Sept. 3, 2002
Kentucky Football Press Conference
Wildcat Den, Commonwealth Stadium
Head Coach Guy Morriss
On the feelings on getting a big win as a player and as a coach…
“It’s a little bit different feeling as a coach than it was as a player. I don’t really know how to describe it. It’s a little more of a fatherly feel. It’s a pride that you feel for a bunch of kids that have really worked hard. They laid it on the line. Finally we got to see it pay off and win a close game on the road against a ranked opponent.
“It’s a neat feeling to win. There’s nothing like it and no substitute for it. I don’t care if you’re a player or a coach and at whatever level. If you’re in the football business, there’s nothing like winning. Hopefully the kids have learned from that. It’s a feeling I want them to remember. We’ll just continue to go back to work, see if we can grow and see if we can come up with number two.”
On how to keep the kids grounded…
“I knew I was going to be asked that. I want to show you something. See this guy right here? (Morriss pointed to the T-shirt underneath his dress shirt) That’s Grumpy. I’m pretty grumpy this morning. We’re just going to talk to them, get their attention and remind them that they have to play it one at a time. We’re going to go back and start preparing and do the same things we did to get ready for Louisville – pay attention to detail, work hard, cover the scoreboard, play hard every down. At the end of the game, when the dust settles, we’ll see who has the most points.”
On UTEP…
“Their defense is basically doing the same things as what Coach Goodner does. They run the same front, same style of play. Their coverages are a little bit different. The one thing we’ll have to deal with from them offensively is a little bit of option and a quarterback that’s probably a little bit more mobile than (Louisville QB David) Ragone. So we’ll have to do a good job of stopping him and shutting down the running game.”
On the play of the defensive ends Sunday…
“I think they met expectations. This coaching staff knew what those kids could do. It was just a matter of letting everyone else in the country see it first hand. That whole front seven played extremely well. I don’t think it was a surprise to any of us because we see those guys every day. We just had to let them loose.”
On time possession…
“That was part of the game plan going in. We were going to run the football. We didn’t run it as well as we wanted, but we ran it well enough and at the times it was necessary to control the clock. I think some of our players were a little down because we didn’t put up big numbers. As far as I’m concerned, the only stat we should worry about is who has got the most points at the end of the game. I thought we controlled the game. We did the things we needed to do at the times we needed to do them. And part of that was possessing the football – to win that battle and keep Ragone on the sideline.”
On placekicker Taylor Begley…
“I thought he had a great game. He was three for four in field goals. The one he missed he just rushed a little bit. His missed extra point obviously was not his fault. We had some protection problems up front that we have to get corrected. We know he has a strong leg and I think under the circumstances – big game, first time the kid’s ever stepped out on a college football field – I thought he did a good job.”
On Jared Lorenzen…
“I thought Jared did a great job as a field general. I think he’s really matured. He made good decisions most of the time. He kept his poise. He was aware of the situation and the clock. During timeouts he had suggestions as to what he thought we could execute. Overall, he had a really good game.”
On the beating Ragone took…
“I can’t remember when I’ve seen one that bad. I know he has got to be sore. But he’s a trooper. He just kept getting up and getting up. You have to take your hat off to a kid who showed that kind of guts because we were banging him around pretty good.”
AD Mitch Barnhart
“The game on Sunday night should have produced unbelievable enthusiasm from our fans and our students. I want to challenge our students to get out there and support it. We’re off to a great start. We have three straight home games and I want to make sure we get out there and support Guy and the team and what they’ve done. I want UTEP to come into Commonwealth and see a sea of blue, it’s loud, and we make it absolute home field advantage when our team takes the field.”
UK PLAYERS
WR Tommy Cook
On starting season with a win…
“It’s been three years since we’ve started on a positive note. It’s always great to go out and get that first victory – it’s a tremendous confidence builder for us. Sunday was definitely a great way to start the season.”
On not putting up big offensive numbers…
“I don’t think you’ll find a player on our team that will complain about how many balls they catch or how many rushing yards they get. When you get a win, that’s the ultimate goal and that’s what we’re looking to do every time out.”
On attitude…
“Coach (Guy) Morriss has instilled a new attitude in us. It’s not about the stats and personal prestige; it’s about winning as a team. That’s the most important goal in college football – seeing how many wins you can produce and we’re dedicated to that.”
On UTEP…
“You can’t sit on a win. It’s a confidence builder but we have to go on. UTEP is a great team and they recently had a big win over Sacramento State. We’ve got to come out focused and ready to play again Saturday.”
OT Antonio Hall
On overcoming underdog status…
“We know what it’s like to be the underdog and overlooked. We know we have to respect every opponent every week and a win like we had Sunday definitely should produce more respect from our opponents. We’re going to respect every opponent and focus on beating them every Saturday.”
On offensive line play…
“Pass protection and play action, we could improve in those areas. Selling the run is also important. We held the ball for long periods of time and we were able to give our defense the best chance to put the game away in the end.”
On avoiding letdown vs. UTEP…
“It comes from a player’s standpoint of wanting to get better every week. If we get complacent about our success, we’ll have a chance of falling off. We have to go out and prepare mentally and physically for this game. Saturday is Saturday and either team can win.”
QB Jared Lorenzen
On play of offensive line…
“They did an excellent job for me. They fought really hard going up against one of the best defensive lines in the nation. They did an excellent job and held up long enough for us to get the victory.”
On maturity and improvement of his play…
“I think as a freshman and even last year, I was trying to force things and I was making bad throws. I finally realized that taking a three- or four yard loss isn’t that bad because you have second and third down to get yardage. If it all possible throw it away, but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and take a sack.”
On not worrying about offensive numbers and concentrating totally on winning…
“I don’t think it’s been that way on this team in the past. Before Coach (Guy) Morriss it’s always been get a bunch of numbers and score a lot of points. We are changing that philosophy with running the ball over 40 times – Artose (Pinner) can handle it. He wants the ball and you can see it in his eyes in the huddle. It makes my life so much easier. Now defenses have to honor our run.”
On dealing with adversity over the years…
“It feels a lot better to go out and get a big win. We finally beat a nationally-ranked team and we want to build on that success. We have UTEP coming in. They have a really good defense. It was great to get the big win but we have 11 games in front of us.”
DT Jeremy Caudill
On enjoying the victory over Louisville…
“It’s been a great ride. From the high after the game to the bus ride and the fans meeting us when we got home, and then now to knowing that we have to get ready for UTEP.”
On the team’s goals and results from the Louisville game…
“We wanted to go out and play hard, play for each other, and we did that. We kept fresh legs in the game. There were guys that haven’t seen that much time that got to play. It’s big for us to do that – we play 110% every play, so we have to be fresh.”
On the defensive assault of Louisville QB Dave Ragone…
“Those were some of the better hits, the cleaner hits that I’ve ever seen. I hit him from the blind side once. You just couldn’t keep him down, though. He got right back up, took a breath and was ready to go.”
