By Annie Dunbar

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With UK quarterback Patrick Towles playing at his peak and the return of running back Stanley “Boom” Williams, the Cats look to get their first road win of the season on Saturday against Missouri in Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field.

UK will be coming off a loss to No. 1 ranked Mississippi State last Saturday which allowed head coach Mark Stoops an opportunity to truly challenge his players against some of the best competition in the country. Stoops wanted to see his players, especially his receivers, play with grit and enthusiasm.

“That’s a trademark of Missouri, especially on both sides of the ball,” Stoops said. “I think they play passionately and play very tough and, again, that’s what we need to see out of our team all the time and I felt like we responded that way and certainly at wide receiver.”

Missouri has already locked in the sixth win for which the Cats are hungry  for. The Tigers have lost two games to Indiana and Georgia but have notable road wins against South Carolina and Florida. Missouri, who played in the SEC Championship game last season, lost a few solid wideouts but still have a veteran squad. The Tigers’ quarterback Maty Mauk took over as the starter last season after original starting quarterback James Franklin was injured. Mauk helped lead the team to an 11-1 record and was 2013 SEC Freshman of the Year. This season Mauk has 1368 yards, and 16 touchdowns after eight games. Stoops thinks that Mauk has a “good feel for the game.”

“He can throw the football and he, I think, he does a very good job of buying time, having that feel in the pocket and making plays when they need to,” Stoops said. “He’s just a very good player, obviously, as opposed to a year ago (when) they lost some big wide receivers so they’re younger but I still think they’re just very good and well coached. They really want to be balanced. They’re almost dead even again, run and pass, so he’s just a good football player.”

UK’s latest struggle has been its ground raid which will be challenged against a disruptive Tiger defense line.

“They have two “D” ends again this year, Shane (Ray) and Markus (Golden)… I thought they were really disruptive and that’s what they do and that’s what I remember about them from playing in person last year and, again, seeing that on film, I know Coach (Dave) Steckel, their defensive coordinator, does a great job and that whole defensive staff has been together for a while,” Stoops said. “They’re disruptive, they do a nice job of creating negative yardage plays and being disruptive up front and twisting and stunting and just playing hard.”

One of the crucial aspects of the game that Stoops wants to see improvement in is discipline. Stoops believes that lack of discipline has contributed to a multitude of fundamental mistakes made throughout the season, especially notable against Mississippi State.

“It’s rooted in our discipline and where we’re going as a program,” Stoops said. “There is no excuses for not doing our job and not being accountable to technique and fundamentals. I constantly harp on that with our players and our coaches. It shows up every week. So we need to continue to grow and get better and, you know, do some routine things better.”

The discipline factor could be the difference in the Cats not only getting their first road win of the season but also tallying a sixth victory to make them bowl eligible for the first time since 2010.

Poor tackling and misques with simple fundamentals doomed any chance of UK limiting the potent running game of Mississippi State. With a Missouri team that is built around a tough run game, the Cats are going to have to dig deep and find the level of physicality that propelled them to a wins against South Carolina and a narrow defeat to Florida.

“A lot of things comes down to what I talked about with the toughness and the mentality and the discipline that we have because there are no excuses, there is no reason not to play our very best and have that attitude about us,” Stoops said.  “Nobody is going to hand you over any victories.  You got to go earn them and you got to win them and you got to get on the road and get on the plane with a tough mentality about you, and our players have to play at the highest level they can and that was the message to the yesterday when I met him.”