If Kentucky coach Mark Stoops is worried about his players overlooking Toledo — and he said Monday he was not — in Saturday’s season-opening game he could just remind his players about what happened in 2015.
That’s the last time Toledo opened the season on the road against a Southeastern Conference team. Toledo was a 21-point underdog against No. 18 Arkansas — and won 16-12.
If that’s not enough, Toledo currently still has 21 former players on NFL rosters. Kentucky has 20.
Stoops said all it took for his players to respect Toledo was to watch game film from last year.
“Our players know good football, teams that put you in predicaments, the way they execute. That’s what it comes down to. It’s not hard for our players to get their attention,” Stoops said. “No matter who we’re playing, we’re really worried about us, putting ourselves in the best situation to play the best football we can.”
Stoops is big on his team not beating itself and stresses that. One way he does that is every week during the season he puts together a film clip to show his players.
“I take things from around college football, put out a football IQ, just show them video, things that happened,” Stoops said. “Late hits, turnovers, just things of that nature, where we all coach hard to avoid.
“Things happen. Believe me, I know we’ve been on other people’s football IQ tests, too. We’re far from perfect, but we’re going to certainly point them out to them.”
Airtime Saturday on 106.5 FM WKDZ is 9am following YourSportsEdge Saturday.
