Sept. 27, 2003
Recap?|?Final Stats?|?Notes?|?Photo Gallery
Kentucky Coach Rich Brooks
On what Kentucky could have done differently…..
“That’s about as tough as it gets. It was a game that I thought we did a lot of good things in and had an opportunity obviously to seal the deal and couldn’t finish it. I thought this team battled hard. There are a lot of things where, if we do one thing different…. it might not have come down to the finish that we did have. With that being said, we need to finish the deal.”
On what he said to Lorenzen after the interception…
“I told him he needed to get his head right because we were still going to have a chance to come back and win this game. Jared came back and made a few plays and we were in position to at least tie it.”
On the touchdown return that was called back…
“That was obviously a key play in the game. That’s a huge swing in field position.”
On the Kentucky “jinx”…..
“There was nothing jinxed about the game today, we just didn’t make the plays when we needed to make them. We made enough to be in the position to finish the deal, we just didn’t quite finish it. I think they are understanding that we made a lot of progress today, and unfortunately we let a pretty good lead slip away. They have athletes and they are a good football team. I thought we outplayed them for a large portion of the game, but we just didn’t get it done.”
“I think we made some strides running the football, but I would like to see a few more long runs pop out of there. Florida has great speed on defense, and we were unable to break out substantial yardage runs.”
On the interception from Lorenzen….
“He knew he didn’t want to take the sack so he was trying to throw it away, which he has done quite a few times. It’s obviously something he would love to have back, but we don’t have those chances.”
UK Players
#5 Arliss Beach, Tailback
On the loss…
“It’s a pretty tough loss. We played hard, just came up short.”
On the offensive line today…
“We’ve been working hard on the running game. This week the offensive line stepped up to the challenge.”
On the team morale…
“This game was a heartbreaker. We thought we were going to win at the end. But we’re going to watch film tomorrow, put it behind us and get ready for South Carolina.”
#68 Jeremy Caudill, Defensive End
On Kentucky’s defense…
“If you look at the first half, you’ll see that except for one long pass play that was 70 yards, we played well… But I guess what matters is the score at the end.”
On if the Kentucky football program is jinxed…
“Not at all. I’ve been a part of this program for the past three-and-a-half years now and it’s going to turn around. I think things are changing and the young guys know that things are changing.”
On this game as a moral victory…
“It’s hard to come up with a positive. The negative is that we lost and that’s really all I can think about. But tomorrow, we’ll come in and watch film and get better from that.”
#42 Muhammad Abdullah, Free Safety
On Kentucky’s defense…
“From a defensive standpoint of course it’s a positive. We only gave up one big play (in the first half) so we had some confidence. We were just playing solid defense, playing our gaps, playing our spots. We were just making plays.”
On his interception and fumble recovery…
“I was just at the right place at the right time. I was just playing free safety and found the ball at the right time.”
# 73 Antonio Hall, Offensive Tackle
On the loss…
“You know, you’ve got to take it like a man and move on. It’s not tough to get over, we’ve just got to learn from our mistakes, be proud of our efforts, and move on.”
On Jared Lorenzen’s play…
“He’s a great player and he’s always going to try and make something happen for us. Sometimes he may try too hard, but I’m not going to criticize him because he’s always giving 100 percent.”
Florida Coach Ron Zook
On the win…
“As I told our football team, I’d rather not make it like that. We learned an awful lot today, though. Once again, we’ve said we’re a team that’s going to get better each game, and I think we’ll continue to get better. We stunk it up in the first half, and I think you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Kentucky. They played hard and they made the plays when they had to make them. But we came back and we made them when we had to make them. That makes me proud of our players. Sometimes, you don’t know how far you can stretch it until you’ve stretched too far. We stretched some today, but hopefully we’ll improve from this.”
On Jared Lorenzen…
“We told our team he’s big and strong and he’s tough to bring down. You’ve got to get around his arms and tackle, and we didn’t tackle him well today.”
On Florida’s comeback…
“When I looked in their eyes, I didn’t see defeat. I didn’t see quit. The coaches and I wouldn’t let them. We were in their faces and pushing. Once again, you never know how far you can go until you’ve gone too far.”
On Florida QB Chris Leak…
“He’ll learn an awful lot from this. He did some things he knows he can’t do. We’ve said this all along, but the only way he’s going to get experience is if he plays. This was a big win for him and a heck of a job for him.”
Florida Players
#77 Max Starks, OL
On the win…
“We just kept playing hard. Jared (Lorenzen) was doing some great things on offense, and their defense was doing a good job trying to blitz us and trying some misdirection. Our guys just hung in there and kept grinding it out. That was an awesome game; the kind you want to be a part of.”
On the late interception…
“There’s no description for the excitement and joy and all the adjectives that relate to that. It was just unbelievable. Our whole sideline just erupted; it was awesome. We knew it was our game from that point on.”
On Coach Zook’s halftime speech…
“There was no pounding or throwing stuff. He just came in there and approached us like men and challenged us. He let us know what we had to do.”
#31 Johnny Lamar, CB
On the interception…
“I saw the ball in the air and saw it as an opportunity to put our team on the scoreboard. Unfortunately, I was knocked out at the one (yard line). I was very surprised he threw it out of there. If anything, I thought he would try to throw it out of bounds, which he was probably trying to do, but he got spun around. I don’t know why he just didn’t take the sack.”
#2 Kelvin Kight, WR
On the game…
“I was trying to keep everybody up on the sidelines. It looked like we were getting down during the game and weren’t focusing. It was a big game, because we want to stay and play for the SEC East, so this is a huge win.”
#1 Keiwan Ratliff, CB/WR
On the coach at halftime…
“He came in there and let us have it and we needed it, because we were in a daze and just going through the motions. After he screamed and yelled, the seniors knew we had to step up. When the seniors lead, the young guys will follow.”
