Mark Stoops met with the media Monday afternoon to discuss last Saturday’s loss against Auburn and to preview this Saturday’s matchup against Ole Miss.

Here are some takeaways:

Mistakes cost the Cats a win

I know I’m not the only one that thought Kentucky was going to win the game after their opening possession. Marching it down the field and scoring was one helluva way to start the season.

But, it’s well documented that the Cats just made too many mistakes to beat the Tigers.

Stoops said:

“We did a lot of good things but too many mistakes. We can talk about it until you’re blue in the face but you can’t make critical errors in critical moments on the road in an SEC game, at home or on the road. Can’t make those kinds of mistakes and we did.”

They are trying to get the rule regarding transfers inside the SEC changed

If a player in the SEC transfers to a school in the SEC, that player has to sit out the year. That player for Kentucky is Joey Gatewood this year. A “gentleman’s agreement” was made this past week that Gatewood would not play against Auburn. However, he will be granted a waiver, and the decision probably will come this week.

However, the rule could change. Stoops said:

“I understand both sides. The commissioner was crystal clear on that and I agree with him. However, we are trying to get the rule changed. That’s above the head coach’s decision. It doesn’t matter what we think. We need to talk to our presidents and our presidents are voting on that and it’s my understanding we’ll have a decision relatively quick on that”

Could the rule change for this season?

“I think there is a possibility of that, yes I do.”

Even with a limited capacity, Jordan-Hare Stadium was still loud and Stoops once to create the same atmosphere this Saturday

With COVID-19 restrictions, SEC teams are only allowed 20% of their normal capacity. Jordan-Hare Stadium holds close to 90,000 fans, so only 20,000 were allowed to attend the actual game. It still sounded really loud on TV, and according to Stoops, it was pretty loud in-person.

“It felt like more than 20,000 (at Auburn). I don’t know what was in there, but it felt like a lot more. Hopefully we will have whatever we are able to have in there and those will create some noise.”

Stoops didn’t like the penalty on Kelvin Joseph, but liked his performance overall, and says the bad things can be “straightened out”

BossManFat didn’t have the best highlight reel Saturday, in fact, he’ll be on Seth Williams’ highlight reel. We all saw Joseph push the Auburn receiver after he jumped early. Stoops was asked about the penalty and his performance overall.

“The penalty is inexcusable. I show our players a football IQ film every Monday and silly, selfish penalties are on there every week and usually it is at the expense of another team, but it will be on there at the expense of our team this week and we cannot have that. But I will say this, he is a competitive son of a gun. I thought he did some really good things in the game and he is competitive. He’s going to be a bit rusty since he sat out a year. So for his first game in a long time, I thought he did really well. We will build on the good things and get the other stuff straightened out.”

For Terry Wilson’s first game in over a year, he played well

Terry Wilson had not played in an organized football game in over a year and had not played in an SEC game since dinosaurs were around. He gave us a mixed bag on Saturday, but for his first game in a long time, Stoops was pleased.

“Some good and some bad. Really, for the first time playing live action, I thought he threw the ball well.”

But, the fumble….

“There is no excuse for that fumble. The ball was loose, it actually hit his knee, they didn’t even cause it. He was a little bit loose with it.”

Stoops also said that Terry didn’t follow the design of the play and got “indecisive with it.”

Chris Rodriguez was a yard deep in the end zone

Kentucky fans will talk about this play all year, but how did the refs miss that call? I am honestly still dumbfounded by it. Even the announcers were. Stoops shared his comments on the play.

“I sent the film in and can never comment on what they tell me and I haven’t gotten that back yet. I will wait and hear what the official word is. but it doesn’t matter. Until something changes and somebody hold somebody accountable, we need to move on. What did it look like to me? It looked like he was a yard deep in the end zone”

I’ll say this, I’ve never known a job where you can be horrible and not have to take any responsibility for it. “I can’t comment on what they tell me”? Cmon. That’s ridiculous. If officials are going to make horrible calls, they should have to own it.

I’ll say it. That call sucked, really bad. Horrible. Awful. Terrible. Refs are the absolute worst. There, I said it.