University of Kentucky Football Media Conference
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Mark Stoops
MARK STOOPS: Once again, very proud of our football team. In fact, finding a way to win the game, to grind out a tough, hard-fought victory. Nasty night. Very windy. Tough conditions. Really appreciate the way we fought it out.
Love the way the defense played really all night. We gave up the one play early. Lonnie (Johnson) kind of lost his footing, got beat in a one-on-one situation. Really played a good game the rest of the game. Just appreciate their effort.
Offensively we struggled at times. You got to love that drive (late in the game). We struggled in field goal kicking. Obviously it being balanced, but once again everybody in the stadium knew we were going to run the football, were able to run it, grind out a 70-yard or 80-yard drive, get it in the end zone to score. It says a lot about our football team, their attitude, their toughness, finding a way to win.
Never going to apologize for a victory. Certainly there are things we need to do better. We always do that. Win or lose, we’re going to go back to work, look at ourselves, look at things we can do better, starting with me.
Again, you can’t apologize for being 6-1. Looking forward to another opportunity here this week.
Q. What do you say about when the game is on the line, your best players step up?
MARK STOOPS: It really does say a lot. Those guys have been steady for us for years. To put it on Benny (Snell)’s back there when, once again, everybody knew he was running the ball. Thought our offense, the coaches did a really good job of getting formations and keep on finding ways to open up some holes.
Our O-line’s mentality, their toughness, and Benny making some really good runs, really felt like we had an opportunity even at the end there to get that last run to put it away, to ice it. We just missed it by fractions.
But they did a really good job. Of course, Josh (Allen), predictable pass situations, that’s when he’s at his best. Doesn’t surprise me.
Q. Surprised you ran the ball that much?
MARK STOOPS: I think the wind and the weather. One again, we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot with turnovers. They had possession of the football. We’re moving it, controlling the clock. With the wind, it was a tough first half. We didn’t get a lot of opportunities.
We got to get going. Terry (Wilson) has the nice run, we have a first down at the 45 or somewhere in there, 40, put the ball on the ground. That really changes things drastically.
Q. (Question regarding Kash Daniel’s status)
MARK STOOPS: He got a hand injury. We’ll take a look at it, do some x-rays, see what we got to do.
Q. Benny was slow getting into the locker room at halftime. Was he hurt or sick?
MARK STOOPS: He tweaked the foot a little bit. So nothing major. Obviously he was in there at the end.
Q. If you had a field goal in that last drive, would you go back to Miles (Butler) or considering Chance (Poore)?
MARK STOOPS: I was considering putting Chance in, yes.
Q. Are you going to eventually need more out of the passing game?
MARK STOOPS: Yes, for sure.
Q. What was it that kind of wasn’t clicking?
MARK STOOPS: I think, once again, the (turnover) possessions. When you finally get a drive starter, Terry makes a good decision on second down, rips off a 15-yard run, puts it on the ground, that doesn’t help.
Then we go to throw the ball, throw a little swing pass, put that behind us, fumble it. You’re behind the sticks all night. Those kind of conditions don’t help us.
We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot.
Q. Conscious desire to get Benny more touches tonight?
MARK STOOPS: Yeah, we did. I think we all knew that. I mean, when we sat there and told you all week that we need to get back to being who we are, I think everybody knew what we were talking about. Being a physical football team.
Certainly we want to throw some pass game off of that, some play-action. Need to improve in that area, and we will. We’ll get it going.
Q. (Question regarding Davonte Robinson)
MARK STOOPS: He did. He did a nice job. He was in there in the starting nickel position tonight. Played quite a few snaps. Looked like he played very good to me, as well.
Q. How much did the kickoff return at the start of the second half, go for a touchdown then get called back, how deflating was that?
MARK STOOPS: Yeah, it obviously doesn’t help us when it’s a struggle. Tough conditions, tough night. Then the other penalties didn’t help us, as well. Obviously we can’t do that. We have a kickoff return for a touchdown, get it called back. That’s unacceptable.
Q. Does it say something about your progress that getting bowl eligible really isn’t a big deal any more, you have bigger goals?
MARK STOOPS: Yeah, I think we know that, expect that. Once again, it says a lot when you’re not playing your best on a tough night, find a way to win, just get a victory. It means a lot.
What number? It does. I mean, again, I’m not going to apologize for sitting here knowing we have six wins and know we can play a lot better and are striving to play better. Nobody in that locker room is satisfied. Again, I told them, Don’t ever apologize, hold your head high, you’re a 6-1 football team on your way moving up into the top 10, and we have another great opportunity this week.
Win or lose, we always go back to work, look ourselves in the mirror, see what we can do better.
Q. With a chance to get a winning record in the SEC, has that been something that’s been talked about?
MARK STOOPS: It hasn’t been talked about. It is important. It’s an SEC game, next game. It’s very important.
Q. Being in the top 10 have special resonance?
MARK STOOPS: Obviously it shows you’re winning. That means something to us. Being consistent. Again, good football teams find ways to win when you’re not at your best. You guys watch a lot of football. We had an opportunity, all of us, to sit back and watch other people last week. You see the crazy things that go on. I’m sure it’s like that today.
Obviously, I haven’t had a chance to watch much. I’m sure when I see scores later, it will surprise me. I don’t know who or what, but I would expect it. You see it every week.
Q. Did the bye week help or hurt you?
MARK STOOPS: I’m not going to lie. I was concerned coming off of it. It felt like a long two weeks. Our team needed it in certain ways. But other ways, you know, I had to be very intentional about putting the team in a better position than I did a year ago. We didn’t play very good coming off the bye.
We played better and won. We had really good practices. High-intensity practices. Were really moving. I said that going into the game, that I knew the prep was good. Win or lose, the guys were really doing the things necessary to put themselves in a position to win.
Q. (Question regarding some non-starters in on the game-winning touchdown drive)
MARK STOOPS: I didn’t notice it till I saw the long drive. Went over to shake the O-line’s hands, saw him gassed out. But I love that. Just getting more guys involved.
Q. How much now with the defense is it they just take it personal if they give up any points?
MARK STOOPS: It means a lot. We talked about that. We said that to the defense today, going into the game, that every yard and every point was personal. It means something to us.
We’re trying to do our best to shut them out, hold them as best we can. Believe we would have a good chance if we didn’t turn the ball over.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
UK Student-Athletes
#41 Josh Allen, LB
On making big plays in the game…
“You know, I came back to make plays like this and I worked hard in the offseason to get to where I am, especially to make plays like that so it’s juts all the work I’ve put in in the offseason is finally showing up.”
On Kentucky’s defense…
“We just have to play SEC football, the best defense on the field is going to win the game so we pride ourselves on being the best team out there and making big plays and that’s what we do and that’s what we’re going to live by.”
On his return this year…
“Yeah like I said before, I came back for situations like this because I have a lot to prove. Last year during the second half my play dropped and I told myself I was coming back this year and I wanted to increase my play and to be more effective and be more of a big play maker and that’s what I’m going to continue to do.”
#8 Derrick Baity, CB
On what’s been working well for him individually…
“I’m playing free now so like I said before, it’s been a lot of stuff going on last year that I felt like I couldn’t handle but I got it all on grant this year, just playing free. I can concentrate and focus on football.”
On how much fun it is right now…
“It’s pretty fun because we are getting recognized nationally so now everyone is looking at you differently like ‘oh that Kentucky team does really look good,’ and they notice you and we’re finally getting talked about on TV, but then outside of that just in the locker room the environment within the team. You see someone make a play, even our offense, if you see someone make a play like Lynn Bowden, (his) catch lit up our sideline so that’s really fun like everyone feels like they have to rush that player or rush that opposing player on the opposing side of the ball, that’s fun. Anybody making plays, the whole team is going to get you and pick you up.”
#1 Lynn Bowden, Jr., WR
On Bowl Eligibility …
“It feels good. We’re on a mission this year to win as many games as we can and tonight, that’s what we did.”
On being the “go-to” receiver …
“I just get open and do my job. Terry (Wilson) trusts me and I trust him. We have a bond, a good relationship and we get it going. They’re a tough team, they were ready to fight and we were ready to fight back.”
#26 Benny Snell, Jr., RB
On getting stronger as game progresses …
“I can feel that I’ve got my wind, I can feel it, under the piles, running and breaking tackles. I can just feel when the defense is getting tired. I can hear them breathing heavy and I can hear them throwing fits when I get a first down. I can just tell I’m getting in their heads so that gives me motivation to keep going.”
On getting high number of carries …
“That’s Benny Snell football. If its 20 carries, 30 carries plus, I’m going to make it happen. That’s what I want, I want the ball in my hands.”
On the UK passing game …
“Offense could be so much better. We really haven’t played our best football yet. I don’t want to say that I’m disappointed but we should have pulled off in this game. In the passing game. I just feel like we were right there. We’ve got the good looks, Terry’s putting the ball in the right spot but you know it’s windy and the conditions are what they are. We need to pick it up in the passing game but we’ve got to be sound as offense too. No penalties, we’ve got a lot more learning to do.”
#56 Kash Daniel, LB
On Kentucky’s defense …
“Honestly, it’s just all the work we put in throughout the week. Monday through Friday, even on Sundays. We watch so much film by ourselves and do so many extra things to get better. We want this as bad as we want to breathe almost. That’s how good of a defense we want to be. If we don’t come out and play like that every week we won’t get the respect we want. It’s really fun to play with this group, I can’t wait to keep going.”
On the offense …
“We never want to finger point or complain about how much we are on the field, it’s football. We go out and play. Stuff happens.”
On the strip play …
“It just shows that one player isn’t just out there making plays. It’s awesome seeing everyone work together. You have 11 guys always flying to the ball to get a tackle and that’s one of our standards, it’s what we hold ourselves accountable to. Overall, l it was a great defensive play.”
#3 Terry Wilson, QB
On the wind …
“It is what it is, it’s football. We just gave Benny (Snell) the ball and did what we needed to do to get the win.”
On looking forward …
“Everyone’s doing what they need to do. We’re 6-1, so we just have to keep winning and worrying about what we have to take care of. We need to continue to practice hard. “
On Benny and his game,
“It’s a 1-2 punch. It helps sometimes because they’re looking for Benny every time on the run and if I pull the ball and get around it’s just an extra guy that’s running the ball. I feel like that is unstoppable.”
Vanderbilt Head Coach Derek Mason
Opening statement…
“First of all, congratulations to Kentucky. They made plays when they needed to, and we came up a little short on ours. Decision not to go for it in the fourth quarter for me, or to not kick the field goal in the fourth quarter had more to do with what had transpired earlier in that ball game. You make that field goal earlier in the ball game and then you kick a field goal late and you’re up by six, but instead I chose to go a different direction. I didn’t know how many more opportunities we would have to get down that way, so I felt that it was critical for me to go for it on fourth down. Obviously, we came up short. Thought our defense played well early in that ball game. Benny (Snell Jr.) bled us in the second half and he found some things that he couldn’t find in the first half and did a good job running. Thought we did a good job early off in that ballgame winning the turnover battle, just didn’t capitalize on those turnovers consistently enough to stretch this game out a little bit. It was just that type of ball game. We had our chances. I told my team we’re close. The reality is sometimes the last part is the toughest part to get. My head’s not down. This group battled. They came into a hostile environment and there are no more victories in this ball game. We had our chances, but we didn’t cash in. Kentucky pulls this game out, so now we gotta turn our attention next week towards Arkansas. Again, this team’s got talent, we just gotta get out of our own way, and we are close.”
On play calling on fourth-and-one in the fourth quarter…
“Stronger side, we had some success over to that side running the football. Obviously you have a choice between run and pass, and we thought we could gash it to that side. Again, they did a good job. We didn’t execute. Outside defenders were able to slide back inside and then hits Jamauri (Wakefield) and the ball comes out and bad play on their part.”
On if it was just a missed block (continuation from previous question)…
“Yeah, a missed assignment. Obviously we were running Jamauri to that side, and we must have miscounted when we looked to that side. They went out and an overlapped defender falls back inside, free hitter on Jamauri, he hits it and that’s what it is.”
On if it was overloaded and if it’s something that Kyle (Schumer) can check out (continuation from previous question)…
“Yeah, but I think what Kyle (Schumer) didn’t see was probably the overhang sitting outside. They folded back inside and were able to make the play. It is what it is. I’m not going to sit here and second guess it. It’s out there, if he felt like he should have checked it then he would have checked it. He didn’t, so he ran it. It’s a run pass option, so it is what it is.”
Vanderbilt Student-Athletes
#14 Kyle Shurmur, QB
On missed opportunities …
“We missed a lot of opportunities. We have to do a better job with scoring the ball.”
On the wind affecting the game …
“We can’t control that. I try not to think about that too much. We can’t control Mother Nature.”
On failed fourth downs …
“I don’t think all of these are coming down to one play. I think this a team game and there are a bunch of factors that affect the game. I don’t think it’s all coming down to fourth down. There were plenty of opportunities where we could have scored points, we could have gotten them off the field and all three phases could have been better.”
#40 Jordan Griffin, LB
On the two fumble recoveries…
“Running to the ball, running to the ball mentality. That’s what we talk about as a defense, just getting to the ball, which is what got me two fumble recoveries.”
On the change with the touchdown drives…
“Just the little things, we were playing well all game, a few assignments blown here and there, a couple guys getting outside of their gaps, and that cost us late in the ball game. He’s a great running back; he’s going to find the holes. We just got to fix those type of mistakes.”
