Sept. 7, 2002
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UK Head Coach Guy Morriss
On the team’s growing confidence…
“I think it has carried over from the midpoint of last season. The players are believing in what we’re doing and it’s starting to show.”
On what to take from a blowout win…
“We scored a lot of points, but we didn’t play that well. We still have a lot to work on.”
On the opportunity for the younger players to see some game action…
“I’m happy a lot of the young guys got to play. In the future they may be called on to step up in a situation and it just helps them to have that experience.”
On focusing on Indiana…
“We went in there last year and got embarrassed. We didn’t play well at all. The kids know what they have to do to get ready. When they look at the film of this game they’ll see that we need to work on a lot of things and they will be ready”
UK PLAYERS
# 22 Jared Lorenzen
On the substitutions in the second half…
“It was good to be on the sidelines and watch the other guys play. The guys did a great job.”
On the difficulty of winning today’s game…
“It’s never as easy as it looks. UTEP has a good defense and really good athletes that are fast. Coach Pease brought a good plan.”
On the 2-0 record this season…
“We (as a team) haven’t really been surprised. Going into the season I think we were the only ones believing in us. But starting 2-0 is great. We’ve got Indiana coming up and hopefully we will be 3-0 next week.”
On Kentucky’s play action…
“When we run power, iso, zone, the plays worked out exactly how we wanted them to. You could see how our guys got open today.”
#12 Derek Abney
On the feeling after today’s win…
“It’s a great feeling. Going into the Louisville game, I felt like we had this confidence about us. We worked really hard in the off season and we can see where it’s going now.”
On the second half substitutions…
“I didn’t know we’d have our twos in the third quarter. At the first of the game, I think we were worried we weren’t getting hyped but as an offense you just have to get out there and go to work. A lot of people thought Louisville might be a fluke, I didn’t think so. I thought we’d win today but I didn’t expect this.”
On today’s game as a boost of confidence…
“Everybody was having fun and it’s great to see the looks on the guys’ faces when they get in. Everybody wonders if we can go 4-0. Us older guys have had two 2-9 seasons and that’s been enough for us not to get down.”
#20 Artose Pinner
On preparing for UTEP…
“We just wanted to come out and be consistent. We’ve watched a lot of film on UTEP and we knew they had a pretty fast defense. We also knew we couldn’t have a lot of turnovers.”
On the team’s confidence…
“I think we have the confidence now that we can go out and put up points against anybody. Coach Morriss does a good job of making sure we stay focused.”
On the sideline atmosphere…
“You can see on the sidelines guys are just having fun. This is what football is all about and that’s why I came to Kentucky.”
On the crowd’s chant of “Tose”…
“At first I thought they were saying ‘Boo.’ I thought I couldn’t do anything right. But it was great. It’s always a confidence booster to have 50,000 fans behind you.”
Ronnie Riley, #8
On the score…
“We want teams to look at it (the score) and say ‘Oh, it’s Kentucky.’ I want them to downplay it.”
On preparing for Indiana…
“As soon as this game was over we started focusing on Indiana. I think we’re doing a great job of staying focused.”
Glenn Holt, #4
On scoring…
“I woke up this morning an I thought ‘I’ve got to score. I’ve got to prove myself and do better than I did at Louisville.’ I felt like I could come in here and work with this team. I’m very happy that I’m in Lexington.”
On teamwork…
“Jared told me before the game he would get the ball to me and we made a play scheme. We communicated to get that touchdown.”
Arliss Beach, #5
On the team’s play…
“I thought we played really well. Our offensive line was great. I think everybody’s starting to see that we’re a good team, that we can get some things done.”
On his 108 rushing yards…
“It feels good to show people that I can run. It seems overwhelming that I got over 100 yards in a college game.”
UTEP Head Coach Gary Nord
On the game…
“I am very disappointed in our overall effort. We tackled poorly. Kentucky has an excellent football team, and they have improved tremendously. It was a mismatch on the line of scrimmage. That’s where games are won and lost. We got it handed to us early and it went downhill from there. I just want to congratulate them.”
On what happened after they pulled to within 21-10…
“We were moving the ball between the 20s. They brought a lot of pressure and we weren’t able to beat it. They have four very good players on the defensive line. And they have two great tackles. Their safeties and corners are much better. I think they have one of the best defensive coaching staffs in the country.”
On whether UK ran up the score…
“No, they didn’t pile it on. They kept running the ball and we couldn’t stop them. They didn’t throw much the last two quarters. Even with their subs in we couldn’t stop them. No, they didn’t run the score up.”
UTEP PLAYERS
#4 Howard Jackson RB
“We are going to work from here on. This was a hard lesson to learn today. I feel for everyone on the whole team, especially the seniors. This was just a letdown for them.”
#82 Terrance Minor WR
“We just have to forget it and move on. It’s the second game in a long season. We’ve got 10 more to go. We just have to put this behind us. We made mental mistakes. We just beat ourselves, and they capitalized, which is what they were supposed to do.”
#25 Camar Jackson LB
“We played hard. We didn’t execute. We didn’t do the little things like tackling. That’s the kind of thing that can kill you in the end. They just came out and played football. They did all the right things, and we didn’t. We stood back on our heels, and they took it to us.”
#71 Sam Clarke DL
“It was like we were helpless. The score kept going up and we couldn’t do anything about it.”
