Sept. 15, 2003
Head Coach Rich Brooks
On the injury situation…
“Jason Rollins will not practice today, with a turf toe, but he should be okay by the game. Jared Lorenzen will work out today. He does have a MCL strain on his right knee and he looks like he’ll be okay to go. Bo Smith will work out lightly today as well.”
On the importance of the Indiana game…
“I think this is two teams that are off to a less-than-perfect start at 1-2. Indiana is in the same boat we are. This is a game that is critically important to get either team back to .500. The team that comes out of this with a loss goes to 1-3 and has dug a huge hole to trying to get back on track, so this is an important game for us and for them.”
On if he felt better about the Alabama game after watching the tape…
“I felt pretty good about a lot of the game. I thought we were in position that with one or two good plays or a good break we would have had an opportunity to win that game. The film didn’t change any of that, I actually felt it more so after watching the film. I saw us kind of settle down offensively and start making some plays. I thought our pass protection was better than it had been. I thought defensively we continued not to give up the big play. Although we were on the field a lot our third down percentage was markedly better on defense than it was the first two games. I thought our kicking game was solid. We didn’t win the kicking game like we did the week before against Murray State, but we didn’t lose the kicking game either.”
On if making plays in the fourth quarter comes after having done it…
“That’s a chicken-and-egg thing sometimes and also has something to do with the team you’re playing and whether or not they’re going to make plays in the fourth quarter. The good news is that in the two games we’ve lost we were in position in the fourth quarter to make some plays and pull the thing out, but were unable to do that in either game. I think that at some point in the near future that good fortune will start to go our way and we’ll start making some of those plays.”
On if the offensive rotation depends on the opponent…
“It always does. You look at who you are going to play and figure out the best way to attack them and have success moving the football and scoring some points. Obviously, some schemes dictate that and sometimes schemes and personnel dictate that. We did open our sets a little bit and go more with three and four receivers and some more shotgun in the game against Alabama. Unfortunately we didn’t get into enough of a rotation that we didn’t get a few other players involved that we might’ve because we only had 47 snaps. That limits a great deal what you can do.”
On his evaluation of the linebacking corps to this point in the season…
“I think we’ve made quite a bit of progress at linebacker. I think Durrell White is emerging as a force in this league as well as on this team. Chad Anderson got the most playing time that he’s gotten and he’s definitely going to be in the mix at the inside position and pushing for a starting spot. Dustin Williams has played pretty well. (Justin) Haydock is leading our team in tackles. So we’ve gotten some production out of the linebacker position. We’re not as consistent as we need to be, but I certainly feel better about it now than I did at the start of the season.”
On the concern of the defense being on the field so much in the first three games…
“We can affect how much time they spend on the field. This game on third down we got ourselves off (the field), but the thing we failed on was first and second down. We gave up too many plays on first and second down that kept drives alive. Once we got them to third down we did much better than we did in the first two games. The other side of the equation is that our offense has to do a better job of keeping our defense off the field. We’ve started all three games very slowly on offense. We need to get some ball possession drives, move the chains and get some first downs. That will help us when we get to the fourth quarter on the defensive side when we’ve been on the field (for less time).”
On the missed tackles in the Alabama game…
“I think you have to give their running back a lot of credit for it. Sometimes we’re lunging and not following with our feet when we tackle. We need to do a good job keeping our head up and wrapping up when we tackle.”
On the best way to improve play in the fourth quarter…
“Once you have more success in quarters one, two and three it’s easier to have success in quarter four. I just kind of looked at our points given up and scored and it looks like we’re doing most of our good work in the second and third quarters and in the first and fourth we aren’t scoring as much and we’re giving up a few more. One, we have to start the games better on both sides of the ball and we have to finish them better, but in doing that I don’t want to have to sacrifice not doing well in the second and third quarters. Unless you’re a dominant team it’s usually hard to have control of all four quarters. The difference between winning and losing often comes in the fourth quarter. You never know when a big play is going to happen, so you have to play well all the time. Just doing what you’re supposed to do and doing it with enthusiasm, speed and quickness, a good play can happen to you sometimes; and that can happen in the second quarter, first quarter or fourth quarter, but right now we haven’t made as many in the fourth quarter as our opponents have.”
On what he sees in the Indiana team…
“I think they’re a well-coached, disciplined team. They have a big offensive line and an active quarterback that can run it and throw it. They have a couple of good receivers. Defensively they have some pretty active linebackers and safeties. They’ll get eight men in the box and bring one of the safeties down almost all the time, except for longer-yardage situations when they go to the two-deep, but they’re going to pack it in and make it tough for you to run the football. They run it pretty well and that’s not good news since that’s the thing we aren’t doing as well as we need to – stopping the opponent’s run.”
On the effect of the shovel pass and screen slowing down the defense…
“We intended it to against Alabama. The shovel is like a draw play and is like a running play in my estimation. It was effective both times we ran it. Those tend to spread and slow down the defense a little bit and take some pressure off the running game and hopefully open it up a little more.”
On the play of Keenan Burton…
“Keenan, when given chances, has done some very good things. He’s still a little bit uncertain on run-support blocking and things that receivers have to do to help in long runs, but I think you’re going to see him become a productive player for us in this offense. He’s the real deal athletically – he’s a fine talent.”
On how well the players know the system at this point…
“I think we know the system. Do we execute it all the time? No, but by-and-large I believe we understand the system and know the system. Being a realist, there are always going to be some breakdowns on offense, defense and in the kicking game. There will be physical mismatches sometimes that impact the execution of an offensive or defensive play. But, by-and-large, I think they know the system.”
On the kicking game…
“I think overall the kicking game has been a positive for us all the year. The troublesome area, from day one, has been our punt team – protection, the catching and punting of the ball – but that’s gotten better. Each week when we go into a game I expect to earn an advantage in that game with our kicking game. I don’t think we gained an advantage in Alabama, but we didn’t lose an advantage either. We struggled with the return game early, but we didn’t allow any long returns.”
On the play of Clint Ruth and Taylor Begley…
“I think (Clint) Ruth has kicked it extremely well on kickoffs. I think we’re leading the league in kickoff coverage, which is in some part due to Ruth’s kicking of the ball and in large part due to the guys that are covering it. (Taylor) Begley has been perfect until he missed the 49-yarder. He’s missed one opportunity, in extra points and field goals, all year and I’d say that’s pretty good.”
On if he has any concern about keeping the emotion up after the tough loss at Alabama…
“I’d say we were ready emotionally against Alabama. If we aren’t smart enough to understand the importance of this upcoming game, and the opportunity to get back to .500, then we need to go back to school and do some learning because this is as big a game as we’re going to have all year, in my opinion. We need to get emotionally ready to play it and go in there and play the best game that we’ve played this year.”
Jared Lorenzen, QB
On his knee injury…
“The knee is fine. It’s just a slight sprain. It’s something that I’ll get over. I’ll probably practice some today and go back full speed tomorrow.”
On the importance of the Indiana game…
“If we don’t realize how important this game is, we have something seriously wrong with us. Being 1-2 and then going on the road to Indiana is not the easiest thing we’ve ever done. But we can do it. We just need to come together as a team. We had a good week of preparation last week. We need another good week of preparation or else Indiana is going to get us.”
On the team’s inability to score early…
“We had a great plan going into the game each of the last three weeks. Our goal is to score on the opening drive. We just haven’t done it yet. I don’t know if it just takes a series or something. We need to get started early to take some pressure off of our defense.”
On whether the team feels they let a win slip away against Alabama…
“I think the offense does. The defense played well enough to win. We put the defense in a hole time and time again. We put them on a short field. We didn’t get a first down until the second quarter. We had our opportunities and we just let them get away. The offense just has to get the attitude that we can score at any time and take the pressure off of the defense.”
On the offense’s knowledge of the new system…
“We know the system. Sometimes, I’ll check us into the wrong play, but we definitely know the system. We know the checks. Yes, it was loud down there, but it wasn’t anything out of the norm. We made our checks fine. We didn’t jump at all. One thing that Coach (Brooks) said was that in order to win the game we couldn’t jump offside. We played a relatively smart game. We just need to find a way to get a win.”
On the environment Kentucky expects in Bloomington…
“Anytime you go on the road it’s hostile. Will there be a lot of fans screaming at us? Of course. The last time we went to Indiana, neither team had a chance for a bowl, and they were still rowdy. It’s going to be hostile. It’s going to be loud and I’m sure we’ll have noise again this week. We just need to get used to it.”
Mike Williams, SS
On playing in the hostile environment at Alabama and his play against the Tide…
“The atmosphere at Alabama was great. The crowd was really loud and we had a lot of fun playing in those circumstances. I got going in the first quarter and got in the middle of a lot of plays. I was in the right place and the right time and was able to make several tackles.”
On how he feels about the overall play of the defense…
“I feel really good about the way the defense is playing as a unit. We still made some mental errors, but we’re getting a lot better and those errors are correctable. We just need to keep working and get sharper with the defense.”
Earven Flowers, CB
On the play of the defense now as compared to the beginning of the season…
“I feel better with the defense now than at the beginning of the season because we’re improving every day. We’re learning the system and getting more comfortable with things. We can still get a whole lot better because we haven’t put everything into the defense, and once we get the whole system in we’ll be that much better.”
On the play of the young players on defense…
“The young guys have been playing well so far and they’re going to get a lot better with the more experience they get. Last year the coaching staff had to take a chance with some inexperienced players such as myself and that’s the case again this year – that’s just the way the game works. These young guys are making some mistakes, just like everyone else, but they’re playing well and correcting those mistakes.”
