Nov. 1, 2008
Head Coach Rich Brooks
Opening Comments…
“The first half was a struggle for us offensively. I was proud of the waythat the team came out in the third quarter and took charge of the game. It lookedlike we were in pretty good shape and then we turned the ball over a couple oftimes and let them come down and make plays. The kicking game came up big andit also bit us a little bit today. We blocked the extra point which was obviouslyhuge and we got pretty good pressure on the field goal that they missed. Unfortunatelywe jumped offside’s when we had them in a punting situation and gave themthat first down. I think that there were a lot of things that we can build offin this game. The one thing that I am very proud of from this team is the effort,guts, and the determination that it takes to find a way to win on the road inthis league which is tough. I have got to give Mississippi State credit theydid a good job of changing formations on us and giving us problems in coverage,getting some receivers open. I was pleased overall with our run defense and Iwas pleased with the way that we ran the ball in the second half.”
On becoming bowl-eligible…
“Getting our sixth win doesn’t mean that we are necessarily in abowl. In my mind the only way you assure yourself of that is winning seven, maybeeight, but getting that sixth win puts us closer to doing some better thingsand it’s always tough to win on the road but now we go home for two gamesin a row. So we need to improve on what we are doing, we made too many mistakes,but the good thing is we did enough to win the game.”
On Randall Cobb…
“I thought he handled everything better but what made it easier is thatwe r ran the ball better. He got on the edge himself and the backs were ableto get yards off of that read play which was huge for use. It is a lot betterwhen you are in second and five, second and two, or second and one, than it iswhen you are second and 10. I was pleased with the way that the line and thebacks responded. I thought Tony Dixon had a very good game and made some keyruns for us and I was just pleased overall with the way that the offense respondedfor us in the third quarter.”
On his half-time talk…
“I talked to them about how we had 30 minutes to take care of businessand to do some things that hadn’t been done around here in about half ofa century. We had 30 minutes to get back into this thing and take charge of it.”
TE Maurice Grinter
On being bowl eligible…
“It feels real good. Now, all we have to do is go out and try to get tothe best possible bowl.”
On playing Mississippi State…
“I just came in with the mindset that we got to go out there and play football.Mississippi State is a tough football team and they always play hard on defense.We came out here knowing that we needed this win and that we have to play football.”
QB Mike Hartline
On the overall game…
I didn’t think it was a bad game. Both offenses and defenses played well for the most part. We were stepping up on third down, but overall I thought it was a dog fight the whole game and in any SEC game it’s going to come down to the 4th quarter.
On which bowl game you would like to go to…
Any place that is warm. I would love to go to Tampa or Georgia and play in either one of those bowl games.
DT Corey Peters
On being bowl eligible…
“It’s terrific. I mean, we have three more games to play well ifwe want to go to a better bowl than we have in years past. We had to win thisone to do that.“
On stopping Dixon’s running game…
“I think that was one of our main focus this week. Our run defense keepsslipping each week and that was our main focus this week, stopping MississippiState.”
Mississippi State Head Coach Sylvester Croom
Opening Comments…
“First I would like to congratulate Coach (Rich) Brooks and Kentucky ontoday. Basically, they found a way to win and we didn’t, and that is thebottom line.”
On the missed extra point…
“I will have to look at it on film. From where I stood I could not seewhat exactly had happened. I knew they were going to try and get a push and getthat high jumper in there. You are suppose to give that one second delay beforeyou hit the snapper and that was my question that I had to the official. But,we knew we had to get the ball up and we did not do a good job of that.”’
On missed opportunities…
“A missed extra point and a missed field goal in close ballgame like wewere just a part of are unacceptable.”
On the offensive play…
“We were moving the ball well. Had a few missed opportunities but we stillplayed well. We had Aubrey (Bell) opened early in the game and I am not sureif Tyson (Lee) saw him. I thought Brandon Henderson played an excellent game,he actually played hurt. He has really grown up this year and I have been verypleased with his performance of late. Henderson and (Arnil) Stallworth are twoguys that have made a lot of improvement over the year and helped us out tremendously.”
On Anthony Dixon’s performance…
“I thought he played well for the carries he had. He ran hard and ran downhill. He went up against an excellent defensive front and they were keying inon him which opened up the pass for us today.”
On the defensive penalties in the second half…
“Those were very tough to overcome. The one called on (Derek) Pegues wasone that was debatable. I thought the ball was uncatchable from what I saw onthe new jumbo-tron he gave him a little tug but the ball was thrown high. I amnot disputing the call it is just a different opinion.”
On close losses…
“When we look at the film in games like these, you can always find eightor 10 plays in which we make the play we win the ballgame. We can name a coupleright now, we make the field goal we win the game. We make the extra point thingschange. We get off the field on the opening drive of the second half things aredifferent. That is what close games are all about, making plays in critical moments,and we did not do that and they did.”
On Kentucky’s scoring drives…
“The difference on those drives were they ran the ball on us. It was notanything they did passing and we had sound coverage throughout the day, theyjust decided they were going to run right at us on that drive and that is whatis disappointing.”
On the rushing game…
“They piled the line of scrimmage which opened up our passing game. Wehad to adjust to how their defense was playing us, but when we did run the footballwe were effective to the most part.
Mississippi State LB Dominic Douglas
On Randall Cobb’s performance…
“He’s a freshmen. I give him credit. He’s a good quarterback.He’s got a lot of years of maturity. He’s a good player for them,and he came up with big plays for them.”
On the upcoming bye week…
“We’re getting ready for the road contest at Alabama. The weekendoff is going to be good for us. It will give us time to rest and get our bodiesto top level where they need to be. They’re number one or number 2 in thenation, so we need this off week to get our bodies in a position to come outin two weeks and play top notch football.”
Mississippi State WR Brandon McRae
On the game…
“I don’t know what it was. They had a good defensive plan and theyexecuted very well. They stopped us, and I guess we didn’t do enough onoffense.”
On moving the ball well but only coming up with 13 points…
“I can’t really say. We just didn’t put enough points on theboard.”
On the blocked extra point…
“It hurts. It’s like a punch to the gut. It hurts really bad. Welost a lot of momentum. We just didn’t capitalize.”
On the early missed opportunities…
“I have to look at the film and see what we did wrong. I can’t reallypinpoint what it was.”
On the passing game…
“I don’t know what Tyson did but he was throwing the ball real welltoday.”
Mississippi State DB Jasper O’Quinn
On Kentucky changing quarterbacks often…
“When Cobb was in, they tried to spread us out and get us in the open fieldso he can make plays. He’s a great playmaker. He’s a freshman, buthe’s a great playmaker. So they wanted to spread us out and get him theball and let him make plays. Hartline’s the thrower. Cobb makes plays withhis feet, but when the other player (Hartline) is in, he likes to throw the balldown the field and get something going through the air. We knew when Cobb wasin the game we had to be aware of the run and the throw. People sometimes overlookthe fact he can throw the ball. It was tough with both of them. They did a greatjob.”
On the loss…
“It was tough. But like coach said, we have to keep faith, keep fighting.It’s the sprit of the team. We’ve had ups and downs all year, badthings happen but we always seem to have faith in god and believe in each otherand come out each week and fight. It seems like we’re going to be down,but we find a way to come back and fight.”
On leaving a win on the field…
“We didn’t make the plays we needed to make. We had opportunitiesto make big plays and we just didn’t do it. All in all, it was a good effort,offense and defense.”
