Midway through the third quarter, most of the backups found their way into the action, and it only ramped up when backup quarterback Gunnar Hoak entered the game with 12:03 remaining in the fourth. On both sides of the football, the Wildcats managed to get reps out of just about every non-injured freshman or redshirt freshman. At one point, Kentucky had 10 freshmen in at one time on defense, with the eleventh player being senior tackle Tymere Dubose.
For Mark Stoops, it was a way to get his young talent’s feet wet in a live game setting, which in most situations can be used as one of four playable games to remain eligible to redshirt.