Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats saw their bowl eligibility hopes crushed after Bobby Petrino and the Louisville Cardinals ended their season with a 38-24 loss.
This is the fifth season in a row that the Kentucky Wildcats has failed to go to a bowl game.
Kentucky got the job done in the first half, scoring 21 points in the first quarter and 24 in the first half to tie a Kentucky school record.
A win looked like it was on the way inside Commonwealth Stadium. But by the end of the game, coach Stoops and the Wildcats had relinquished 31 unanswered points to Petrino and the Cardinals in the second half.
The Louisville team clawed their way out of a 24-7 hole and rallied from behind to beat the boys in blue.
Kentucky fans were posting on social media to “Fire Stoops” Kentucky Wildcats fans were embarrassed with the team’s effort.
Mark Stoops has officially completed three seasons as head coach with the Kentucky Wildcats, and a bowl game is something he has only dreamt about.
Here’s a few statement Mark Stoops made at his press conference after losing to Louisville today.
That looked ugly today watching from the sideline; I’m very frustrated,
Five wins isn’t good enough and I’m tired of the woulda, coulda, shouldas.
We had guys in position and they made us look foolish at times, We’ve got to do a better job coaching that up and playing technique and executing our assignments. There’s enough blame to go around. We all need to do a better job.
We’re not very pleased with the way we finished again, I know the fans are not happy, and I’m not happy. It’s disappointing. It’s tough.
I know people have been patient even through a tough third year here and tough second part of this season. People are hanging in there. The fans were there supporting us, and everybody wants to see a change. Nobody wants to see a change more than myself and the staff and these players that are working hard. It hurts. I understand the frustration, believe me; very clearly. We’ve got to do a better job, 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. It starts there. And it starts with the way we go about our business right away here in this offseason program.
