Will Stein wasn’t exactly keeping his cool when Oklahoma opened with a trick play last Saturday in Norman.
On the Sooners’ first offensive snap, they tried a double-reverse flea-flicker, but Kentucky had it diagnosed immediately. The Wildcats blew up the play and dropped John Mateer for one of a season-high five sacks. While the pile untangled itself, Stein was on the sideline pointing toward the Oklahoma bench, making sure his message got through to offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle.
That message came with a grin, not malice.
“Ben Arbuckle is one of my really, really good friends in this business, and he texted me after the game with a laughing emoji. I was like, ‘Dude, I just knew you were gonna try to run a trick play in that moment,'” Stein recalled.
He said the sideline exchange was just two coaches having a little fun with each other.
“So it was just having fun. It was not - I think people thought I was trying to taunt them.
I was not. It’s me and my buddy, just kind of talking some noise back to each other from the sidelines.
I got so much respect for them as a program, Coach Venables, and Ben specifically in that moment.”
Stein also made it clear Kentucky was prepared for that exact call.
“ We had practiced that play so many times. I was just so excited that we stopped that trick play,” said the Kentucky head coach.
Stein and Arbuckle have never coached together, but they’re part of the same coaching circle, where ideas, concepts, and plays are always getting borrowed and studied. In this case, Stein’s anticipation paid off for Kentucky with a negative play, even if Oklahoma still managed to reach field-goal range on the drive. Still, the image of Stein reacting to the busted trick play is the one that’s going to stick.
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Stein also made it clear the next step is not about admiring the rsum, with Vanderbilt up next and room still left for Kentucky to sharpen things. The confidence around the program is real now, but so is the scrutiny that comes with every bold decision, and Steins willingness to live with those calls is becoming part of the story as the Wildcats try to keep the surge going. [Read more 🡒]