Oct. 28, 2002
Coach Guy Morriss
On wearing down in fourth quarter…
“I haven’t seen anything in particular. I know in the second half of the Georgia game they decided to crank it up at halftime. They didn’t change much, they just came out and whipped us to be honest.”
On putting 60 solid minutes together…
“We haven’t had as many as we’d like. In our case it could be a depth problem and we start to get worn down. Other than that, I can’t find anything besides that. Obviously we’re not making some plays when we have to make them. I can’t pinpoint or nail anything down.”
On offensive line getting worn down…“We may be getting out-athleted a little bit, but we rotate people in there and try to keep them as fresh as we can. I don’t know that they’re just physically wore out at the end of a football game.”
On UGA game…
“Georgia was very good that day and of course there are always things you could have done better. From a coverage standpoint, the first two touchdowns we had blown coverage where we just didn’t communicate. I felt at times our corners were a little soft, almost like they were afraid the guys were going to run by them. Obviously we have to do a better job there. We also missed two or three throws early in the third quarter that could have kept the sticks moving.”
On evaluating linebacker play…
“I think David Johnson has played as well as he can play. He’s been doing a good job. Ronnie Riley’s done a pretty good job for us. He got confused a couple of times on the bootleg when the tight end caught the ball, he should be playing that better. It’s just been a combination of things throughout the course of the year where it’s one guy making a mistake here and there. I would not say that our linebackers are at fault – they’ve been playing pretty well.”
On Mississippi State…
“I haven’t had a chance to watch a lot of film on them. Losing Dontae Walker doesn’t help them because he’s a talented kid. They’re just not running the ball the way Jackie (Sherrill) would like to see them run it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they spread the field and try to throw on us, especially after last week. Defensively, they’re the same as they have always been. They started off the year using some of the 3-3 stack but a couple of games they went to a four-man-line package. It’s the same stuff we’ve been dealing with since I’ve been here.”
On QB Jared Lorenzen…
“He’s day-to-day. He was much better this morning. Much of the swelling has gone down and he’s moving around a lot better. He’s still day-to-day – we’ll see what happens with his ankle.”
On resilience of team…
“It’s been really important to them and it’s just a testament of character of this football team. They’re in great spirits now. We could either mope around here for the rest of the season and go 0-4, or with the state that the league is in now, we can go out and win all four. We challenged them to get themselves up and go out and play a heck of a ball game. I know their attitude was really good when they left after working out Sunday.”
On trying to prepare for Joe Lee Dunn’s defense…
“You put everything in the computer and work on the top four or five things they like to do. Our kids just have to be athletes and they have to go out and make plays. They have to react the way you want them to react within the framework of what play is called. Just hope they have enough recall so they can adjust. You can’t prepare for everything – there’s no way.”
On Jared’s experience…
“His experience of playing these guys twice will certainly help him. I think the number one thing that would help Jared more than anything is if we can establish any kind of a ground game. If you get one-dimensional against these guys – especially if you have to throw every down – it could be a long afternoon. It’s going to real important for us to be able to run the football.”
Otis Grigsby, Defensive End
On getting ready for Saturday’s game…
“We need to have a good week of practice and get focused for Mississippi State I think guys are understanding how important it is to cut down on penalties and reduce our mental mistakes, and that’s what we really need to focus on doing.”
On the atmosphere at Mississippi State…
“The stadium is loud down there. Their fans are really into the game and it makes for a rowdy atmosphere, but we look forward to the challenge of playing in that kind of environment on the road.”
Antoine Huffman, Cornerback
On the loss to Georgia…
“That was a tough loss for us, but we’re ready to get back to work and prepare ourselves for the next game. Georgia has a very talented team and they were just better than we were on Saturday, but we can’t lose our focus because of that loss.”
On what needs to improve for the Mississippi State game…
“We really need to work on minimizing our mental mistakes. Penalties and loss of concentration hurt us in some key situations and we need to cut down on those things.”
David Johnson, Strong Safety
On bouncing back from injuries during his UK career…
“God has blessed me with the opportunity to recover from some injuries and continue to play. I’m thankful that I’ve been able to be so successful after the things that I’ve been through here.”
On the confidence of the defense…
“There’s no damage to our confidence. Georgia executed their game plan and beat us, but we can’t harp on the past, we have to get ready to play Mississippi State now.”
Nick Seitze, Center
On the team’s attitude…
“There’s no doubt that we’re still confident. I haven’t seen a group that’s more confident than the guys that I play with. We know that we can play with teams like Georgia. We just haven’t been able to finish. You can’t win games like that with some of the mistakes we’ve been making. But we know what we did and we have to go out and fix it.”
On the offense helping the defense…
“Our game plan is to establish control of the ball. We really want to run the ball, control the clock and keep our defense off of the field. We’re not going out and trying to score on the first play like we’ve done in the past. Against Georgia, our offense didn’t do a good job of helping the defense. The defense was out there for most of the second half and they just got worn down.”
