Attention to detail is the key to Kentucky beating Florida

Mark Stoops held one last press conference today before the team travels to take on the 25th-ranked Gators on Saturday night.

The team will be looking to break the aforementioned losing streak against Florida that has been haunting the program for over three decades.

The main focus in practice this week was eliminating turnovers and being able to execute.

Terry Wilson caused three of the four turnovers a week ago. Stoops talked about watching Wilson, as well as fellow quarterback Gunnar Hoak, improve during practice this week.

“Just more experience, learning from that. He (Wilson) really made a big jump through each scrimmage. Hopefully, he’ll do the same thing with the games. There’s nothing like simulating that in practice, even in scrimmages. To get a full game like that is really helpful for those guys.”

Stoops went on to compare both Wilson and Hoak to Stephen Johnson when talking about development.

“We can go back to Stephen Johnson and the progress he made from the first start on through that season. I’m confident in both of these guys. I felt like Gunnar and Terry both really had a good week.”

With that, a big key to victory according to Stoops is finishing plays through the air. He talked about failing to execute on throws downfield against CMU.

“There were two or three (plays) with a fraction more protection, and we would have had some opportunities. We need to do a better job running at receiver as well.”

A year ago against Florida, Kentucky had success through the air. However, Stoops says with Florida’s new coaching staff, it’s hard to compare this year to last.

“Obviously, it’s a different coordinator and new scheme, but I don’t know if it’s changed drastically as far as they have good players who cover you. They have good talent across the board. We have to do a good job of getting off press.”

For Stoops, the key to victory in the hectic environment that will be Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is paying attention to detail.

“The details, the little things. That was evident even at home. In a friendly environment, it’s still the excitement of a game and losing the details. Little things do add up. When you’re not efficient, there was some great examples of us that we made some significant errors because we were short in our technique by a yard, by two yards, by three yards.

“We need to be detailed. When things are going haywire, that’s when we need to reply on our technique, communication, things like that.”

As for the streak Stoops says there’s no pressure, saying “I’m really not worried about that at all.”

Will this be the year? If Kentucky can pay attention to detail, it just may be.