(On having the open date)

“The important thing is that we got guys recovered from some bumps and bruises. I thought we had a pretty good practice week. We took the open week to go back and work on fundamentals. We’re treating this as a three-game season. We had a good September. We broke even in October, which is better than last year. We want to finish up strong.”

(On the Mississippi State defenseSum)

“Offensively, we’re facing two blitzing teams in a row. So, we took last week like it was training camp. We worked on fundamentals with blitzing teams. This week, we’ll be more into Mississippi State.”

“It’s not stuff we haven’t seen. They run a three-three stack with three defensive lineman and five linebacker types in the game. They end up bringing four or five people a lot. Coverage-wise, it’s pretty much man-to-man or three-deep. Then, they’ll line up in a nickel loop where they’ll have four defensive lineman in the game. Their outside backers are strong safety-type guys. You just have to get ready for a lot of different kinds of games with twists and blitzes that will come at you. It’s more that we normally see, but it’s not things that we haven’t seen before.

(On the Mississippi State offenseSum)

“They’re ground-oriented. I’m sure they’ve spent a lot of time in this open week working on the passing game. They’ve got a deadly receiver Kevin Prentiss. Obviously, James Johnson is the focal point of their attack. They’re very physical. You have to be able to hang with them up front.”

(On the possibility of a bowl game)

“We’d like to be in one, I know that. We’d be happy to be in any bowl game. I don’t think there’s a mediocre bowl in Kentucky. I don’ t know how the season’s going to play out. It’s nice to be 5-3 and in the hunt, and that’s what we are right now is in the hunt. It’s better to have our focus is on the Bulldogs right now. It’s nice to have the fans speculating about it and getting excited.”