Nov. 4, 2002
Head Coach Guy Morriss
On his halftime outburst and breaking his hand at the Mississippi State game…
“This is something I don’t ordinarily do, but I have done it in the past. It’s not something you plan or stage. I just felt at that particular time we needed waking up a little bit. I got a little carried away, but other than that it was something I felt I needed to do to get the players fired up. Evidently it worked pretty well because they played much better the second half.”
On his wife’s reaction…
“She told me I should have done it a long time ago. We had gone through a game or two that it felt like we came out a little flat in the second half. Jackie and I talk about a lot of different things. She’s a little more fiery than I am and she was serious when she said a couple weeks ago that I had to do something to get their attention and get them cranked up. We talked about it again last week. I thought that maybe she was right and that we had to get them fired up. Everything was in place to do it that week but it just kind of struck me walking up the ramp at halftime.”
On Derek Abney and the blocking on punt returns…
“Derek was the first one to stand up and say, ‘I don’t do this alone.’ They (the punt return blockers) understand that when Derek gets his hands on the football, he’s a legitimate threat to take it back every time. So that makes them work that much harder to try and spring him. It’s been good for that team and the kickoff return teams.”
“I’ve said this before but I think Derek Abney is pound-for-pound the toughest kid on this football team. He’s certainly proving it.”
On how the team is playing…
“I told the kids the other day that I think our best football is still ahead of us. We go back and look at the tapes and we’re making dumb mistakes that should have been corrected a long time ago. We talked about the need for the coaches to be fussing at halftime and me breaking a hand to get them to play hard. We’re a team that has to play with a lot of emotion. And if we can do that for four quarters, our best football is still in front of us.”
On Artose Pinner’s consistency…
“He’s just a big, strong back who’s been able to take the punishment. He’s a pretty complete back – he’s a good inside runner, he has speed enough to break some runs, he has good hands and he’s durable. You combine that into one guy and you have a pretty good player. The thing that’s important about Artose that you see in players is that he has kept his head on straight. For a kid that young, he hasn’t let the success go to his head. He comes out and goes to work every day. That’s helped him as much as everything.”
On LSU’s defense…
“They’re No. 1 in total defense and No. 1 in pass efficiency defense in the nation. We’re going to have our work cut out for us. They line up in a couple of basic fronts and come after you. They have the athletes that allow them to do that. I think (head coach Nick Saban) believes in his people and he’s not going to gimmick you. There’s not a lot of trick stuff. They’re just going to line up and whip you. So far, they’ve been able to do that.”
UK PLAYERS
Otis Grigsby – Defensive End
On the significance of winning six games…
“Coming into the season a lot of people doubted that we were capable of winning more than a couple of games, so it’s very important to us to win six. We’ve proved to ourselves that we are good enough to play in a bowl game even though we aren’t eligible, and that’s important to us.”
On being fired up to play another ranked opponent…
“We always get fired up to play anyone on the schedule. Any time you play a team that’s nationally ranked you get really hyped for the game. It’s also good to play them at home in front of our great fans. We’re excited about the game and we’ll be ready on Saturday.”
Morris Lane – Linebacker
On the team’s inspired second half against Mississippi State…
“I don’t know if it was because of (Coach Morriss’) broken hand. He just told us at halftime that we can’t just come out and choose when we’re going to play well. We have to come out ready for every play of every game. In the second half, our defense went out and put up a wall. Quentus (Cumby) came up and made that hit on third down on the first series (of the third quarter) and from then on it was all defense, all special teams, all offense; basically, all us.”
On playing LSU…
“LSU is a great team, they’re in the top 20 in the country, and whenever you’re playing great athletes like that you really want to step up. They came in here last year and we played tough against them. This year we want to turn the corner. Their running back, (Dominick) Davis, has great vision. He has a good burst and really gets through the line quickly.”
On Kentucky’s defensive tackles…
“It’s good to have two guys in front of you like Dewayne (Robertson) and (Jeremy) Caudill. When they want to, they can go out there and stop just about anything.”
Sylvester Miller – Tackle
On Arotse Pinner nearing 1000 yards rushing…
“As his offensive line, we take a lot of pride in making sure Artose (Pinner) gets as many yards as possible. This is his senior year and it would be really big for him to go over 1000 yards. It’s a reflection of the offensive line – it’s showing that we’re getting the job done. The running game at UK hasn’t been around a long time so we wanted to establish that we can run the ball and not be a one-dimensional team.”
On blocking for Pinner…
“He dances sometimes, but he just knows how to hit the hole. He keeps his legs driving and he’s a big running back with strong legs. He can bench and squat as much as some of the offensive linemen. He has the power but also the speed to be able to break away.”
On Coach Guy Morriss hurting his hand at halftime…
“The locker room situation was something that Coach (Morriss) felt like he needed to do to get the players in tune to how serious the game was. We came out doing well in the first quarter but faded away a little in the second. I guess Coach thought he needed to jump-start us and it worked.”
On play in the second half…
“We came out in the third quarter and (Derek) Abney took a couple punts to the end zone. Our defense got cranking in the second half and we were able to run the ball and take time off the clock. We came out and played to win.”
