Nov. 8, 2008
Recap | Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Kentucky Head Coach Rich Brooks
Opening statement …
“Obviously this is a very, very tough loss. One of the toughest losses we’vehad since I’ve been here. For some reason we started like we were sleep walking.Unfortunately, one of the phases of our team that has played outstanding footballall year long, and has put us in the position that we’re in, didn’t have a verygood day today. Our defense gave up a lot of big, big plays in the passing game.We didn’t tackle as well as we normally tackle, but you’ve got to give (Knowshon)Moreno some credit for that. The pass defense was our Achilles heel today. Ithought offensively we did some things better than we’ve done them in a quiteawhile. But we also had a very talented freshman make some freshman mistakes,but he also made some big time plays out there today. I thought overall the windwas clearly a factor in this game. It affected the kicking game; it affecteda lot of things, throwing the ball as well. They elected to take the wind inthe fourth quarter and it turned out to their advantage a little bit I think.But having said that, we had the opportunities to win this game on numerous occasions,and they made plays to take it away from us. We’ve won a lot of close games,and we just lost a heartbreaking close game. It was very, very disappointing,the third down play for the touchdown scramble play. I thought we had it coveredinitially, we had pressure on him and he makes a great throw and they make agreat catch for the go ahead touchdown. If we had been able to hold them to afield goal, we probably wouldn’t be in here talking right now. It was just avery disappointing loss.”
On the interception on the screen play …
“It was a screen pass and they had Tony ( Dixon ) covered like a blanket. Weshould have pulled it down and run, or throw it in the stands or throw it downat his feet or something. But we tried to make a play and that just comes fromexperience. He tried to make a play, but there wasn’t a play there to be made.”
On what he told Randall Cobb coming off the field after the interception …
“I just told him that’s part of growing up, part of learning how to play at thislevel. He’s got to keep his head up. He did a lot of things to keep us in thegame, get us back in the game and put us ahead. He made a mistake and a bad playat the wrong time.”
On the passing defense …
“We didn’t cover very well. We had problems matching up when they had three andfour receivers. Sometimes we were in bad coverage; a few times we were in zone.We did not keep proper leverage on receivers, particularly the inside receivers,their slot guys. They were running some crossing routes and some other things,a lot of times. The safeties that have to pick those things up, but we didn’tcover well. You’ve got to give (Matt) Stafford some credit, he’s an experiencedquarterback and they have got some playmakers at receiver, but the disappointingthing is not that they made the throw and the catch, but how much they gainedafter the catch. Their last two touchdowns were just heartbreaking, because Ithought we were in a pretty good position and they come right back down and scoredon us.”
On the offensive gameplan …
“There’s a difference in running the football when they also have to be concernedwith the quarterback running it. It kind of segments the defense more than whatwe had been doing some early in the year. We also had some success early withthe fullback on keeping some drives alive and then they tightened up on thata little bit. We had some early success without regular people running the optionand then they caught up to that a little bit. And we kind of had to keep switchingaround a little bit with the pony backfield and then spreading the field withone back, back there. I thought our backs for the most part ran well and I thoughtoverall, Randall handled the game pretty well.”
Kentucky Players
#2, Marcus McClinton, Free Safety
On the defensive performance against 14th-ranked Georgia …
” Georgia was able to make good plays, and we didn’t tackle as well as we shouldhave. Georgia was able to take advantage of us, because they were running intoempty spots. They were finding open pass windows and took advantage of it.”
On looking to future games …
“We need to put this game in the past. We have to look at it, learn from it,and move on to the next game tomorrow. Our future is still bright.”
On the loss against No. 14 Georgia …
“We came out a little flat today. The adjustments we had to make were in ourexcitement and focus. That’s what we were lacking in periods of the game. Todaywe needed more third down stops, more tackles, the defense had to make turnovers,and our leaders had to step up.”
#18 Randall Cobb, Quarterback
On the last Kentucky offensive play of the game…
“I just couldn’t believe I made that pass. I saw it was covered and I shouldhave thrown it away, but I have to live with that mistake now. I thought I playedpretty well up until I made that pass and it (the interception) just canceledout everything.”
On playing against Georgia ‘s defense…
“We know Georgia has a great defense and we wanted to go out and challenge themtoday. We wanted to do everything in our will to get the ball moving and getsome touchdowns. For awhile it was a shootout and that’s what we intended todo.”
On what head coach Rich Brooks said after the game…
“He told me just to keep my head up and put it behind me because we have to getready for Vanderbilt next week.”
On driving the ball down the field…
“It wasn’t me who drove the ball down the field; it was my teammates that helpedme drive the ball down the field. I couldn’t do all of the work by myself. Myteammates around me were there helping me because we wanted to capitalize onour opportunity. We had the opportunity today to knock them off and we did thebest that we could.”
On his postgame discussions with his teammates…
“I didn’t say much after the game. Everyone was saying encouraging things tome though. That’s what it’s like for teammates; we have that friendship thatwhen I’m down, they can pick me up and when they’re down, I can pick them up.”
On Matthew Stafford…
“He’s a great quarterback and he made great plays when he needed to. He did whateverhe had to do to help his team win. He’s a great player to look up to becauseof all the things he’s accomplished in his career. He’s getting ready to be atop-notch quarterback.”
#72, Zipp Duncan, Offensive Guard
On the loss against Georgia …
“All week we said that if our backs were against the wall we would fight back.We were confident today, and every time we got behind we went down the fieldand scored. Unfortunately, we just ran out of time.”
On Kentucky ‘s final drive …
“I definitely felt like we were going to win it. We were in perfect positionand we had time on the clock, just like a couple of other times this year. Wewere 100-percent confident we would find a way to score.”
On nearing the final two games of the season …
“We are a confident team and we know we still have a chance to make Kentuckyfootball history. Our guys will use this loss as motivation. We will go intothe next two games and our bye week motivated and confident that we will win.That will get us in good bowl position, and we will be confident in that gametoo.”
On teammate Randall Cobb …
“You don’t see that kind of play from a freshman every day, but since the firsttime he stepped on campus Randall Cobb has shown poise and leadership. We are100-percent confident with him as quarterback, and he brings us a spark and energy.If we make our blocks, he will make the rest of the team look good.”
#99, Jeremy Jarmon, Defensive End
On the loss to No. 14 Georgia …
“For the most part, all of the guys just talked about how important it was forus to win out. In order for us to do that, we had to win this game. At this point,we have to create a new goal. Right now, I am at a loss for words about thisgame.”
On the defensive performance …
“We made a lot of mistakes as a unit defensively and I did personally as well.We are going to go back and look at this film tomorrow and see why we didn’twin this football game. It was a collective effort on the defensive side as faras making mistakes. We did a lot of good things too. They are the kind of teamthat we call an explosive offense. By that I mean, they are not going to takethe ball from the 20-yard line and grind it down the field for a touchdown on10 plays. They are going to have two or three big plays to get down the fieldand they showed that today.”
On Georgia ‘s last scoring drive …
“This is the SEC and we know that we never have any game won. Our mindset wasto go out there and dominate. There was one play here and one play there thatwas the difference in the game. They have some talented receivers that made somegood catches. The last touchdown, I thought that the quarterback just threw theball up for grabs, and the receiver made a great play to get up and grab it.”
#7, David Jones, Defensive Back
On how disappointing the loss is …
“It was very disappointing. We didn’t execute defensively the way we wanted toand our offense was on point all day. We fell short and it’s disappointing. Onmy behalf, I didn’t make a play when I knew I could to stop the run. When theguy caught it I should have stopped him but I didn’t, and it feels miserable.”
On No. 14 Georgia ‘s offense …
“You have to show them a lot of respect. They have two great receivers and agreat running back. If we would have cleaned up the mistakes we were making thenwe would be taking about a victory right now, not about what we did wrong.”
On losing Trevard Lindley to injury …
“It hurts a lot, but Randall Burton came in and showed how well he can play asa freshman. I think that everyone who played defensive back was prepared thisweek.”
#98, Myron Pryor, Defensive Tackle
On the defensive performance …
“It was tough, but you have to get them credit as well because they have somegreat receivers. I was surprised, because we were able to stop the run but thepassing game is what hurt us today. I think that we did the best we could andcame out ready to play. Everybody played hard.”
On what the defense has to do better …
“One of our goals is to get off the field on third down. When you don’t do thatthen you are sucking a little wind and then you have to get out there and tryto stop them again. We have to do better getting off the field on third downbecause we get a little fatigued if we don’t.”
On what positives the team can take from this game …
“We can take a lot of positives from this game. We proved that we can play withanybody, although we did give up a lot of points this game. We have to do betterdefensively because the defensive effort today is not how we play. We will comeout this week in practice and work hard and play hard next weekend in our lasthome game.”
#29, Alfonso Smith, Running Back
On how well the running game played today …
“I feel like we as a running back core know what we have to do every game. Weknew that we were going to have to run the ball well today in order to get theother offensive pieces to open up more.”
On how well the offense played as a whole today …
“I played my heart out today and so did Randall Cobb and Tony Dixion, we alldid. The offensive line played great today too. That’s just how it goes sometime.You win some and you lose some.”
On the play of Randall Cobb …
“Cobb is an excellent player and played well today. He is a very young guy andhas a lot to learn. He played his heart out today. There is another opportunitynext week, so we have to regroup and just keep moving forward.”
Georgia Head Coach Mark Richt
Opening statement…
“I say the word of the day is thankfulness. A lot of excitement, two great teamsbattling like mad. I know it had to be tough for Kentucky just as it would havebeen heart breaking for us if we wouldn’t have come out with a win. I want togive credit to Rich Brooks, his staff and his team. That was just a barn burner,that’s the only way of putting it. I’m proud of how our guys finished. Thereare so many storylines, I’ll start with Mohamed [Massaquoi]. He’s a wonderfulcaptain for us, just a great senior leader for us, fighting like mad, havinga big game. I saw the stats, eight catches for 191 yards and a touchdown, he’splayed so big for us the entire ball game but as you all know he turned it overtwice in the fourth quarter, which is just not like Mo at all. To him, a chanceto redeem himself was such a blessing for that kid. I’m sure he would have forgivenhimself one day, but it would have taken a long time. Defense, Mohamed was turningit over, defense even though they struggled, had to stop [ Kentucky ] from gettinga run in the fourth quarter. I’m very excited about how we finished as a defense,how we finished as a team. Matthew [ Stafford ], big day, a career day for him.He just battled the whole time through. That last play, you know you’re downby three, you know a field goal at least keeps the game going and you try tocoach him up to try to make the play if you can. And if anything breaks down,get rid of the ball and go for the field goal. The protection broke down andhe started scrambling late and I wasn’t real happy there initially, but whenI saw the results, I was thinking the kid’s a genius and I’m glad Mohamed gotto be the one to catch it. Knowshon Moreno he gives us energy, he gives us confidence.He practiced unbelievably well from Tuesday on and I’m really proud of his effortall week long and just how he played. It was not one of those games where theyards come easy. They don’t come easy running the ball against Kentucky and hejust rolled his into making some great runs. There were some great runs thatwere only two and three yards long. He did a beautiful job. [Demarcus] Dobbssnagged the ball on that screen play and he jumped up and made the catch.”
On starting with a 14-0 lead…
“I told them as soon as it was 14-0, I said men, ` Alabama started 14-0.’ andKentucky fought and then it went to a 17-14 game. Even though it was a 17-14game that’s still kind of a barn burner when you have a three-point game likethat. I told the team don’t even get excited or get too happy with yourself.As soon as we went up 14-0 I went to the bench and reminded the guys that’s howthe Alabama game started and we put a halt to it and almost won that game.”
On the defense…
“What I’m going to say about the defense is that they were good enough to winthe game. They got three key stops at the end of the game and I’m proud of them.The special teams made some mistakes, gave the defense two very short fieldsto defend. Like we said, Mohamed did fumble twice and our defense had a bad spotthere too. It’s a team game, but everybody did enough. These kinds of victoriesaren’t so bad. I think all victories are great. We certainly have to study everythingagain and see what went good and what went bad. Right now we’re 8-2 and havea chance to win a couple more this year which is an exciting thing.
On the toughness of defending the option…
“We figured we’d see some option but they just had more time today with [Randall]Cobb. He was a first time starting quarterback last week. They had more timeto prepare and a little more of a plan for him. There’s no secret as to whatthey were trying to do, they were going to run the ball and he was going to bethe runner which gave more time to free up people. They gave a couple more typesof options they hadn’t shown before, but the bottom line is good option teamsare hard to stop whether you know what they’re doing or not. Some of the greatestoption football teams in the history of college football, everyone knew whatthey were doing, but it’s hard to stop because you have a quarterback that isthe runner and a defensive player who they’re not going to block and they’regoing to read what he does, and if they read it right that’s one less guy toblock. Plus you have a quarterback as a runner and it’s just very difficult todefend.”
Georgia Players
#58, Demarcus Dobbs, Defensive End
On his thoughts on the game overall…
“It wasn’t a perfect game. It’s never going to be perfect playing in the SoutheasternConference. It was a great win though and we are excited about it. We’re justready to move on from here.”
On Kentucky’s offense…
“I just think they did a great job with their blocking game. They did a greatjob of getting outside, but I haven’t really watched the video yet to critiquewhat we did wrong.”
On making defensive adjustments…
“We made slight adjustments so we could take up more space. We just wanted tobe able to make some plays. We didn’t really make any major adjustments though.It was all just a part of the game plan.”
#1, Mohamed Massaquoi, Wide Receiver
On the two fumbles…
“You just have to have a short memory after that. It was very unfortunate tofumble those two times, but we just tried to execute things the best that wecould.”
On his thoughts after the second fumble…
“It was just a quick frustration. Their defense did make me frustrated, but Iknew I had to keep my composure.”
On being in a game that goes back and forth as opposed to a game that is an easy win…
“It just makes you have to man up. It just makes you have to watch out for thingsthroughout the game.”
On his thoughts about Kentucky…
“We started out the game with a few good drives, but they came out to play andit turned into a shoot-out. Coach was hoping for longer plays for something.That’s what we came prepared for, but they caused us to have to play a lot more.”
On practicing against the Georgia defense…
“We practice against one of the best defensive teams in the country and thatallows us to go out there and execute.”
#32, Brian Mimbs, Punter
On Kentucky’s punt return team…
“They were throwing some stuff at us that we have never seen before. Their puntreturn team did a great job. They came hard every time we punted and eventuallywhen you play hard it’s going to pay off. It paid off for them today.”
On Mimbs’ punting game and the punt that got blocked…
“I was probably a little slow kicking and getting the ball off today. I’m justgoing to contribute that to the reason the punt got blocked.”
On his short eighteen-yard punt at the end of the third quarter…
“It was just a bad drop. I had practiced punting into the wind before the gameto prevent that. They called a timeout just for the purpose of me punting intothe wind and I knew that. It’s difficult punting into the wind anytime, and ifyou are going to be a punter you have to remember to drop the ball low in thatcase. That’s just fundamentals so, there’s really no excuse for it. I won’t blameanyone but myself. It was just a bad drop and pretty much a shame.”
#24, Knowshon Moreno, Tailback
On the urgency to score on the last drive…
“We knew we had to put some points on the board, whether by a field goal or touchdown.The guys made plays and came up with big catches when we needed them. We werefortunate that we got the touchdown.”
On how tough it was to run the ball…
“It was really tough. ( Kentucky ) has a really good defense and a really goodteam in general. Like I keep saying, any SEC team is really good. ( Kentucky) is just a really good team, but we came out with the victory.”
On Mohamed Massaquoi …
“(Mohamed Massaquoi) has been through a lot. He’s a senior and a leader on thisteam. Things happen, but it’s how you come back that matters. He came back strong.He made that big catch and brought it to the red zone for us. He just kept hishead in the game and made a big play for us.”
On the last interception…
“It just made me really excited, knowing that they’re capable of doing thingslike that and making big plays for us. We had those turnovers and they stillmade big stops for us.”
On what the win means…
“It means as much as every other game, every other win. It’s fortunate that wehad another win. We’re going to celebrate this win. We’re happy with it. It wasa nail-biter against a really good team. Next week won’t be any different. We’lljust get refocused, but we’re happy with this win.”
On being determined to win after losing two years ago at Kentucky …
“We were just really determined to make plays. After a few turnovers, we hadto get back out there and make plays, knowing the ( Georgia defense) would playtheir hearts out and get the ball back for us, and they did.”
#7, Matthew Stafford, Quarterback
On Georgia ‘s last touchdown…
“It was actually a play we practiced probably for two years, and hadn’t reallyrun it. You kind of wait for those big times to run plays like that. To tellyou the truth, I saw the free safety run out of the middle to cover (KnowshonMoreno) on the wheel route early on, and the pressure just got pushed in my face.I knew that (A.J. Green) had been open early on too, and I just couldn’t seeso I had to scramble out. (A.J. Green) is a lanky dude that can catch it. I justthrew it high to him and he made the play.”
On his numbers in this game versus the game against Kentucky two years ago…
“It was awesome. That’s a team victory. I know that against ( South Carolina), our defense won the game for us. There are times when one aspect of the teamis going to be struggling a bit, and the other parts of the team have to pickthem up. We were able to do that today and I was happy. It’s just an awesometeam win. So many guys had a great day.”
On Mohamed Massaquoi…
“The ( Kentucky defense) played a lot of man coverage. (Mohamed Massaquoi) isa great route runner. He did a great job getting open and running with the ballwell after the catch.”
On Massaquoi’s fumbles and big catches…
“It was a testament to him. I came up to him and was about to say something tohim on the sideline (after the second fumble), and before I could say somethinghe looked up at me and said `I’m fine.’ He’s such a cool, calm-headed guy. Isaid `You’re going to have a big one later.’ First play out of the gate on thatdrive, I threw it to him and he made a good catch. He kept his feet and tookoff. I’m really happy for him. He’s meant so much to this program. To have abig game and a big victory like this is awesome.”
On the recently close games in the series…
“( Kentucky ) is a 6-3 football team coming into this game. They have close gamesevery week. The defense is really good. Hats off to their freshman quarterback(Randall Cobb). That guy played unbelievably, running the ball and doing a greatjob throwing it when he needed to. (Demarcus Dobbs) just made a great play atthe end and you can’t put that on (Cobb). ( Kentucky ) is a tough place to play.They’re a great team that plays really motivated at home. They made some bigplays.”
