 Head Coach Hal Mumme |
Head Coach Hal Mumme
“Obviously we are disappointed with our performance the other night. We are going to do our best to rectify a lot ofthe mistakes we made.”
“It was kind of a bizarre night all the way around. The storm stopped the game, Jared [Lorenzen] sprained his thumband couldn’t take snaps from center, so we didn’t get [Artose] Pinner the ball like we wanted to on some of the runplays. Some of the pass plays we do we like him to be under the center, we prefer it, so we had to make anadjustment. That part for both [Derek] Homer and Pinner didn’t work out the way we wanted it to.”
On Lorenzen’s runs before the field goal attempt: “I told him to try to score, just pick where he saw the besthole. It wasn’t an ideal play, but again, we didn’t have a lot of choices. It wasn’t something we worked on, we werejust trying to adjust in the timeouts.”
On the kicking game:
“Obviously we had some good plays and some bad plays. I thought we punted well andcovered well. We had some good kickoff returns. We made a bad decision with Martez Johnson where he tried tomake a big play and all he had to do was stay behind his blockers and he probably would have had a decent return. The coverage on the one long return is something we can solve.”
On the storm delay:
“I haven’t been through this before, but Coach Bassett has and he told me that every time hehas been through it, the team that was ahead lost. It was just bizarre and you don’t know what is going to happen. You lose some focus, but you can’t blame that because Louisville had to go through the same thing”
On minuses:
“The injuries are the biggest minus, because we are going to lose Dennis Johnson for about a month. Derrick Johnson had an injury, but I think he will be back this week but will be limited. Matt Brown and Eric Kelly arevery questionable for Saturday’s game. We are going to lose Nolan DeVaughn for about the same amount of timeas Dennis Johnson. It was such a physical ballgame, it always is, and most of the injuries were after the break, sothat was a real negative.”
On Lorenzen’s thumb injury:
“Jared is going to be fine – his injury just turned out to be a sprain. It just swelled upso bad and was so painful that they had to put a splint on it. Because they splinted it and it is his right hand, whichcatches the ball, he couldn’t put it under the center. He should be good to go by Saturday.”
On South Florida:
“These guys [South Florida] basically are a repeat of Louisville. They run the same offense, thesame defense, and have the same kind of players. This is their chance to show everybody they ought to be Division1-A. They are scary to look at on film because they are very talented. They have 11 starters back on defense andmost are seniors.”
On Lorenzen’s performance:
“I thought he played well. He had one bad throw for the interception. If you watch thefilm, Lorenzen was doing what he was supposed to do. Really, he played pretty well. I was really pleased with hisdemeanor during the game. He is a guy who really loves the game. He had a smile on his face the whole game, hewas joking around. He is going to be a guy who is a lot of fun to watch–I had fun watching him. He is going to be agreat player. He just needs some experience.”
On the offense:
“We didn’t execute. We would go out there, catch a ball and fall down, drop a ball, fumble on thefirst play of a drive. Part of the things we need to improve on offensively is to have better killer instinct. There aren’ta lot of corrections to be made, but there are some and we are going to do that. Most are just fundamental that wecan get better with in practice.”
Player Quotes
 Freshman quarterback Jared Lorenzen |
Jared Lorenzen
Freshman, QB
On the play in which he injured his right (non-throwing) hand:
“It was third and six. I checked an audible to myself for a draw. I just used my hand to brace the my fall, and injured myhand. But it is all right; it won’t affect me. At first, I wasn’t sure what it was, but when I got up, it hurt. On the next playwe scored, so I was able to come off the field and have the trainers look at it. After the game, we took x-rays of it, andthey were negative. At least it isn’t broken. It is just real bruised right now.”
On his need for improvement:
“I have to make a lot of improvements. I made some bad passes. I threw three interceptions, and whether they weremy fault or not, I am going to take the heat for them. A couple of throws I would have liked to have had back, a coupleof third-and-longs that I could have thrown a little more quickly. This is college, and I am not going to be able tosqueeze the balls in like I did in high school. Overall, I think I did okay.”
On the success of the first two series:
“I don’t know if it was easy, but it was a lot of fun, especially when my first pass was a touchdown. Before the game, Itold Dougie (Allen) to look for the ball on that particular play. Then we scored again, and I thought we were going torun away with it. Louisville is a tough team, though.”
On the feeling after the game:
“I didn’t think we were going to lose, because when you go with that mentality that you are going to lose, you will. I feltlost. I thought we had the game in check. They battled back, played their hearts out and won.”
On the Cats’ next opponent, South Florida:
“No one really knows a whole lot about them right now. From what I have seen and heard so far, they are a reallygood team. They beat Jacksonville State and scored 40 points. We have to figure out a way to score points on them.I think we need a team meeting so we don’t get down, and talk about how we still have to come out and how we willstill make it to a bowl game.”
 Sophomore tight end Derek Smith |
Derek Smith
Sophomore, TE
On the feeling after the loss to Louisville:
“This was a big game for us. It is upsetting that we didn’t get a better result. We’re not giving up on each otherthough. We still feel like we are going to win a lot of games this year and that we’ll be playing in a bowl.”
On freshman QB Jared Lorenzen:
“Jared did a great job for being in his first game and he will only get better as the season goes on. It just takes timeto be at the point where you need to be. I feel like Jared can only get better though. He is a big quarterback whomakes big plays.”
“Jared is a guy who likes to have fun, but you could see he was a little nervous at the beginning of the game. Therewas a big difference from looking at him in the first quarter when his eyes were as big as saucers to just the secondquarter when he came out to the hundle dancing to the stadium music. Fortunately he made up for the dancing withhis play on the field.”
On the one hour and 12 minute weather delay:
“It’s hard to blame the situation on our loss. U of L had to do the same thing and sit for 40 minutes and then get readyto play. They came out ready to play. Not that we weren’t prepared because that wasn’t the case. They just did a littlebetter job of taking advantage of the breaks we gave them than we did.”
“I just have to give credit to Louisville because they just played a great game. They made the big plays when theyneeded too and they deserved the win. That’s over though. We’re just concentrating on beating South Florida now.”
Artose Pinner
Sophomore, FB
On the loss to Louisville:
“It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. A lot of guys just stayed home thinking about it yesterday. We talked a lotabout it, too, and you have to give credit to Louisville because they played a great game.”
“The way I look at it, I’ve got two more years to beat Louisville but this was a the last chance for out seniors. Theywon’t get another chance to beat them and us young guys have to feel bad about letting them down. I don’t feel likewe played up to our capabilities and there are a lot of things that we could have done better to get the job done forthem.”
On the adjustment of the team’s running game because of the hand injury to Lorenzen:”We made the most of the situation. It was my first time starting and so that’s a big change. I have to be the one tomake plays and set the tempo now because I’m not the one who is just in there to clean up. I didn’t do my job againstLouisville and I need to because there are guys who are just as good as me on the bench looking to do more thanclean-up duty late in the game.”
Dougie Allen
Junior, WR
On recovering from his injury from last season:
“Physically, I think I am about the same, but mentally I know I am a whole lot better.”
On the effect the weather delay had on the players:
“It was certainly a new experience. The first 20 minutes were not so bad, but then we were just ready to get back onthe field.”
On the team’s confidence levels after the first game:
“This team still has a lot of confidence. Overall, the game felt pretty good, and I think we gave some indications ofthings to come.”
On whether he thought Louisville keyed in on him in the second half:
“I didn’t feel that way at all. Jared (Lorenzen) was getting the ball around, but I didn’t feel like they were keying in onme any more than anyone else.”
 Junior linebacker Chris Gayton |
Chris Gayton
Junior, LB
On the UK defense showing the ability to get the big play:
“It showed some of that. The defense did show some big-play potential. We gave up some big plays as well, but Ithink we definitely have the capability of making some ourselves. Especially being my first start at linebacker, it gaveme a lot of confidence that I could make some big plays.”
On whether the lack of hitting in practice affected the team:
“We’re not apprehensive. Not hitting in practice is not a hindrance at all. I know for me, it feels good during the gamebecause the adrenaline is up and we are ready to hit.”
