Sept. 14, 2002
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Coach Guy Morriss Quotes
On come from behind win…
“It says a lot about (our) character. We were out of sync all night, but they just hung in tough and found a way to win. Last year we weren’t finding a way to win those games. I think that says a lot about our team.”
How did the storm delays affect the team…
“I don’t know that it did. We played in spurts all night. We weren’t as focused as we should have been. At one point, the offense was rolling and the defense wasn’t doing so hot, and then they went the other way.”
What about the emotion of the team after the delay…
“Again, I don’t think the delay affected that. We talked all week about this being an emotional game because it was a rival. We weren’t very focused during practices and we had a few talks about that. Some times, we would be high-fiving and having fun and then we would just be down. I don’t know what it was, but we have a lot of work to do between now and next Saturday.”
On Jared’s interception and then coming out and leading the team down the field…
“He’s like all of our kids. He found a way to come back and refocus and do his job.”
On Artose Pinner…
“He’s a special running back. The more you give him the ball the better he gets.”
Does the team win without him…
“Without Artose? Probably not. He was consistent in his play making and if it hadn’t of been for him we would have been in some serious trouble.”
UK PLAYERS
#22 Jared Lorenzen
On the win…
“We proved to ourselves that we can win even when it’s ugly. We just got lucky that our defense stepped up. With all the delays it was hard for our offense to get in the flow of things.”
On Kentucky’s 3-0 start…
“We’ve got to be humble. Yeah, it’s great but Middle Tennessee is going to come in here looking to knock us off and we’ve got to be ready for that.”
On what sets this team apart…
“It’s just a different team than two years ago. We work a lot harder than we did before and we play with so much heart now. For us to bounce back like we did today was really something.”
#2 Quentus Cumby
On his game-clinching interception return for a touchdown…
“After I caught the ball I was looking back behind me and I just got real excited. The way everyone responded to that play was phenomenal.”
On coming from behind…
“We needed a wake-up call and when they went up on us that was it. The way we responded was just great.”
# 13 Aaron Boone
After Jared Lorenzen’s interception…
“We regrouped. Ironically, (Quentus) Cumby was the one that said we were going to win, we were not going to lose. Jared came back into the game with that same attitude and that’s quite a change from the past. It gave us a lot of confidence.”
On the play of Artose Pinner…
“He’s fun to watch, but it’s hard when you don’t know where he’s at. The kid never goes down.”
On the first TD of the game…
“It’s always fun to score. The guys have been ragging me a little bit about my end zone dance. I’m trying to come up with some new moves between weeks but it’s always fun to score.”
#20 Artose Pinner
On Coach Morriss naming him the team’s workhorse…
“He told me back in the summer that I was going to be a workhorse. He said there are going to be times down the road when I need to step up and make the plays like the ones I had today.”
On the storm delay…
“It stopped our momentum. We came back in the game with a 14-0 lead and we had scored on back-to-back drives. It kind of slowed our play down a little.”
On falling behind in the second half…
“We were down and I walked back to the huddle and said ‘we are not going to lose this game.’ It was a reality check for us that we were not good as we thought we were.”
Indiana Head Coach Gerry DiNardo
On responding after weather delays…
“It didn’t bother us. Those things usually favor the team that is behind in the game. It gave us the chance to sort things out. I don’t know how Kentucky felt, but if anything it helped us out. I don’t believe it hurt us at all.”
On how team responded being down 14 points…
“It was a tough start but I thought our team responded well. Even though the offense didn’t score, the fact that the offense moved the ball helped the defensive morale. There’s nothing worse for a defensive unit to watch the offense go three downs and punt.”
On play of QB Gibran Hamden…
“I think for his first start he did some good things. Obviously for evaluating a quarterback you want to watch the tape. You look at the game flat on the sidelines and it’s hard to see sometimes who all is open.”
On RB Yamar Washington rushing 32 times…
“We planned to split Yamar with Chris (Taylor) so he probably played more than we had planned. He seemed to be in a groove and he knows protections a little better because he had spring practice and Taylor didn’t. I don’t think it’s out of the question in this offense the tailback can carry the ball the ball 32 times. I don’t know if we planned on him gaining that many yards.”
On sense of accomplishment or sense of defeat…
“You look at the things that we did better this week and those were things we emphasized this week in practice after we got thumped at Utah. You just have to come back tomorrow and get ready again. I told them if you don’t believe in the plan, don’t come to work tomorrow.”
On if wanting the Commonwealth Stadium atmosphere at Memorial…
“I don’t think much of that, I just think about the play of our team. I often wonder how many guys are buying into what we’re doing. That’s my biggest concern. It’s never 100 percent, not even in the established programs. That’s what really concerns me, how many guys are on board. The stadium thing comes later.”
INDIANA PLAYERS
#25 Joe Gonzalez, SS
On interception…
“It was a crossing route. UK runs a lot of crossing routes, and I saw him coming across the field. (Jared) Lorenzen looked at him the whole time and basically threw it right to me. So, it wasn’t that hard of a play, I was just covering my assignment.”
“We needed to force turnovers. We got one with the interception. Then we let that long run slip away from us. We just didn’t come up with turnovers when we really needed them.”
“Kentucky is a big rivalry. Plus, it was a little personal thing with me since this is my senior year. I just really wanted this game, not for myself but for the team. It’s always good to beat Kentucky, especially in their house.”
#33 Yamar Washington, RB
On breakout game…
“I just wanted to hit it up in the hole hard. I didn’t even know I had that many yards. The line did a good job at the line of scrimmage.”
On work load…
“Coach DiNardo conditions the heck out of us, so I wasn’t that winded. I was surprised I was doing that well really. I didn’t know if my ankle would be back yet, but I’m feeling fine and hope I can keep it up.”
“We wanted to be physical with them. We’re the Big Ten, you know power, power. We wanted to establish that.”
#71 Bobby Brandt, OL
“We made an effort all week to get our running game back to where it was a year ago. We did well with doing that today and Yamar ran hard. The combination of him running hard and us blocking well worked out for us.”
On better push off the ball…
“It’s basically confidence. Last year we knew we could run the ball every game, but this year we struggled the first two games, and we lost that confidence.”
