Kentucky Quotes
Mark Stoops
COACH STOOPS: Very disappointing loss. Just disappointed with the way we played. Didn’t play a clean enough football game.
We talked about it all week. We just needed to play a good, clean football game. And play to our capabilities the best we can. And we didn’t do that tonight and give Florida a lot of credit, because they had a lot to do with that.
So, they played very good and very disruptive defensively, caused us a lot of problems all night. Really never got in any rhythm or any sync offensively. And again they had a lot to do with that.
They had great cover guys who were very disruptive up front with their D line. It was very difficult for us to handle their pressure at times. We put ourselves in a hole. We didn’t make plays when we had to.
Starting again with an interception put them in great field position and defensively had every opportunity to stop them on fourth down and didn’t get them down. It leads to the first touchdown.
And their second touchdown, same thing. We had our opportunities, didn’t execute what we needed to, gave up a big third down that gave them a fourth and a few inches and they converted that.
But that third down I thought was critical for their second touchdown at the end of the first half.
So, again, just we need to go back to work and become a better football team, play cleaner, do the little things that are necessary to win games like that. I’m very proud of our team’s effort, they played hard, we’re just not clean enough. So, but I’m done, I’m just going to ramble.
Q. On the dropped, potential 40-yard touchdown pass on the first possesion …
COACH STOOPS: Right at the beginning you talking about? Yeah, I mean, it’s critical, because if I’m not mistaken right after that was the interception that set them up. So, you talk about a huge swing.
And we never really gave our opportunity for our fans to really get into the game. We had great support, I thank the fans again. It was a great environment leading up to the game and the Cat Walk and seeing the stadium filled was incredible. And we need to play better to get them into it. That would have been a great start. It didn’t happen.
Q. You mentioned a couple defensive miscues. When you give up 14 points and 240 yards, do you expect to win that football game?
COACH STOOPS: Sure you do, but you never know how it’s going to play out. We talk about it all the time. You could play a very good football game on both sides and if you don’t play a situation right, you lose.
Turnovers are critical. There were very few in the game, really, but I don’t count the last one that Patrick threw. I can’t hold that against him, he had to throw it up and give somebody a shot. But the one interception was critical.
I was pleased with the defensive effort. I felt like the guys played hard, they prepared the right way. It’s the urgency of the communication a lot on both sides of the ball and that’s what I talk about in practice a lot and just preparing yourself to play well.
That miscommunication on the third down that set up the fourth and short, that will bother me. We got to get some things switched or fixed up. But I was proud.
I thought we had a good plan and guys played hard and put ourselves in a position to win the game. Offensively, the same thing. It’s a lot to do with momentum and just like we talked about, that missed opportunity early set us back. And then you put the interception behind it and we played tentative the rest of the night.
Q. On the offensive line …
COACH STOOPS: Yeah, there was some issues. We knew that going into the game. Watching them rush and we had — we can’t afford to take those negative plays and get behind the chains.
Just like we saw last week with our own penalties, but this week with sacks or negative yardage plays, running the ball or getting sacked. Get behind the chains, we’re in a world of hurt against a good football team.
We can’t do that, we got to be a little bit smarter in how we protect and take our shots. We did that. We hit the one late, we couldn’t get it in the end zone.
Q. On the 3rd and goal play from the five-yard line …
COACH STOOPS: Yeah, another missed opportunity. We had every shot to convert that and I felt like it was a little high. I felt like even down to the second to our last possession when we had the third and 13, we had a little slant right there.
We had a great corner (against us) in (Vernon) Hargreaves, but we got a big wide out that we got to put it right in his chest and give him an opportunity to come down with it and we just missed them.
Q. On assessing Patrick Towles through three games …
COACH STOOPS: We’ll get back. I don’t want to comment on that right now. Patrick’s done some very good things. I’m not going to sit here and throw him under the bus. We need to play better all around him. There were some drops out there, there were some protection issues that we talked about. There’s enough blame to go around. It’s not all on Patrick by any means just like the wins aren’t, and he’s doing some good things.
Sure, I think he would be the first one to tell you and myself and coach Dawson, that we need to improve and he’ll be held accountable to his mistakes just like the rest of our team.
Q. There’s been a lot of talk about the improvement in play. How do you think that came about tonight?
COACH STOOPS: Just — I don’t want to throw any unit under the bus, but I felt like certainly we could play better than that.
Q. On Florida’s pass rush …
COACH STOOPS: They’re big athletic guys, disruptive guys. We watched it. I watched some tape on them and I saw some spots where I saw all four guys win one-on-ones and that caught my attention early in the week. When all four of your guys are winning in one-on-one pass rush situations, you know they can rush.
Q. On Florida’s pass rush …
COACH STOOPS: Yeah, it is. They’re good. They have been for years now and they have good cover guys. Those cover guys with Vernon back in this game and those guys have been around for awhile, the majority of those guys in the back end, they have seen a lot of football and they’re good cover guys and again they were active up front. And we always give them credit, because they deserve it, but we need to play better as well of the we had some opportunities, it was a tight football game. It always comes down a few plays, you just don’t know what plays are going to make the difference. They made more than we did.
Q. On the overall play of the UK defense …
COACH STOOPS: Yeah, again, I was proud of the overall effort. I really was. I felt like the guys were in good position and that’s what I look for of how we play all the situations. I felt like that Coach Eliot really had the guys prepared to make plays. Again, when we’re ought there, we could tell whether things are giving us issues or not. We know there’s matchup problems and you ain’t ever going to just solve it all the time, but we had a good plan, we had guys in position, and I was proud of their effort. Again, I just wish we could have made a few more.
Q. On Grier’s ability to extend plays …
COACH STOOPS: Well, it was really disappointed continuing with our effort at times, getting back to the first possession I think it was when they had it on the fourth and goal and had him sacked and didn’t get him down. And then late in the game we had a big negative yardage play there and he gets away with it.
So, you got to give him credit. He obviously has a nice knack for that and getting more and more comfortable with more reps he’s getting. We’re just starting to see him a lot and so it was good. It was impressive by him and those are some things we need to do better.
Q. On if he’s worried about the team’s confidence …
COACH STOOPS: No, no. I’m not worried about our confidence. It’s a constant grind to get guys to understand to do the little things right. They’re young guys, with a lot on their plate that have given us a great effort. And they will continue to give us a great effort. So we’ll get back to work and improve. We’ll have another great opportunity right here next week and I want everybody to keep the faith and come on back and support this team and we’re going to go back to work on Monday and look to improve. No, I don’t worry about our confidence we know these are hard fought games, all of them. And here’s another game that came down to the wire. And they made the plays and we didn’t. So we’ll go back to work to look to improve and can’t wait to get back out there Monday.
#18 Boom Williams , RB
On the last drive and being able to possibly win it on that drive …
“Yeah, that is what everybody is thinking, we’re going to go down and score, win the game, and end the streak. We weren’t able to do that, they made more plays than us and that’s why they won the game.”
On the team’s performance …
“We’re not pointing the fingers at anybody. Just going to have to watch films, see the things that we can correct. See the things that we can get better at and improve on. Correct those little things in practice and get ready for Missouri.”
On Patrick Towles’ performance …
“Patrick is a strong guy. It’s our job, for the other 10 guys on the field to keep them up so he can go out there and lead the offense. Like I said, we’re just going to get in the film room and see the things we can correct. We believe in Patrick 100% so like I said it’s a team game and a team effort and we just didn’t do enough tonight.”
#6 Jason Hatcher, DE
On disappointment in the loss …
“Very disappointed. It was a hard game, long game. We just couldn’t make enough plays.”
On feeling of being out there for the first time …
“It was a great feeling being out there after so long. It would have been a better feeling to get the win.”
On confidence of this team …
“I still believe we are a very confident team. Sometimes confident people bump their head and they have to learn from it. I think that’s the biggest thing, learning how to continue through adversity.”
#67 Cory Johnson, DT
On the confidence level of the team after their first loss of the season …
“We battled, they battled and they just got the best of it at the end of the game. We are going to do what we do with no setbacks and keep fighting.”
On if he is proud of how his unit played …
“I’m proud of my whole team. Defense, offense – I’m proud of everybody.”
#14 Patrick Towles, QB
On the performance …
“I’m definitely missing balls that I usually hit and there is no excuse for that. We have to execute better. I have to execute better if we want to consistently win. I didn’t execute consistently tonight.”
On the quickness of the Florida pass rush …
“I have to make more plays, and if I make more plays they won’t keep coming after me as much as they were.”
On motivation that he gave his team for the last drive …
“I told them that we were going to do all we can to score a touchdown. I gave it all I had, I put everything out there, gave it everything I could, threw the ball I had and it wasn’t enough. But, luckily for us, we have nine more chances and we’re thankful for that.”
#15 Marcus McWilson, S
On the team’s effort …
“Obviously, we are disappointed with any loss especially at home. Defense played well and offense played well. But we have to play better on both sides of the ball to get a win.”
On what he learned tonight …
“When you get hit you still have to move forward. They came up with some big plays, but we have to capitalize and be more consistent and detailed on both sides.”
On confidence of the team …
“Florida is a good team. Confidence wise, I don’t think anyone should discourage themselves. We have good players, they have good players, we are all ready to compete.”
#11 J.D. Harmon, CB
On the team’s first loss of the season …
“As a team, we’re all very disappointed. We left a lot on the field. We could’ve made some more plays, and had a couple of missed assignments here and there. They were the cleaner team so they came out with the win. As a team, we just left some plays out on the field. But we’ll get better and get ready for Missouri.”
On earning a right to underestimate a team …
“We’re going into every game getting everyone’s best. I feel like we did come a long way, but we haven’t arrived yet. We’re still working. We’re going to go back to work. That’s the main focus. We’re going to worry about us and not worry about the other team. Just focus on getting better, and just taking it week-by-week and game-by-game.”
On defensive progression …
“It’s come a very long way. I haven’t seen guys as passionate as we are now. We’re relentless and we play with a high intensity. That’s something that’s been missing here at Kentucky. Coach (Mark) Stoops definitely brought that along.”
#45 Josh Forrest, LB
On the team’s performance …
“I feel like we played hard and fought hard, we just weren’t able to make enough plays.”
On the team’s performance defensively …
“I feel like we played good, but there’s still some things that we did wrong and we gave up points, so there are things that we can do better”
On Coach Stoops telling the team to keep their confidence …
“Yes, that’s all we can do. This game is behind us and there is nothing that we can do about it now, on to the next game.”
Florida Quotes
Head Coach Jim McElwain
Opening statement…
“What a great win. Heck of a road win against a team that’s going to win a lot of games in this league and is getting better and better. The defense obviously stepped up and played really good. Missing the field goal on a low kick, not getting points in the red area, throwing the interception. Those are the things that are going to hurt us that we have to get better at. These guys were into this game and played their hearts out. I’m awfully proud of them.”
On Florida’s freshmen and how they handled the Commonwealth environment…
“It’s always fun to see those first-year guys in their first real hostile environment. Give Kentucky credit, I thought this was a great crowd, they were into the game. They made it fun to be here, and that’s pretty cool. To see those [freshmen players] jumping up and down. A lot of those guys are going to be playing a lot of games in these stadiums, so as much experience as we can get is good.”
On the importance of getting a big win on the road…
“They knew that this was a quality opponent. As I said, they’re going to win games in this conference. To come in here on such a big night, I don’t know but it looked full. Was it (the stadium) full? Looked like it and it wasn’t even basketball season, right? They’ve done a heck of a job here at Kentucky, give them all the credit in the world when it comes to getting this program where it is. They’re going to be a force to be reckoned with for many years to come.”
On QB Will Grier’s performance…
“I think he did some decent things, obviously he has a lot of growing to do. I thought he did some good things with his feet, got us some plays, but that might have gotten him into some trouble as well by not staying in the pocket and letting the play develop. He left some awful big plays on the field. With that being said, for the most part he did a decent job of taking care of the football except for that throw in the endzone. But we’ll learn from it, that’s why we play the game, I’m excited to get back at it on Monday.”
#4, Brandon Powell, WR
On the big win on the road …
“It was very big for us, first away game and it was an SEC game, we needed this win and it just gave us motivation for the rest of the season. So we’re just going to put this one behind us and keep moving forward. We have a big opponent next week, we just have to come ready.”
On the young team getting experience on the road …
“I think it was very big for us. You know now they finally see what the SEC is all about. The first two games we kind of just did what we wanted to do, now playing an SEC team on the road it prepared them well for the rest of the season coming up.”
On things to work on for upcoming games …
“Little things like communication is key to work on, we could get better at that.”
#21, Kelvin Taylor, RB
On if it was hard to focus on the game with the distractions this week …
“No sir, not really. I just focus on my team and kept working hard during practice. Really I have forgotten all about that. My preparation for me when I get out there is to encourage my teammates. We are looking for a win, and that’s all. “
On how much a win was due …
“I feel like we did really well for our team tonight. It just shows us that we don’t let adversity hit us and we keep fighting until the clock says zero, and we are going to live with the results. We are going to go back on Monday and have a great walk-through practice and we are going to watch film tomorrow. (We have too) keep getting better from it and see what we did wrong so we are prepared for next week. “
#83, Jake McGee, TE
On the offense’s performance …
“First conference win, Will (Grier)’s first SEC start on the road, you really have to give a lot of credit to the defense for pulling that thing out for us. As an offense, we just need to score one more than them. It would have been nice to get a few more drives converted but nice to get the win.”
On ending the first half with a touchdown …
“It’s always good to get a score right before the half and go into the locker room with momentum. I wish we could have built on it a little more this second half and really put some stuff together, but we’ll watch it, try to get it all corrected and get ready for Tennessee.”
On his diving catch …
“I’d rather stay up, but you know, if you’ve got to catch it, it’s better than letting it hit the ground. I try not to dive too much. I’m getting old, so I try to stay up, but it didn’t work out tonight.”
