Nov. 14, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Kentucky Head Coach Rich Brooks
Opening Statement:
“I thought that the last 30 minutes was some of the best football we played in a long time. Defensively we just didn’t give them anything and certainly the offense ran the ball very well and converted and threw it when we had to. Randall Cobb was amazing as was Derrick Locke. We put ourselves in a position now with our second conference win and the sixth overall win to be in the postseason for the fourth straight year, which is the first time in school history. Our work is not done by a long shot. We have two difficult games left and we want to ensure ourselves of a little better pecking order.”
On what was said during halftime:
“I said a lot during halftime; not as much as I did last year at the Liberty Bowl but quite a bit. We knew we had to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and we pretty much did that. They gave us some negative plays and their defense is very good.”
On overall physical play:
“Like a lot of teams, I think they (Vanderbilt) are beat down right now. They haven’t had any bye week, and we had one after our first game. The physical toll of playing in this league is great. We have a lot of guys playing with bumps and bruises and thank goodness Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke felt pretty refreshed at the start of the game and the end of the second half. Before everybody asks, we can’t have Randall take every snap in the wildcat. It is impossible to take that kind of body blows.”
On injuries and hurt players:
“Randall Cobb was cramping in the second half and he bruised his shoulder in the last part of the game. That’s why we took him out for the last 2 to 3 plays of the game. Derrick Locke was cramping as well and he got a `ding’ in his head. It really wasn’t a concussion, it was just a `ding’. A. J. Nance got `dinged’ in the head and Chris Matthews got `dinged’ in the head and ended up with a mild concussion. Paul Warford hurt his wrist a little bit.”
On offensive line play in second half:
“In the second half, I think we did much better. We had some busted assignments but overall, when you run the ball as well as we did then you are obviously doing something good with the offensive line.”
Offensive coordinator Joker Phillips
On Derrick Locke and Randall Cobb:
“Those are the guys that we have to get touches and we just decided to hand it to them before the game. (Vanderbilt) does as good of a job of playing cover two as anybody we’ve played. We struggled with the passing game and we just had to run the football. We sprinkled Morgan (Newton) in there a little bit, but we had to get the ball in those guys’ hands. Those guys are unbelievable and they are warriors. We are just happy to have those two guys.”
On Kentucky’s opening drive of the second half:
“A couple of weeks ago against Mississippi State, we came out of the locker room after scoring the series before the end of the first half and put the ball on the ground after two plays and it changed the momentum. This one today where we took the ball and scored, it got us the momentum back because we had lost it in the first half. Coming out of the locker room is big, especially when you defer the ball on the kickoff and get it in the second half. You have to take advantage of that and we did that today.”
Defensive coordinator Steve Brown
On Kentucky’s defense in the second half:
“In the second half, we just talked to them about adjustments. The thing I thought we had to do in the second half was just have more confidence in covering. The big plays that we gave up were passing plays and it was just a matter of guys being more confident and playing with more passion and understanding that if we win this game we are bowl eligible.”
Kentucky Players
Defensive tackle Ricky Lumpkin
On the mood going into halftime:
“I was mad at the way we played. I thought Vanderbilt outplayed us in the first half and it looked like they were playing for more than we were. We were trying to get to a fourth-straight bowl game and they were trying to ruin our season but they came out ready to play. Luckily we responded after halftime and we stepped up our game to get an important win.”
On coming out of the lockerroom and limiting Vanderbilt’s offense:
“Our defense just stepped up in the second half and we forced a lot of three-and-outs. We kept our offense out on the field and we won the field position.”
On being bowl eligible for the fourth straight year:
“It means a lot to me because that is why the players on our team chose to play for Kentucky.”
Defensive tackle Corey Peters
On what did coach Brooks tell your team at halftime:
“He told us to shut them out. He felt we gave up to many yards to their offense in the first half. I think our offense really helped out our defense today because they were able to put some long drives together and they ran the ball well.”
On getting the sixth win:
“We came into this game feeling like it was a must-win and it’s good to get that off our back because we are bowl eligible and now we have to keep building off it.”
Vanderbilt Head Coach Bobby Johnson
Opening comments:
“It was pretty apparent that [Kentucky] wore us down and beat us down. We could not stop the run in the second half and they controlled the ball for the second half. When you do that… it’s hard to win. Give Kentucky credit for using a simple game plan to take it to us. They did a good job controlling the game.”
On Vanderbilt’s second half offense:
“They controlled the ball and put tremendous pressure on our quarterback. We didn’t feel good that we’d have tremendous success passing. We tried to run to get it to a manageable distance on third down. If we had third and long, we were worried about protection.”
On Patrick Benoist’s injury:
“He has a concussion. He wasn’t unconscious on the field, which was good. Concussions are extremely dangerous and there was no way he was going to go back in. He’s just about ready to come back to the training room from the hospital. He’s a great player and a great leader. I was confident that he would have made a lot of difference today, but I’m not going to say that’s what cost us the game.”
On Kentucky’s Randall Cobb:
“Randall is a solid player. He’s an elusive, strong player and broke tackles. We had people in position to make tackles, but he broke away from them.”
On Vanderbilt’s 10 points off turnovers:
“When we get it near the goal line, we need to score. I was very proud of Ryan Fowler . He had two good kicks. He’s developing into a good kicker and he’ll be good for us next year.”
On Vanderbilt receiver John Cole :
“Our quarterbacks have a lot of confidence in him. He’s a good receiver for us, but he’s not had the opportunity to show us because of injury. He’ll continue to get better.”
Vanderbilt Players
Receiver John Cole
On offensive struggles:
“Its very frustrating, especially with how well the defense has been playing for us.”
On having a lead at halftime:
“I thought it gave us a good chance to win today. We have to all get on the same page and be competitive and want to win.”
On touchdown catch:
“I stuttered at during the route on the pump fake and was able to get on top of the defender. It was good to get it against a player the caliber of any of the cornerbacks in the SEC.”
Defensive end Steven Stone
On offensive game plan of Kentucky:
“They focused on the running game more and hit the gaps really well in the second half.”
On Kentucky’s Randall Cobb:
“He difficult to tackle because he has good vision and is patient.”
On facing Kentucky’s “Wildcat” formations:
“It’s a difficult offense to defend against but I think we did a good job of containing it.”
Safety/linebacker Brent Trice
On being a senior and playing final home game of career:
“The loss is disappointing because we’re competitive and always challenging each other to get better. It was a fast four years for me here at Vanderbilt.”
On the second half:
“They made good adjustments on offense that caused trouble for us. We were unable to get off of the field as a defense.”
Quarterback Mackenzi Adams
On defensive pressure from Kentucky in second half:
“They weren’t blitzing much but were still able to cause trouble for us.”
On struggles throwing in second half:
“I had some off throws today and that caused trouble for us on offense.”
On having halftime lead:
“It was good for us and we talked about what we could do for the second half but couldn’t get the win.”
On playing final home game of career:
“Its bittersweet. I’ve been here for five years which is a long time. I’ve had fun here but it would have been nice to come out of here with a win.”
