The winningest coach in Kentucky football history fell to 2-9 against Tennessee on Saturday night.
Mark Stoops has a respectable list of accomplishments during his 11 years in Lexington, which includes a pair of 10-win seasons and a streak of seven consecutive bowl invites that he has tried for nearly a month now to stretch to eight. Saturday was the third clash between Stoops and his Wildcats and Josh Heupel’s Volunteers, and it was the third occasion in which Tennessee’s rushing attack was simply too much.
“It was frustrating,” Stoops said in a news conference following a 33-27 loss in a thriller that contained 926 total yards. “The tempo at which they go gets some of the eyes of our guys a little dirty, and credit them. They have a very good scheme, and the tempo adds to the vision of your players with their fits.
“If you’re not very precise, they’re going to make you pay, and we didn’t have a good handle on it all night.”
The Vols rushed 47 times for 253 yards at Kentucky to increase their Southeastern Conference-leading average to 221.8 yards per game. They averaged 5.4 yards a carry Saturday and have averaged more than 5.0 yards per rush against the Wildcats in their past three meetings.