Kentucky football watched Tennessee fans troll the Wildcats following Saturday's 34-6 trouncing. This loss surely alters both the SEC title game and College Football Playoff picture. But it also got UK coach Will Stein dropping 100% honesty after the game.
Stein takes his biggest loss of his young head coaching career. Such a win would've increased UK's chances of making a long-awaited trip to the conference championship. Plus impress the CFP committee in the process. But Stein dropped this eight-word admission after the defeat.
“There really aren’t a lot of moral victories,” Stein told reporters after the game.
He also described how “uncharacteristic plays” did the Wildcats in during the drubbing.
Article Continues BelowWill Stein’s opening statement following the loss at #16 Tennessee pic.twitter.com/BLaQJyfQuk
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Kentucky now helps create quite the logjam in the SEC. So UK joins the Volunteers, Alabama and Texas at 7-2 teams all vying for a spot in Atlanta on Dec. 5 with the conference title on the line. Except now the Vols and the Crimson Tide own the tiebreaker edge over the Wildcats, by virtue of their victories over UK.
So Stein and Kentucky must win out, then have lots of outside factors play into UK's favor. Certainly one more loss by the aforementioned three 7-2 teams can boost Kentucky's case. But the Wildcats face a daunting road.
Kentucky hosts No. 24 Florida in Lexington next, with the loser potentially facing elimination from the SEC title game and CFP race. No. 18 Missouri then follows and surely, the Tigers will want to redeem themselves from their own letdown loss Saturday to Texas. Finally, Stein gets his taste of the Bluegrass State rivalry in facing Louisville to close out the season.