Texas in VB<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not all about football this weekend \u2014 a must-see volleyball battle is taking place this afternoon, too. Just days after No. 3 Kentucky (17-2, 10-0) swept Vanderbilt to take sole possession of first place in the SEC, Craig Skinner\u2019s Wildcats head down to Austin to take on No. 2 Texas (18-1, 10-1), live at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN.<\/p>\n

The Longhorns are coming off an upset loss at Texas A&M, allowing the Cats to sneak in atop the conference standings and control their destiny the rest of the way. With a win, that\u2019ll hold, just as it will every match moving forward. With a loss, it will be a three-way tie between Texas, Kentucky and Texas A&M at No. 1. <\/p>\n

UT leads the nation in kills per set (14.96) and assists per set (13.93) while ranking second in the country in hitting percentage (.311). Defense makes the difference for UK, leading the SEC in digs per set (14.90) while also bringing in a superstar duo in Brooklyn DeLeye and Eva Hudson. <\/p>\n

KSR will have plenty of coverage this afternoon. Make sure you\u2019re watching yourself on ESPN.<\/p>\n

Tyran Stokes is down to three schools<\/p>\n

Oh, how about a final three from the No. 1 recruit in the country? That got lost in the shuffle of the Auburn madness late Saturday evening, as Tyran Stokes<\/a>\u00a0is down to a trio of finalists with Kentucky remaining firmly in the mix. Mark Pope and the Wildcats join Kansas and Oregon ahead of his commitment. He cut USC and Louisville \u2014 despite being a native of the 502.<\/p>\n

The 6\u20197\u2033, 225-pound wing has taken official visits to all three schools with Kentucky trending as the favorite,\u00a0according to most experts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Can Pope close on his biggest fish yet?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The leaders of both programs were undoubtedly coaching for their jobs on the sidelines at Jordan-Hare Stadium late…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-267230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}