Mark Stoops understands how easy it is to be humbled on any Saturday

Mark Stoops believes Kentucky can play with any team in the country but has to understand how easy it is to get humbled in any game. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Could Kentucky find itself playing in the Sugar bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1? ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura believes so and his latest bowl projection has UK facing Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. Kentucky last played in the Sugar Bowl in 1950

The Cats are 5-0 going into Saturday night’s game with LSU and coming off a win over then No. 10 Florida.

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops certainly embraced the Sugar Bowl projection on SEC Radio on Sirius/XM earlier this week.

“These teams we compete against are some of the most talented teams in the country. I guarantee you can put three, four, five teams in the SEC, one, two, three, four, five (in the weekly rankings) if you wanted to,” Stoops said.

“Certainly, Alabama and Georgia, the way they’re playing. Look at the way Florida played Alabama. So we can play with anybody. But we can’t get ahead of ourselves either. This game will humble you, you have an opportunity to be humbled every seven days.”

That’s the message Stoops has tried to hammer home to his team about why backing up the win over Florida with another SEC win is so important.

“You have every seven days to be humble. We work each day to not be and stay the course. I’ve always said that. Stay humble, stay hungry and stay hopeful. Just continue to do the right things. Our preparation will lead to the execution on Saturdays,” Stoops said.

“I don’t really worry about that, the outside world and the narrative. I know we have a long history to overcome but this is here and now. We can do whatever we choose to do. It’s up to us in this building and our belief system is extremely high.”