Will Stein went from watching Kentucky collapse against Alabama to stunning No. 9 Texas A&M in College Station. The Wildcats had led the Crimson Tide 17-13 at halftime before getting outscored 32-0 in the second half of a 45-17 loss. One week later, Kentucky flipped the script with a 31-21 upset of Texas A&M, and that sudden swing is exactly what worried Urban Meyer. While everyone else was celebrating, the three-time national champion had a warning for Stein: big wins can become dangerous when a team starts believing the hype.

When the first-year Kentucky coach appeared on The Triple Option, he asked Urban Meyer how he handled his teams after major wins. Meyer’s answer was not to enjoy the moment for too long. The three-time national champion told Stein to coach even harder, passing along a lesson he once learned from legendary college football coach Lou Holtz.

“Lou Holtz would call me every Sunday or Monday after a big win,” he said. “He was my mentor. And he would always remind me, that’s when you coach them the hardest. Everybody makes the drastic failure, the dramatic failure of just jumping them when you lose. But everything’s fragile when you lose.”

There is a reason that advice still sticks with Urban Meyer. Lou Holtz was his mentor during the early stages of his coaching career, including his time at Notre Dame in 1996. Holtz also pushed him toward the Bowling Green head-coaching job, helping set Meyer on the path that eventually led to national championships at Florida and Ohio State.

Now Urban Meyer is passing the same message down to Will Stein, who is trying to make sure Kentucky doesn’t confuse one huge Saturday with the beginning of something automatic. Last weekend, the Wildcats entered Kyle Field as a 16.5-point underdog. They left with one of the biggest road victories in the program’s recent history. 

“When you’re winning, you can tell them to jump, and they’ll say, ‘How high?’” Meyer continued. “And Lou Holtz would call me every Monday after a big win and say, ‘You coach them, and you hold your staff accountable.’ Because everyone’s patting them on the back, but they’re listening to you because you just went and beat A&M. So that’s my advice: go get after them. Have a Tuesday like you’ve never had before. A little inside run.”

Will Stein became the first Kentucky head coach to win a true road game against an AP Top 10 opponent, doing it in only his third game in charge. The game itself made the warning even more relevant.

Kentucky and Texas A&M were tied 7-7 at halftime before the Wildcats blew the game open with 28 unanswered points. Kenny Minchey threw for 252 yards and two touchdowns, while CJ Baxter added two rushing scores. Kentucky also won the turnover battle 2-0. It was a statement win, but the Wildcats do not have much time to admire it. South Alabama is next, and that is where Stein has to make sure one huge Saturday does not turn into a letdown.

That is also why Meyer’s warning lands at the right time. Stein has already made it clear that Kentucky cannot carry the emotional high of Texas A&M into another week. The Wildcats are 2-1, and he has quickly given the program something tangible to believe in, but the job is only getting started. His five-year contract is worth $28.5 million, with performance incentives potentially pushing that number higher, so the expectations are not going anywhere. Meyer’s message, though, is much simpler: enjoy the win, then get back to coaching.

For Will Stein, that means taking Lou Holtz’s old lesson and applying it before the Texas A&M victory becomes yesterday’s news. South Alabama visits Kentucky Saturday at 12:45 p.m. ET on SEC Network. And if Urban Meyer is right, Tuesday’s practice may tell everyone more about the Wildcats than Saturday’s celebration ever could.