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Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops was not happy with his quarterback play after a loss to Georgia. The Wildcat leader blasted starter Devin Leary in his postgame press conference.
Stoops threw his passer under the bus, placing a large portion of the blame on Leary despite the fact that his defense gave up 51 points to the Bulldogs in the defeat.
Kentucky was manhandled by the two-time defending champs in a 51-13 loss. It was all ‘Dawgs from the get-go as UGA jumped out to an early 21-0 lead before taking a 34-7 advantage into the halftime break.
Georgia’s Carson Beck carved up the Wildcat secondary in his best performance of the year, throwing for 389 yards and four touchdowns. He counterpart, Leary, struggled.
Completing just 38% of his attempts, he mustered just 189 yards through the air. That output under center handcuffed an offense that was only able to reach the endzone twice throughout the game.
Mark Stoops was quick to point out his quarterback play after the loss.
Mark Stoops offers a not-so-glowing review of QB Devin Leary after Kentucky’s faceplant at Georgia. pic.twitter.com/Bv4Sf51scQ
— Brad Crawford (@BCrawford247) October 8, 2023
“Usually, I don’t say a lot to a quarterback during games,” Stoops said. “There’s no excuse to not hit some of those passes. I mean, we’ve got some guys wide open… We miss some open plays to keep it close early, then you add the penalties, it gets away from you very quickly.”
And get away, it did.
Kentucky never got within 14 points after the second quarter of play and the margin only widened from there. While the offense, quarterback in particular, wasn’t clicking, many have been quick to blast Stoops for his comments on Devin Leary.
“Can’t believe Devin Leary gave up 50 points. That’s wild.”
“So, the QB allowed 51 points? Take some accountability.”
“Always blaming others. His MO.”
“This is a stretch, and a pathetic cope. I can’t believe he’s blaming his QB for giving up 51 points.”
The Wildcats will try to shore up both the defense and the quarterback position before next weekend’s matchup against Missouri.