Sept. 6, 2003
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UK Coach Rich Brooks
On the changes in the offensive line…
“I don’t know how effective they were at this point. We’ll have to adjust that tomorrow. I thought that for the most part the pass protection was a little better.”
On Derek Abney…..
“Abney is guy who is the veteran player who plays with more emotion. He just loves to play football. He certainly made some key plays. And the good news is, he came out of this game feeling a lot better than he did coming out of last week’s game. Hopefully he will just continue to get better.”
On injuries…….
“(Jeremiah) Drobney took a shot late that was a personal foul, (but) it doesn’t look like it’s serious. For the second week in a row, knock on wood, we have come out of it pretty lucky. We have some bumps and bruises, but nothing serious.”
On the offense…..
“I think we are identifying some guys who can make big plays. Glenn Holt stepped up and did some very good things, and obviously Derek Abney is a key guy, as is no. 22. The running back situation is still not as solid as I would like to see it. I would like to like to see more production from our running game.”
On Alabama…….
“We’re not a polished unit at this point in time. We need to continue to get better. They have some good players. It’s going to be a great experience, for us to go on the road in an SEC stadium and play in front of a hostile crowd. We are going to have to keep our poise and be more polished than we were tonight.”
On Shane Boyd……….
“Shane is a good athlete. He made a couple of key runs. He did some very good things in this ballgame. I think some of those things will continue. Different games you will see him do different things because of what the defense brings or gives away. But I think he did some very good things tonight.”
Kentucky Players
Chris Bernard, WR
On his touchdown…
“Like Coach was saying it was a broken play and we drew them offsides. If it works well, we catch them (off guard) and get a touchdown.”
On Alabama…
“Tonight we’re already looking at Alabama. We know that we have to play a lot better than we did tonight to compete with that caliber of a team.”
Jared Lorenzen, QB
On thinking he would be compared to Tim Couch…
“No, I really didn’t. He is definitely the guy you look up to when you play football. It’s a great record to have.”
On Bernard’s touchdown…
“I’ve always said I’ve got the easy job and I’m glad I got it to him (Bernard) and came up with a touchdown.”
On being ready for Alabama…
“I don’t know if you can be ready to go to Alabama. I’ve heard how loud it is and how great their fans are, so I guess we’ll just have to see how it is.”
Derek Abney, WR
On Murray State’s play…
“They were a real fast team. They have Division 1 athletes from programs like Indiana and Louisville so they’re a great team. I guess we just kind of wore them down; the coaches prepared us well for them.”
Vincent “Sweet Pea” Burns, DE
On first win…
“We wanted to come out and get a win for coach. I think that we were hungry for this game because the Louisville game was a huge disappointment for us. We are on the right track now and ready to come together as a team.”
On past week’s practice…
“We really went back to the basics and worked hard. A lot of time was spent on special teams and defensive drills. Overall, we had a lot of intensity and we felt good coming into this one.”
Murray State Coach Joe Pannunzio
On the Racers’ loss…
“I’m proud of the way our team stayed in the game and fought. The main thing we were worried about coming into the game was how we would handle adversity. We played well in the first quarter, but then Abney got us. Our kids didn’t quit, and they played hard until the end.”
On Kentucky QB Jared Lorenzen…
“He’s a heck of a quarterback. He made some great throws. I don’t know how a quarterback of his size can move like that. He has great escapability.”
On the keys to the loss…
“We had the ball inside the five-yard line for the entire second quarter. That put our defense in some bad situations. After the first half, we felt the stars would have to align for us in the second.”
Murray State Players
#38 Bobby Sanders, SS
On difference between OVC and SEC…
“Depth is the main thing. Every one of us are running down on punts and kickoffs, and that takes its toll on you, especially when the offense is having trouble moving the ball. It was three and out, and our defense was right back out there.”
On the game…
“We’re going to take some positive things out of this. Mainly we just hung in there and played hard the whole game.”
#14 Stewart Childress, QB
On the game…
“The last few years we got handled pretty well by Division I teams. Kentucky’s a great team, and I feel like there were times we hung in there with them. We put together some good drives and, our defense looked impressive.”
On the start of the game…
“The defense put it to them on the first series. Then we got the ball and drove down. I think we had about nine plays. We didn’t end up getting any points out of it, but that was confidence. We knew we could play with these guys.”
On the drive in the second half…
“We had a great drive there in the second half. I liked seeing the team’s tenacity. Even though the score doesn’t look pretty, we didn’t quit.”
