The time has come, as they say. Mark Stoops, the newly-minted head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats football team, has coached his last game at Florida St. Seminoles, and what a game it was. From Fox Sports Florida:
And in what he admits is likely his final game on the Florida State sideline, Mark Stoops had his defense turn in a memorable performance to wrap up the program’s first conference title since 2005.
Safety Karlos Williams had a game-clinching interception of Tevin Washington with 1 minute left and the defense held Georgia Tech’s triple-option offense to 183 rushing yards — 140 below the Yellow Jackets’ season average — as Florida State escaped with a 21-15 win in the ACC championship game.
There's nothing better when your new head coach goes out with a bang at his prior school, and this was definitely a bang. The FSU offense struggled for the entire second half of the football game to produce points, and only Mark Stoops' defense stood between Florida State and an ignominious upset to Georgia Tech.
SBNation's excellent Seminoles community, Tomahawk Nation, has more:
The defense, in Mark Stoops' final game, saved the game by forcing field goals and only allowing one touchdown drive by a good Georgia Tech offense. The game wasn't over until Karlos Williams made an excellent play on a ball to seal the game with an interception. An improbable win for Tech and an equally horrible loss by FSU was averted.
“I do not want to distract anymore and there’s a lot of work to be done on both sides,” Stoops told reporters after the game. “[But] I don’t ever want to turn my back on this program and these kids. If I can help in any way and lock myself in an office with [FSU's] defensive coaches and devise a game plan, I’ll certainly do that.”
Now, the Tomahawk Nation bids goodbye to their former defensive coordinator, and the Big Blue Nation bids him welcome. He will be arriving in Lexington today for a press conference about his hiring:
UK invites fans to greet Mark Stoops at R.J. Corman in Nicholasville when plane arrives at 12:45 & at Commonwealth Stadium Gate 1 at 2:45.
— Dan Rieffer (@drieffer) December 2, 2012
Let's give our new coach a resounding welcome to the Big Blue Nation.