Kentucky-Florida Postgame Quotes
UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY MEDIA CONFERENCE
November 14, 2026
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Coach Will Stein
Press Conference
Kentucky – 14 Florida – 21
WILL STEIN: First off. Credit to Florida, they physically beat our butt today. We did not play to our standard. Big crowd, best fans in the country. Thank you for coming out here and supporting this team. And I’m sorry we didn’t get that one done tonight. We didn’t play to our standard. Really, in all three phases. We’ve got to do better. We’ve got to be able to stop the run. We’ve got to be able to score touchdowns. Play clean on special teams. So it starts with me as a head football coach to get it right. And that’s what I’m dedicated to do this next week to get it right. When we go to a tough Missouri team on the road. So, that will open it up.
Q Will, just what do you think happened to the offense the last two weeks? You guys haven’t been able to consistently ?
WILL STEIN: Well, penalty is number one. Turnover is number two. I think that is critical. Didn’t establish a run tonight at all. Got out physicaled at the point of attack. That to me was the early indication. Not being able to run the ball when you run it for 61 yards on 27 carries and they rush it for 211 on 48. That is a problem. So, got to address it and get it fixed.
Q Will, how did the safety before half kind of switch the momentum of the football game?
WILL STEIN: Yeah man, it was a close one. They called it. I didn’t know if it was clearly in the endzone. But yeah, they did and we responded with a good kick and a stop which was, you know, yeah, it stunk. Definitely was not good.
Q Will, obviously quarterback run has been problematic at times this year. What did you say tonight with Florida?
WILL STEIN: Yeah, this was designed QB runs. Counter read and a power read, which are tough places to defend, but we have to do a great job of leveraging the ball and there’s two plays in one. If you take the dive, or if you take the quarterback then get the sweep, if you take the sweep then you get the quarterback run. So, I feel like based on that visual, I’ve gotta watch the tape of were we fitting it correctly and where our safety showing up in the run fits. Yeah, it was a problem play for us tonight for sure.
Q Will, last week after Tennessee, your message to your team was that you still had everything in front of you. What was your message tonight?
WILL STEIN: My message tonight was we’re pisses. I’m pissed. Our players should be mad. We didn’t play to our standard. We let a team come in here and physically beat us in all three phases. It’s about responding. It’s about being our best and you are playing for pride or performance. It’s for a standard. It’s for Kentucky football. It’s for our fans, for all the little kids that are out there that watched us get beat and do not let that happen again.
Q What is the team going to have to focus on this week heading into the Missouri matchup?
WILL STEIN: Man, I think there’s plenty to work on this week. I will have to watch the tape and see what I really see. Ultimately, we’ve got to be able to score touchdowns and we’ve got to be able to stop a quarterback running. You know, we’ve got to have no penalties on special teams. So, it’s all three phases. It starts with me from the top. I’m gonna make sure that I’m putting the guys in the best positions throughout the week to be successful on Saturdays.
Q The opening drive, you get the touchdown and you’re forced 5 straight punts. Big opportunity to go get some points. What kind of happened offensively tonight?
WILL STEIN: We had a sack fumble, you know, that was a big momentum swing. We had penalties that were critical that put us back. An intentional grounding was like second and forever. You know, stuff that we can control that we didn’t do a good job of controlling. The first drive was great. We looked like us. And then we get into the flow of the half and we just putter out. And so, it’s something we’ve got to look at and be better at. You know, you have to score points in this league. There’s too many good players. You can’t look at that and think that was good enough. And again, it starts with me and putting ourselves in a good position throughout the week to be successful and I’ll make sure that I do that.
Q Will, the turnover margin has been kind of fluky. Do you think any of this has been some regression – or is it something that you all are doing differently the last two weeks that you weren’t doing before? Forcing turnovers.
WILL STEIN: Yeah, man. I don’t know if it’s necessarily fluky. You have to have a great ball excellence. You have to take shots on the football. I think a lot of our turnovers have become because our edge players are hitting the quarterback as they are throwing or disrupting the passing rhythm of the quarterback. We had an opportunity early in the game to have a pick and didn’t get that one done. But, yeah, I don’t think it is a fluke at all. We just aren’t doing a good enough job.
Q Will, you talk about the pass rush forcing those turnovers. The last couple of weeks it seems like the pass rush has really affected you guys. What have you seen or what did you see today that really affected you guys out there?
WILL STEIN: Well, one I thought we got beat on the edge on the sack fumble. You know, that was something that we can control. And the other one, the 4th down call. I just feel like we didn’t identify it correctly. We slid the littles instead of the biggs and we had a big running free ride at Kenny. It was stuff that we can control that we work on all the time that we are typically very good at, but in that moment we weren’t. You know, there’s a million places you can point your finger. Ultimately, I’ve got to do a better job of getting us in that position at practice.
Q Will, just what do you make of Kenney’s play today?
WILL STEIN: You know, I think it’s good in spots. Right? I think there are some really great moments, some unbelievable throws that he made. Some throws today that I thought were as good as we’ve seen all year. The crossing route, the Willie was great. The early dig throws at DJ right on time. The deep post to DJ that he hit. So, I think there’s a lot of good. And there is some stuff that we are going to watch and want to fix. You can’t put it all on Kenny. Kenny competed his butt off. I think it’s things we’ve got to look at as a staff. Are we putting our guys in the right position? Which, you know, our offensive works their tails off and we put together some really elite plans. Florida, to me it was less schematics. It was a little bit more physicality that we didn’t show tonight that we typically do.
Q Late in the game you guys got a 4th down stop with less than 2 minutes to go. Offense comes out and doesn’t complete anything. What was the plan right there for you guys?
WILL STEIN: Well, any 2 minute drive is to get the first completion and the first 1st down to try to get in rhythm. First throw we have a drop. Play two we had a batted ball, a wide throw on the same play that we hit multiple times in the game. And we had the batted pass and then a deflection. When you have no timeouts, you’ve got to create a spark. You can still run the ball on P and 10 potentially. We love the plays we had called. We just didn’t get the job done tonight.
Q You mentioned not being able to establish the run. What was going on there? Is CJ 100%? It seems like he may be less effective since he was dealing with the injuries from earlier in the year?
WILL STEIN: You know, I don’t think anybody is 100% right now. I think we are fighting through a lot. We are putting our players in the best positions that we can. You know, I think Jason has some really nice runs tonight. Which, you know, that’s a credit to him. I think just at the point of attack they were a little bit more physical and in cheeking the runs and condensing the holes. That’s something we’ve got to look at and be able to adapt in the game, which we did in spots, to get the ball to people in places they can make plays.
Q Will, earlier in the year you talked about good practices kind of translating over to game time performances. Is there anything the last two weeks in practice that you feel like you’ve emphasized that hasn’t translated over to the games?
WILL STEIN: Yeah, I think we practice really well. That doesn’t always make it happen on Saturdays. I think we have to look at maybe how we are doing it or what we need to tweak potentially. But, to me it just comes down to execution and doing your job and not having penalties and again, putting our guys in great positions during the game. So, there’s going to be calls back that we want in all three phases just like every game. I’ve been part of wins where I wanted a million calls back on offense. I’ve been a part of losses where I’m like, man, I don’t know if I really want that many calls back. It might have been this or that. We always look at ourselves as coaches first. What can I do as a coach to make sure this doesn’t happen? I think that our whole staff thinks that. And then we look at, as a player, you have to look at yourself in the mirror. Am I performing to the top of my level based on my preparation and based on what I see out there on the field? So, there is no right or wrong answer. I do believe we prep as good as any place I’ve ever been. These guys are bought in. They strain, we strike on practice. You know, I think it was a lot of things tonight. It ultimately came down to physicality. That was one thing that I didn’t feel like we were as physical as we typically have been. All right, thanks.
Kentucky Players
#81 Willie Rodriguez
On the message to the team …
“I think it’s just don’t overreact. I mean, it’s football; stuff happens. We got beat today, and we’re allowed to be angry. It’s okay to be angry. Don’t let that bleed into tomorrow, next week, and just come back positive tomorrow.”
On not being able to move the ball in the fourth quarter …
“I think as an offense, we were making plays. We just have to finish drives. That was the last two weeks. I think we’ve seen finished drives, and when the time comes, we got to make a block on the play and just finish drives.”
On the feeling in the locker room …
“Yeah it sucks, and like I said, we’re all angry. I mean we lost. Nobody on this team likes losing. We’re a super competitive team, but I think it goes back to our standard. We got to uphold that as leaders of the team, and that starts with me and the other leaders. And I think we’re still a really good football team, we’ve had some really big wins, and we just didn’t play our best today. They outplayed us. They came here. Props to them, but we just got to go back to work and do what we do.”
#22 Grant Godfrey
On not being able to force turnovers the last two weeks …
“Well, I think teams are really trying to play more conservative”
On the mentality of the team …
“Showing up early, leaving late for everybody to prepare”
On if he talked to Coach White …
“Oh yeah, I talked to him before and after the game. He says he’s proud of me. I always have respect for Coach White, Coach Collins, and Coach Dennis as well, so there’s respect.”
#3 Kenny Minchey
On his opinion of the offense…
“I think tonight, there were a few plays, a few circumstances where all 11 weren’t doing their job and you need all 11 guys doing what they need to do, on this given play, line it up when you need to line up, getting to where they need to be, executing the play that’s called, so if all 11 guys aren’t doing that, then you’re not going to be successful, so just executing the play at hand.”
On not establishing a run early and the effect it has on the offensive operation…
“Obviously you want to be able to run the ball so if you’re struggling to run the ball as an offense that might put a little more pressure on different aspects of the game, but obviously want to be able to run the football.”
On the mood in the locker room after the result of the game…
“Coach Stein spoke to us after about keeping our head up. Obviously he’s upset. We’re all upset that we lost. If you’re not upset, you shouldn’t be playing the sport, but about keeping our head up and everything is still in front of us, just keeping a positive outlook and how this scenario is going to define our team. He believes full and well that we’re going to be able to take the next step in the right direction.”
On the pressure from Florida’s defense…
“If teams want to blitz, in the pass game, replacing the blitz or winning one on ones outside, and then in the run game obviously making sure the blitz doesn’t affect the run, and then if they do blitz, it’s just executing the play at hand. Just communicating up front and all the things that go into handling the pressure.”
Florida Head Coach Jon Sumrall
Opening Statement…
“I am very happy with Florida. We got the win and found a way. We showed up in some tight situations; the game started about as awful as it could start. Three penalties on the offence on their first possession. The Gators were definitely beating the Gators early, but proud of our guys to keep fighting, keep pushing and thought we responded really well to beat a good football team tonight. I’ve said it all along; we are a long way from a finished product. The win makes a lot of that feel better, but we have so much to improve on. I am really grateful for our guys’ effort all night; it makes all the work feel a lot more worthwhile when you are able to get a win. Credit to our guys for finding that tonight.”
On Sumrall returning to Lexington…
“As I said earlier, this is a place I have a tremendous amount of respect for. It’s a place that gave me my start in coaching. I was a grad assistant here the day I was done playing. Rich Brooks offered me an opportunity to become a grad assistant within two weeks of my career ending. This gave me my start to coaching, and this was my last stop before becoming a head coach. I was an assistant here for Stoops in 2019, 2020, and 2021 when we went 10-3 and had a lot of fun. I really felt like working for Mark, as my last stop made me feel like all right, I am ready to go become a head coach. It gave me the confidence to know I was ready for that step, which I thought I was before, but I really wasn’t.”
