Oftentimes, a team like Kentucky, which has not seen success like this season much at all in its program's history, can start slipping after receiving very high national praise and racking up multiple top 10 wins like the Wildcats have this season. But, under Will Stein, this Kentucky team has not let the success get to their heads.
After becoming a top 15 team and beating #10 LSU, a road matchup with Oklahoma was staring Kentucky in the face and thoughts of a slip up were there. But, like they have all season so far, they found grit and toughness and played smart, efficient football to get the road win. In his Tuesday press conference, Stein was asked how his team has been able to handle success so well this season, standing strong at 6-1 with playoff hopes growing by the win.
"I just go back to like what we do on a day-by-day basis. It's how these guys respond. It's really how they work throughout the week. So it's hard to say it's just this or just that. I think it's just a culmination of the last eight months and putting in the work with really good players. I think we can all see that we have really good talent, top-end talent on our roster. Got to continue to build depth. That's something as we keep pushing this program forward, is how do we get the next group of guys to be able to go in there and perform at that same level? And then, I mean, I really think we have really good coaches too. I mean, what Joe's done, Parker, Jay, all of our staff, the work that they put in, the messaging that they put in, it's allowed us to keep fighting and then keep finding ways to win."
It also helps that Stein has continued to stress the '0-0' mantra, which is another way of taking things one game at a time and turn the page quickly to the next task at hand. He has done great with instilling that mindset into his players and it is clear. When did it become clear to Kentucky that they can acheive some really big things this season? The road win at Texas A&M.
Every single game means a whole lot when your a team on the edge of the College Football Playoff and It's clear Stein and his team know that at this point. One little slip up can change things.
“I think the confidence really started to show when we went on the road in week three and able to win that game in that fashion," Stein said on Tuesday. "That showed our guys and really everybody in our building that what we do on a day by day basis, this process that we do does work."
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