August 31, 1998
Lance Mickelsen, Sr., WR
On the Kentucky/Louisville rivalry:
“It’s a pretty intense rivalry. It’s good for the state and football in general. I think we’re prepared. We’re just really anxious.”
Jason Watts, Sr., C
On motivation:
“This being the first game, that’s motivation in itself. But with them also being an in-state rival, we want to be able to talk about the game the rest of the year. I have a lot of people tell me, ‘As long as you beat Louisville, that’s the most important thing.’ I didn’t really understand that at first. But after being here for awhile, you kind of understand where those people are coming from.”
“Louisville has the motivation of having a first-year coach. They’re going to come out with the confidence that we had last year.”
Craig Yeast, Sr., WR
On expectations:
“I don’t think that our expectations are any bigger than usual. We know what our potential is and what we have to do. As a team, our expectations for the year are to win a bowl game.”
On how Coach Mumme has improved his game:
“With the change in the system, Coach Mumme brought the fun of the game of football back to me. He made me want to play even harder than I had in the past. When Coach came in and gave me the opportunity to catch a lot of passes, it made me feel like I was in high school again.”
On Louisville:
“We’re not preparing any differently than usual. We know that going into Louisville for their home opener, we’re going to face a hostile crowd. We’ll just have to keep our composure and play hard.”
On Louisville quarterback Chris Redman:
“Everyone in the state knows that Chris Redman is a great quarterback. He has an excellent arm and he has all the abilities. He’s going to get a chance to shine. He’s going to have a heck of a year, I just hope it doesn’t start against us.”
Marlon McCree, So., LB
On Louisville:
“I expect a real energetic first quarter. There’s going to be so much built up in both teams. Louisville is going to come out with a lot of intensity. They have a lot of confidence and they believe they can beat us. If we don’t match that intensity, they’ll come out and beat us. They’re out for blood. They have been since we beat them last year. That’s what we have to prepare for this week.”
Coach Hal Mumme
“This is the first game of the season for both teams. There’s not much that either coach has to do to get them excited. A lot of guys know each other from playing against each other in high school. U of L was very excited last year. I expect the same enthusiasm this year.”
“Tim Couch has better command this year. He has 11 games under his belt as opposed to one at this time last year. You can’t trade experience. Louisville’s Chris Redman is probably the best quarterback that we’ll face all season. Both teams like to spread the offense all over the field. The two quarterbacks should provide for an exciting match-up.”
“I don’t buy into the idea that Louisville has a bad defense. They have a lot of seasoned players. I think they’re very capable of playing tough defense. Last year, they got on a roller coaster ride, losing a lot of close games.”
“This year seems to be running more smoothly because the kids know what to expect from me. But I’m just as scared as I was last year. I think the fear of failure is a great motivator every week. It’s always there, no matter how long you do this job.”
“I don’t think we’re at the point at Kentucky where we’re going to be over-confident. All of the pre-season rankings and the Heisman talk are just talk. It’s flattering, but we have to go out on the football field and back it up.”
