Stoops: 'We need to get a lot tougher'

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Mark Stoops has shied away from setting win goals during his tenure as Kentucky’s head coach, but after a second consecutive collapse to finish a season at 5-7 his case for progress in the program is growing more difficult.

“It's a setback,” Stoops said after Saturday's 38-24 loss to rival Louisville in the regular-season finale. “It is. It's disappointing. I know people have been patient even through a tough third year here and tough second part of this season. People were hanging in there. The fans were there, supporting us, and everybody wants to see a change. And nobody wants to see a change more than myself and the staff and these players that are working hard.”

The loss to Louisville was something of a metaphor for the Wildcats’ 2015 season: early promise followed by a disheartening finish.

Kentucky jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter, but after Louisville inserted backup quarterback Lamar Jackson into the game the Wildcats fell apart.

UK haunted by missed chances to bury U of L

After former starting quarterback Patrick Towles, who had come on in relief of redshirt freshman Drew Barker, threw his 14th interception of the season at the Louisville 2-yard line with just more than two minutes left in the game, fans could officially begin the search for answers.

“We've got to do a better job,” Stoops said. “But we're going to do that. We're going to go back to work. And we need to get a lot tougher in the offseason.”

While the remote possibility exists some 5-7 teams will reach a bowl this season if there are not enough six-win squads to fill the 80 bowl slots, no Kentucky coach or player even clung to that hope after the defeat.

With postseason play denied Kentucky for the fifth consecutive season, Stoops will miss out on the boost of a month’s worth of extra practices. Instead he will immediately turn his attention to closing out a 2016 recruiting class that already includes 24 commitments.

“This won't hurt our momentum in recruiting and developing our team and our program,” Stoops said. “We're going to continue to get better, believe me.”

Whether it affects the makeup of Stoops’ staff remains to be seen.

Instant Analysis | UK blows 21-point lead in loss

Stoops issued a vote of confidence for offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson but declined to speculate on any other possible staff changes.

“We're all accountable, and we'll all look at ourselves in the mirror and see what we can do to get better,” he said. “I'll evaluate all aspects of the program.”

The 5-7 season leaves no shortage of areas needing evaluation.

Dawson arrived at Kentucky after former offensive coordinator Neal Brown was hired as the head coach at Troy with a reputation for a high-octane passing attack balanced by a power run game.

The run game showed up at times with 1,952 rushing yards, but Kentucky quarterbacks completed just 57.1 percent of their passes for 2,512 yards, 10 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

“I don’t think at any (point) this year, we threw the ball like I’m used to throwing it,” Dawson said. “There’s just an unsettled-ness into our pass game right now that has to resolve itself for us to be good on offense. You gotta be able to throw and catch. If you can’t throw and catch, especially in our offense, it limits you.”

Kentucky’s continued struggles in stopping running quarterbacks were likely a symptom of a larger issue establishing a consistent pass rush.

Louisville entered the game ranked last in the country in sacks allowed, but Kentucky failed to record a sack in the loss.

“We’ve got to get better at it,” defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot said. “We’ve got to see what we can do technique-wise, maybe see in the offseason if there’s something schematically-wise I can do to help the team.”

Schematics aside, Stoops was clear about one area that needs improvement.

“We need to get a lot tougher in the offseason,” he said. “It starts there. And it starts with the way we go about our business right away here in this offseason program.”

Kentucky players expressed confidence the program was still headed in a positive direction despite the second-half collapse in the season and finale.

“If we just was like, ‘Aw, we lost’ and went away with our own thing and went to next season then I’d be worried about our football team,” sophomore running back Mikel Horton said. “It hurts. People in that locker room are hurt. Everyone is hurt, crying, emotional. It’s emotional because we don’t like losing.”

Now Stoops’ job is to turn that disappointment into wins on the field in the way he was not able to after the 2014 collapse.

The lack of a bowl game will make that task more difficult, but UK's head coach is confident it can still be accomplished.

“And I desperately wanted to win this game, because it's a big game – it's a rivalry game – to get to practices, to get to the bowl game, but it's not the end of the world,” he said. “It would have been 6-6 had we won, and we didn't.

“We need to get better across the board to go to where we want to go, and we're going to continue to do that.”

Email Jon Hale atjahale@courier-journal.com. Follow him on Twitter@JonHale_CJ.