On Chad Scott’s injury

“We’re real hopeful. (Team trainer) Jim Madaleno is going to work him out today with the trainers and see how he is doing. We need Chad. He’s a sparkplug. Not having him Saturday definitely hurt us. Chad is one of those guys you can’t tackle. He gets in a hole and makes people miss. He makes everybody else look better because of the way he plays. Plus, he plays with such determination, not that the others don’t, but he has that spark about him. We missed him.”

On Jared Lorenzen’s attitude after the LSU game

“He’s kept the same attitude. He’s like all of us. He’s not happy we’re losing, and he’s never been through this. He came over on his own yesterday and watched film of the game to find out what exactly went wrong and why it went wrong. Then he sat in here and watched a bunch of Georgia film while we were putting the game plan together. I think he’s got a real good attitude. Jared’s a freshman, and a lot of times in this league you can get away with a freshman quarterback if you have him surrounded by a lot of older players, but we don’t. Of our 15 players on offense, 11 of them are freshmen or sophomores. We all just have to hang together, believe in the system and hang together.”

On who he looks to for big plays

“I think you can look at all of our skill guys, and we expect big plays out of all of them. For one reason or another we didn’t get it done (against LSU). Some of it’s on Jared, some of it’s on them, some of it’s on the line. It’s a team game. You can look at every play that doesn’t go right and pick one or two things that didn’t work. We have to get focused better. I thought, after watching the film, we gave great effort. We just need to step up.”

On comparing this stretch to previous experience

“There’s been nothing like this since I was a head coach. When I was an assistant at UTEP, we had some stretches like this. I really try to blank that out pretty much. I haven’t drawn on that very much. I am going to try to blank this out, too, once we get out of it.”

On UK throwing short because of the deep zones teams are playing

“We like doing that because it enables our offense to be ball control. The other night we had a chance to stretch the field three or four times, but we just didn’t make the play. When you get a chance to make the plays, you have to make them. We just didn’t get it done. It’s like in basketball. How many times are you going to get uncovered three-point shots – maybe three or four? When you get those, you better make them. LSU gave us four or five chances to do it. We tried to take advantage of it but didn’t get the play made. That part is frustrating, but it is also a learning experience.”

On Georgia’s defense

“They remind me of South Carolina, except they are a little more athletic. They are one of those teams that almost always will not give you the deep ball. You have to have them in a desperate situation before you can get them to blitz. We have to be extremely patient. Jared has to play within the system. I thought he did a good job of that Saturday night. There weren’t any forced throws or anything.”

On development of a go-to receiver like Craig Yeast or James Whalen

“We were hoping for that. We’ve done a pretty good job of spreading the ball around. We haven’t really had a guy like that step up, but that could be because of injuries. At the beginning of the year, the obvious guy was Quentin McCord. Quentin’s got that torn knee cartilage and only practices once a week, so that has set him back some. Derek Smith is probably the closest we have to that right now. Derek didn’t practice except for the first half of Tuesday last week. We basically had to go into the game with a plan that did not include Derek Smith, and we didn’t know until warm-up whether he was going to play or not. I think some of it is just youth. Derek Abney is a guy who is going to rise and be that eventually, but he’s a freshman and is still learning how to play.”

On Derek Smith’s condition

“He’s fine. He was fine at game time (at LSU). It was poor coaching on my part not to get him involved sooner than we did or at key points. That’s probably the biggest mistake we made in play calling. Other than one ball we threw to him, I just don’t think we got him involved enough.”

On keeping the players motivated

“They’re football players. They play in the SEC and that is why they came to this University. We talk to them about pride and doing their best all the time and that everything they do is building. A lot of our guys are young and they understand that. Although they may not be able to achieve the goal they set for this year, they can use it as a stepping stone to get it in the future.”

On Georgia compared to Georgia teams of the past

“They are very athletic. This is the best Georgia team we’ve seen. Quincy (Carter) is more experienced. They may try not to run him as much, but he is still an experienced quarterback. He’s going to make good reads and good throws. They have good running backs and a good line. It’s a formidable challenge.”

Player Quotes

Ryan Murphy, Junior, Linebacker

“The way we play for the remainder of this season will determine the mindset for next season. We must continue to play hard and get wins.”

“I deal with our situation by taking it one day at a time and by trying to be the best player that I can be.”

“We are still trying to win, not to spoil any other teams, but only to improve our record. We are playing for ourselves and for no one else.”

“The past three weeks we have made great strides defensively as a unit. It is up to the players to go out and win games.”

Otis Grigsby, Sophomore, Defensive End

“Everyone knows that we are in a hole right now and we are searching for answers. But we are not giving up and we will never give up.”

“It is frustrating because we are putting in so much hard work and are not really seeing any results. The effort is there and I can’t say that my teammates didn’t play hard.”

On this season being a stepping-stone to next year”It is not something that we want to accept, but we do know that this is not the end of the world. We will get better and be okay, but we are never going to quit.”

“Now, we have to play for pride and teammates because they are counting on you and you also have to play for yourself.”

Anthony “Champ” Kelly, Junior, Wide receiver

On his change from cornerback to wide receiver

“I’m getting more comfortable now. I’m not out there just running routes–I’m starting to want the ball more.”

On coach Mumme looking for a player with “big play” capabilities

“All of us have the capability to make big plays. I’m itching to get my chance and when the opportunity comes, hopefully I’ll be able to make the big play.”

Martez Johnson, Sophomore, Fullback

On the team’s experience level

“We’ve had a disappointing season but you can’t blame inexperience. We’ve played seven games so the experience level should be up.”

On the offense in the “Red Zone”

“We have to find a way to get the ball in the end zone. Hopefully we’ll come up with a plan this week to keep moving the ball like we have been and score points.”

On LSU’s defense

“They blitzed in the red zone. We practiced for the blitzes but they were awfully fast. They didn’t give us a chance to set up, plus we dropped a couple of passes. The main thing that hampered us were their blitzes in the red zone but we should have been prepared for them.”

On the rest of the season

“We have to take it one game at a time. It all boils down to the next game being the most important game each week. If we win our remaining games we can still go to a bowl game. If we beat Georgia then we look at the next week.”

Matt Layow, Senior, Defensive end

On coach Mumme’s compliments

‘We really have come together lately and played pretty well on the defensive side of the football, but we haven’t been able to get the offense and defense playing well at the same time. We have to keep our heads up and get ready to play each and every week.”

On leadership efforts to end the losing streak

“We’ve taken the initiative to show the importance of each game. We’ve held meetings to make sure everyone stays focused. We have four games left and have to remain focused and positive.”

Bobby Blizzard, Sophomore, Wide receiver

On the offense’s struggle to score

“It’s been frustrating for me. It’s a learning experience and a big step in my career. When you play in the SEC you play top teams every week. We have to go back to the fundamentals and basics.”

On the team’s attitude

“Guys are still working hard. Obviously, if we win the next four games we can still go to a bowl game. We are a good team.”