Kentucky-LSU Postgame Quotes
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEDIA CONFERENCE
October 10, 2026
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Coach Will Stein
Press Conference
Kentucky – 35 LSU – 34
WILL STEIN: I’m running out of lives after that one. Wow. There’s really not a lot of words right now. I’m pretty shocked, in shock. I shouldn’t say shocked, I’m in shock. We are a really good football team. Really good football team. People count us out. I took a picture of college game day this morning and everybody picked LSU. Keep doing that. I appreciate that. Gives us a lot of fuel and a lot of fire because everybody doubts us. It’s a really tough group that has battled a lot. Injuries. A lot of change that’s happened since we’ve gotten here and this is a really big moment for our players. Really big moment for our players. They’ve earned it, the way they practice, the way they prep, they way that they just keep playing is really phenomenal. It’s unbelievable, to be honest. These guys give it their all. Like I told them in there, we expect to win every single game no, matter the opponent, no matter the logo, no matter what players they have on their team, we expect to win every single game. We practice that way and we play that way. It wasn’t pretty, it was far from a pretty game. But like I said after last game, that’s the SEC. It’s the closest thing to the NFL. It comes down to the last plays and the last possessions. It took all three phases. We had a punt return for a touchdown. We kicked the game tying kick at the end of regulation. We had a defensive stop in the four man drill that force them to punt. We had multiple takeaways on defense. We had big plays on offense. And we just kept chopping, we kept fighting. It’s a really good football team that we beat. Like I said, we are a really good football team too. We are going to take this confidence into this next week of prep and hopefully keep this thing going. I know our guys are super excited in the room, and as am I. One more thing before you go to questions. This was also for Big Blue Nation. This was for the state of Kentucky. This was for everybody that grew up just like me, a wildcat fan. I’m really excited for those people. Thank you.
Q Will, how many times did you call or change the play call in the two-point conversion with the timeouts and the various?
WILL STEIN: Yeah, it was a little bit more chaotic, John, than last week with the two-point decision. It’s just tough to stop those guys. Sam Leavitt is really good. They got big backs. They were throwing it all over the yard. It’s like, man, this is not to discredit our defense. Our defense made some unbelievable plays and takeaways and dealing with injuries. We are down to some linebackers that haven’t really even played much. We’re down D lineman. Shoot, we’ve lost secondary guys. So, they battled on defense. But yeah, we tried to hard count them and try to see if we can get half the distance. Didn’t necessarily work. There was some stuff situation we gotta clean up in that moment, like putting the ball in the middle of the field on that, which was bad coaching by me. Thankfully it paid off and we called a two-point play, just kind of a base concept. Kenny saw a light box and ended up taking it himself. Some confidence by him at that moment. Giving him the ability to check that if it is a light box and so it was four people in there and he decided to run. And I didn’t really know what happened. I was watching the routes and then we started rushing the field. It was pretty crazy.
Q Will, Zouagui missed two huge field goals there, but what does it say about him to come back and hit that last one? And then, second part of the question. Were you always going for two 2 in overtime like you did last week to win that game?
WILL STEIN: This was a little bit more of a before the series discussion. It’s like funny when you use the CAI analytics and everybody uses it, right. Everybody uses it. I think they use it. It’s kind of like an in-between recommended two-point play. That means they don’t really know if it’s a two-point not go or not. I think it’s just momentum. Was a great touchdown. I felt like we liked the play, so we went for it. In terms of Adam, that’s the life of a kicker. You got everybody watching you on those kicks and it was unfortunate that he missed two. But he hit a really big one. We do pressure kicks all the time in practice and I’ve seen him hit it a million times and so yeah, he did a great job in that moment.
Q You’ve kind of been dismissive of personal accolades before. But you just talked about growing up a Kentucky fan. I think last week you tied Bear Bryant for the best start by a first year coach. At Kentucky this year you made history with 5-1 record to start your first season. Just does that resonate with you or what does that mean to have one?
WILL STEIN: I have all the respect for Bear Bryant. But I would not consider me Bear Bryant. He’s got hundreds of more wins. I don’t know what his total is of national championships. There’s no way in hell I would compare myself to him. Just try to be my best every single day and give it my all for this university that took a chance on me and give it all for my players who have done such an unbelievable job up to this point. It’s about them. It’s not about wins. We are 5-1, which is great. And we got more opportunities ahead.
MODERATOR: By the way. Best start for a first year head coach at UK since Alpha Brumage also starting 5-1 in 1913.
Q Will, the play Darby, the 3rd and 8 play in overtime. Just the effort he gave to get that ball as far as he did. What did you see in that play?
WILL STEIN: We had kind of a man beater to the field and they played like is was a three deep zone. It’s funny because Kenny kind of looked left and came back right and hit him on a slant, and yeah, it was just a great run after the catch. Like I said, that’s a sign of a really good receiver is once you catch the ball what you do with it? He’s got a knack for knifing through the defense, going North and South. It was a really good play.
Q How is it different to storm the field as a coach than when you did it as a family member?
WILL STEIN: Well, I about got killed out there, you know. It was awesome. Great to see all of those students and fans celebrating, you know, they deserve it. They put their heart and soul in this game just like we did as a team and they were loud and they affected the game and it was really cool.
Q Will, this LSU defense that was coming in giving up less than 60 yards rushing a game. In the very first play you rip off a 77 yard run. So, what can you say about CJ Baxter playing your offensive line?
WILL STEIN: Yeah, CJ has done, I’m so proud of him for what he’s battled. Offensive line is and Big Blue wall for a reason. Those guys are big and physical and just a simple duo scheme that we ran and they kind of misfit it and CJ headed out the back door for a big one. That was huge. They have a really good defense. They have really good players. They play fast and physical. They made it really tough on us tonight but we kept battling.
Q Will, when you take this job, the nights like this are what you dreamed of. Is this all happening faster than what you could have even anticipated?
WILL STEIN: I don’t really know. You never know going into a season what you have until you play. I said that earlier this year and I felt like we had enough talent and enough players and full buy-in from this group to go out there and play really well. And really just trust in the process and let our results speak for themselves. Again, I’m very confident in our team because I see them practice all the time. I see them make plays. I’ve been through six games with them now. I think we can continue to improve and get better. There’s plenty of things we have to clean up from tonight. We just battled and kept playing hard and that’s the sign of a team that really loves each other and is bought into the process.
Q A couple of times where the game was out of reach but Chops goes and makes that big play, that strip sack. Just what did you see from him to really make an impact tonight?
WILL STEIN: He is a good player. He’s just a big dude. Conditioning and being in shape and being able to go out there for an extended period of time is to his advantage, obviously. And I thought he had a really good week. He missed a few games ago and was able to come back and respond. Yeah, our defense made some really timely stops, really timely, unbelievable to be honest. The percentage of us probably winning on paper towards the end was truly came down to fourth down stop where we sat in there and, you know, we were prepared for him to go for it. I thought he was going to go for it and try to end it and he didn’t. He punted it back to us and gave us another opportunity.
Q I wanted to ask. The fact that they had to resort to two trick plays to score. Do you view that as a sign of respect for your defense? The fact they just line up and try to run it down your throat and kind of resort to some trickery play twice to get on the board.
WILL STEIN: I don’t really think about tricks like that. They are plays to us and we have to defend them better and we got to be in the spots to make plays. Those are two really good plays and tough to defend. A double pass and double reverse, you know, rail down the sidelines. So, I don’t know if it’s respect, they were moving the ball pretty well. Those are good plays and they made them. All right, thanks.
KENTUCKY FOOTBALL POSTGAME QUOTES
KENTUCKY VS. LSU
KROGER FIELD – LEXINGTON, KY.
OCTOBER 10, 2026
UK Student-Athletes
#0 Elijah “Bo” Barnes
On his perspective of winning the game…
“I saw a team that really wanted it. We came out there with the mindset to win the football game and play for each other. And we came out with the win.”
On having doubt about getting the 2-point conversion…
“I didn’t have a doubt in my mind. We practice that every week and how to execute it at the highest level.”
On playing with motivation …
“We play with a chip on our shoulder, everybody doubted us. We got a new head coach and we’re new to everything, but I’m here to say this that we’re not the same team. We’re here to win, and we’re here to compete with anybody in the country.”
#3 Kenny Minchey, QB
On what he saw during the 2-point run…
“There was nobody in the middle, so I figured I’d run there. But no, we had our play called and not necessarily a part of it, or I guess it is a part of it. It’s just what my read told me to do, so I was able to run it in for the two point.”
On mentally how the two timeouts before the last play affected him …
“Yeah, I think it was just kind of crazy because whenever he said is it this time I didn’t really know we were going for two until after. So, whenever he held up the two fingers, I obviously knew what time it was, what we were doing and then yeah, it was just pretty surreal and a quick flashback to last weekend before the actual play, but great to be able to run it in”
On having a coach that trusts them to win that game …
“No doubt, I think it’s just always about his trust in us, his confidence, his swagger that he carries himself with, and he carries our team with and I feel like there was no surprise last weekend going for two, were here to win ballgames so.”
#1 CJ Baxter, RB
On the locker room celebration and overall win…
“The week of preparation we had and the practices we had Tuesday and Wednesday, we all knew what was going to happen today. Super thankful. The guys, everybody played amazing.”
On the big run to start …
“No, we talked about starting fast. That was the big thing, starting fast. We challenged each other. ‘Who was going to be the person that sets the tone?’ And I took it. I was like, ‘I want to be the person.’”
On the team having a chip on their shoulder …
“Nobody believes in us except us, honestly, that’s the way we look at it, and that’s the best part about it. The way we approach everything: games, practices, meetings, everything, you can just see it from everybody in the facility.”
LSU Head Coach Lane Kiffin
Opening Statement…
“Credit to Will and their staff and players. They played really well today and made a lot of plays in all three phases of the game. That game came down obviously to a one-play game, but there were a lot of plays before that. We got a chance. As I told them before the game, when chance comes in the 4th quarter, you cannot let them hang around. We had the ball ahead, then we turned the ball over, and then another chance to end it there. Obviously, when things go the other way, you look back, and I thought about going 4th and 1 and talked myself out of it. The way their kicker had missed two field goals already, and that we’d punt them deep and play defense. You know, in the worst scenario, even if they drove down and made it, we’d go into overtime, and that’s what happened. Those guys did a good opening series to overtime and scored. They scored and got a two-point conversion. It’s very disappointing; all three phases of the game could have won this game. Starting with special teams with a punt return for a touchdown.”
On his feelings toward the game…
“I am not going to overreact, as you know from covering, because of that. It could be as simple as the coin toss going the other way, and they score first and then go for 2 and then we go for 2. Not going to overreact, though. We got all these problems, but at the same time, all of these opportunities to close the game out and finish it after some bad things in the first half going the other way.”
On the penalties during the game…
“We’ve been great the last couple of games with them, so some lack of discipline early on, which is unfortunate. But we kept some drives alive, and all of those things cost you.”
LSU Student-Athletes
#10 Sam Leavitt QB
On how he starts the process of coming back from bad ball security …
“I don’t ever take anything like that into my next play in a game. Got to be strong mentally.”
On how he feels the team will respond …
“We’ve responded to adversity every single time it’s hit us, so nothing but faith in the guys you know. I ride or die for all of them. I love them boys.”
On why he thinks they had so many penalties …
“Just some pre-snap stuff with the crowd noise. Some we had early on at Ole Miss as well, so just getting them to dial into my voice and doing the best job I can of telling them when there’s a motion and hanging in there and having them just hear my voice consistently through a call. Not just sitting there for 10 seconds before hearing a clap.”
