Mark Stoops on hot seat: Kentucky coach under fire after a near miss to take down No. 1 team Georgia in Week three

Kentucky Wildcats coach Mark Stoops presided over one of the team's most humiliating losses in his tenure when his side lost 31-6 to coach Shane Beamer's South Carolina Gamecocks. This defeat came in Week 2 of college football action. The game led to Stoops being placed on one of the hottest seats in college football.

It didn't get any easier for the Wildcats with a home game against coach Kirby Smart's No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs next on the schedule.

The Bulldogs were heavy favorites for the clash but instead, Kentucky showed up with a valiant defensive effort that was a decision away from being the upset of the season.

In the fourth quarter, the Wildcats arrived at the Bulldogs' 47-yard line on fourth and eight with 3:03 on the clock. Instead of going for a potential game-winning field goal, coach Mark Stoops opted for his team to punt the ball, giving it back to Georgia. They were hoping to pull off a quick stop on defense to attempt to win the game.

The gambit by the Kentucky coach failed and he has gotten criticism for his decision-making from all corners for letting the No. 1 ranked team in the country off the hook.

During his postgame news conference, Stoops revealed that he did not regret the decision to punt the ball to try and win the game.

“At the end, I don’t regret that. I do regret the one play where they hit the sail. We’ve got to play it better. We’ve got to make that. When I punted it and they got a chance to — shoot, you got, what, over three minutes, then three timeouts and the two-minute stoppage? I mean, we had all kinds of time, we’ve just gotta play it better," Mark Stoops said.

Stoops further broke down the reasons why the decision to punt made more sense to him.

“I just didn’t feel like going for it on fourth down. If they punt it and pin us, that’s tough sledding in a predictable pass (situation). For us to go all the way down, I felt like that was going to be no chance if we didn’t get it,” Mark Stoops said.

Mark Stoops proud of his team despite the tough loss

The Kentucky Wildcats were coming off a blowout loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks in Week 2. According to Mark Stoops, during his postgame news conference, the narrow 13-12 loss to the No. 1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs was cause for optimism.

“Really proud of our players, the way they fought and competed,” Stoops said during his postgame news conference. “I thought our coaches did a really good job this week. As you could imagine, a very challenging week coming off the way we performed seven days ago. Proud of our players, how hard they played and picking themselves up off the mat after a performance a week ago that none of us were very pleased with."

The Wildcats face off against the Ohio Bobcats next to show whether the game against the Bulldogs showed clear improvement or it was a one-off fluke.