University of Kentucky Football Media Conference

Saturday, November 30 2019

Mark Stoops

Kentucky 45

Louisville 13

HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: Proud of our team, of everybody in the organization starting with our players with their attitude. I’ve told you over and over again how much of a joy they have been to coach. And that’s not just lip service, it’s the truth. This is a week during Thanksgiving that there’s a lot of thanks out there and a lot to be grateful for, and our team has been grateful this week. We talked about that and having really good hearts all week and being grateful for the opportunity. They did that.

We talked about elevating our game. Really proud of them the way they have competed and improved throughout the season. Again, not perfect, but really improved, and got better and elevated our game.

Then we talked about this, and I talked about it Monday with you and with the team all week, that that’s the heart and soul of our team, to be tough and to be disciplined and we were pretty good in that regard tonight.

Overall, great team effort, starting with the players. Also like to recognize the coaches. They have worked extremely hard. Late in the year it gets difficult and they spend a lot of time and invest a lot of time in these players and having them over to their house and spending time and going to dinner with them and just investing with these young people. They have to give a lot. So our coaches have done a remarkable job and I’m really proud of them for what they have done.

So it’s been good. Been a lot of fun.

You know, with the game, we felt like we were in control the entire game, outside of that last, what was it, 20 seconds, 30 seconds in the first half. You know, I went for it there, trying to be aggressive. Kind of backed fired on us. I thought our defense would get a stop. To take that kind of a gut punch when you feel like you’re completely dominating sometimes can take the wind out of your sail but it didn’t, not one bit with this group. Came right back in here. Didn’t flinch. Lynn said don’t worry about it, I got you, and he did. What can you say about Lynn. He is truly remarkable in so many ways. But you have to recognize his competitive nature, and just how tough and competitive and what a leader he is.

In our business, if you are going to be an Alpha dog, then you be an Alpha dog and that’s him. When you do that time and time again and prove it and put the team on your back, and say, let’s ride, let’s do this, you know, it’s remarkable.

I compare them, and please don’t misquote me on this, if you’re going to say it, say the whole thing, because Lamar Jackson was probably maybe the greatest player that I ever competed against, but what I admire so much about him is how competitive he is.

You know, he’s a remarkable quarterback and a remarkable talent, but you can tell, what I’ve always admired about him is after that year when we were fortunate and came back and won up there, but that next year when he came down here, it was like, come on, put that team on your back and it was over. He wasn’t going to let anything happen because he was a complete Alpha dog. He was taken over.

And Lynn, in that regard, is one of the most competitive people I’ve seen. So again, don’t say I’m comparing them to Lamar and all that. Lamar is a fantastic, remarkable player, one of the best I’ve ever seen. But both in the same regard of how competitive they are and how much they want it on their back, they want to make plays and they want to — you know, they want to do it for their team. Really proud of Lynn and what he’s done.

Q. What would you say to all the media outside Kentucky that picked you all to have a losing season?
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: Par for the course, right. I mean, really, I think we have out-kicked what they have predicted every year the last four or five years. We are really not worried about that, you know. We really don’t need that for motivation. We’re pretty motivated in what we do and how we go about our business and we feel pretty good about it. You know, a lot of teams can say ifs and buts. Everybody does, right. That’s the game and I could promise you, we’ve been through our fair share and fought our way out of it. You know, if you could go back and put that prediction, I like nine or 10.

Q. A lot of seniors making plays on Senior Day …
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: Again, par for the course. Guys that stay in the program and develop, they generally develop themselves into players. That goes to our coaches and to our strength and conditioning team, Mark Hill and Corey Edmond and D-Mack and those guys, that’s what we pride ourselves on and those guys have really worked hard and bought in and there hasn’t been as many in numbers this year, but they have been fantastic leaders.

Q. Obviously you won by a lot over there last year but did this feel like a more complete performance?
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: It did. It did because this was a much better team. We all know they just went through some tough times a year ago, and still very good players as you saw, some tonight. Coach Satterfield is going to do a remarkable job. To come in and do what he’s done, they have done a fantastic job and they will be back. But they were playing much better and so it felt more complete. Felt, you know, very satisfying to physically do that.

You know, if you don’t understand and recognize what our league is, then you’re not real intelligent, you know what I mean. What you go through and what we go through and the grind, and I know people outside of our league get tired of hearing about that, but come try to go through that gauntlet. You know, it beats you up mentally and physically, but it ultimately prepares us for this, right.

And so really proud of the group and what’s standing, the things that we have.

Q. Your guys were really confident all week although everyone else thought it was a toss-up game. Did you see this kind of margin coming?
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: I felt very — you know, I felt very calm and confident. I don’t want to act like — it’s easy after the fact. I really take the same approach every game. I felt good about our chances, and any time you could run the ball for 521 yards, you’re going to have a good opportunity to win a game.

Q. On Louisville winning the time of possession battle but UK controlling the game…
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: You know, with us, possessing the bail, it could have been more, but we had some real explosive plays to be honest with you. We didn’t have as many of the methodical drives that we’re kind of known for. We hit some explosive play ones today or we would have had a really solid time of possession.

With the ball control, the guys have been really good. You know guys know, fortunately for us, when you have competition, some guys have put the ball on the ground and guess what they are over there watching it with us.

So that kind of motivates them not to fumble and with Lynn again, you have to admire and give him so much credit because of all the things he’s doing and how well he controls that football. You know, it’s amazing, because there were times tonight when we had some options in there, some run reads, and he made great reads.

There was a couple, when I was a little worried with backed up with putting the ball on the ground with some of the things to get on the perimeter, you know what, with him, you have to trust him and go with it.

Q. Was this the best job your offensive line did all season?
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: I don’t know. That’s a hard question. I mean, it’s pretty hard to argue with these results. You know, I’d put it right up there. They have done some really good things and they took great pride in that and they really — you know, they have embraced that, the opportunity to know right now that we have to be very one-dimensional, and that it’s on their shoulders, as well. I say Lynn, but it’s right on theirs, as well.

Q. What’s happened in the last few weeks — that made you revisit the importance of the forward pass or change your recruiting philosophy? Can this work as a sustainable thing?
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: There are pieces within this that are very helpful, you know, the things that we have had to grow into that can always help you going forward.

But we do want to go back to the forward pass (Laughter). I mean, I am in Kentucky. I do understand. I do understand the legacy of Jared (Lorenzen) and Tim Couch and so on.

No, we will get back to balance. There’s no question. And I really like where we’re at. I love our team. I like the guys coming back, with the quarterbacks coming back healthy and I love where we are at in recruiting, so we’ll get back to having some balance.

Q. When you mention that history, that’s been the conventional wisdom about Kentucky Football, is the only way to win is get tricky and throw the ball a hundred times a game; that Kentucky can’t just lineup and throw the football on people in the SEC. How satisfying is that?
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: I believe you can, good question. There was one other gentleman that was a pretty good coach and that was kind of physical himself, right and I’m not dare going to mention his name (Laughter) I’m not saying that.

But back in ’49 and ’50 and ’51, they were pretty tough and pretty physical, as well.

Q. It’s going around on Internet the conversation you had with Coach Satterfield after the game where he was motioning an L’s down, can you tell us about that conversation, what was going on there?
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: No, I can’t. I don’t want to elaborate on that. He’s a good man and a good coach. You could tell I thought both teams were very — for a rivalry game, emotions are always high. I think both teams were very disciplined. His team certainly was and they are certainly very well-coached.

You know, I’d like to believe ours is, as well. We respect them. It’s a healthy rivalry. You know why because I say it in here and I always say it to our team, you know, you have about every seven days to be humbled in this business, so don’t go around beating your chest and getting too far out and ahead of yourself. Just continue to stay with the things that gave you some success. Continue to learn and get better.

So we’ll do that. I don’t know, at the end it got weird because they called a time-out and we got a sack and there’s a fumble and ruckus and all that. But our team was very respectful all day. I don’t know if an L’s down is going to offend them. There’s going to be a lot worse in this rivalry over time.

Q. On how the defense has grown as a unit …
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: Yeah, you know, they really have done a remarkable job. Coach White, starting with him as the defensive coordinator has really done a good job. First year, calling plays and being a defensive coordinator, he’s done a remarkable job.

All the coaches, Coach Hood, Clinkscale, Coach LeBlanc, all the young coaches and GAs, they have just all worked really hard. They take great pride in what they do. Our defensive players have heard that, and you know, again, if you go back to my message in the summer, of course I embrace and love the guys that we left.

But who are the new guys? You know, that’s our deal. Like everybody can be replaced, starting with this position. You know, our guys, we’re proud of them. We’re going to develop them or whatever, but there’s going to be new guys and that’s what we do. We recruit and we develop and continue to bring guys along and there are some guys that made big strides and that’s what we continue and look forward to.

Again, I have to get right on the road. My dang staff is killing me. Got me running tomorrow. Of course they want me in-state. So got to get out on the road tomorrow and I’ll be gone all week. Get back Friday. Recruit over the weekend. Leave again Sunday. But that’s what our staff’s doing. They are pushing us.

Q. Talk about Eddie Gran, all the adversities he’s had to overcome this year with the injuries and I’m sure sleepless nights.
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: You really can’t say enough about him. Again, I understand people, they always want to — again, OCs have the biggest target on them. They are an easy target. Offensive coordinators, everywhere, everywhere, are easy targets. You know, when a run doesn’t work, he should have passed. When he passed, he should have run, right. It’s just too easy.

But what he’s done, you know, an enormous amount of stress and pressure on him and all of us. With him I could remember, I go back to that transition, and I told you in here that we would meet in the morning and we’d go about our business and he’d probably start designing plays both ways with the forward pass and with the run. Then we would come back and we would meet again and then we would separate and we would come back and meet again.

But I’m going to say this: He really made the right decision. He did not back off with Lynn. When he made that decision, he moved forward. He really helped me because I come back Monday morning, are you sure about this, and what do you want to do.

He kept on coming back to it and was very strong on his conviction and so was Darin Hinshaw and the staff, and as you can see, Lynn gives you so many options. There’s a lot of creative things you can do. You know, it gave us the best opportunity to win.

Q. Did you put in a request for a Bowl game where there’s 100 percent chance of rain?
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: Yeah, I think so. Seattle. (Laughter).

Q. Most quarterbacks, if they ran 45 plays and 43 of them were runs, they would find themselves running into a brick wall at some point. How many guys are out there that could — obviously great play calling but how many guys could do what Lynn has done when everybody knows he’s running?
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: It is a great point because there’s a lot of stress and creative things, but a lot of it, you can’t really appreciate enough for what he’s doing, you’re right. Because on the last touchdown that he ran, I was a second away from calling time-out, because of the look we had where like, oh, no, now they are sliding — I said, there’s like two guys outside and the play we were running and I just said, no, he’ll run them over, but he didn’t. He was patient.

We kicked him out and he hit him up inside and made him miss, made the extra defender miss and that’s kind of the confidence that you have in him. You give him a little space, you give him that ability and it worked. I mean, that’s, again, he has worked so hard and so proud of him, but some of that is between him and God.

Q. You guys at one point were 2-3, and you didn’t have a healthy quarterback. To win seven games and finish out like this, how special of a run was this?
HEAD COACH MARK STOOPS: It was a very special run. It really was. Just proud. I think the team is proud of themselves in that it’s hard. You go in there during that stretch and we play, what we’re doing, again, going on the road, those SEC teams, we weren’t healthy but we didn’t play very good and I didn’t coach them very good and it’s tough and we’re back in there Monday and back in there Tuesday.

It’s a long season and it’s just too easy to give in, you know what I mean and we will not have a defeated mentality. Those guys won’t do it. They just won’t coaching staff. We’ll look for all options to continue to grind away and improve and get better and that’s on them. It’s a fun group, and I think that’s what they are most proud of. Not perfect. But when you get scarred up and you get beat up and you pick yourself back up off the mat and go back out there and do that and compete like this, then, you know, that does make them feel good and it should.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
_{Rev #2 by #398 at 2019-11-30 21:08:00 GMT}

Kentucky Football Postgame Quotes 
Kentucky vs. Louisville    
Kroger Field – Lexington, Ky. 
Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019 
 
Kentucky Student-Athletes
#29 Yusuf Corker, S, So.
On snapping the losing streak against Louisville at home and raising the Governor’s Cup trophy at Kroger Field …
“It felt really good, especially because this game means a lot to us, and we just really went out there and did our jobs to keep the cup here in Lexington.”
 
On what the defense did to stifle the Louisville offense …
“I just felt like when they scored, we were a little out of place, and I just felt like we just turned things up at halftime and made little adjustments.”
 
On winning seven games after not being guaranteed a winning season …
“It feels good to be bowl eligible and just sticking together as a team. I know it got kind of rough at the beginning, but just sticking together as a team and having great coaching made it happen.”
 
#93 Max Duffy, Punter, Jr.
On if he was given license to take off after his punt …
“I always have license to go for it if I want to, but I’m always going to take up as much as I can until I have to kick it and let the line of 11 guys step up. It would’ve been touch and go if I would’ve got it off or not. We were up on the scoreboard, so I thought I better just kick it.”
 
On how tempted he was to take off instead of kick it …
“Pretty tempted. I thought about it. We watch film all the time, and they played restrain at Miami, and they just sent the two guys, a little bit like Missouri-style, and I thought this was going to open today if I took my chance so I stood out, but as soon as it came close to me being tackled, I didn’t want to take the risk, I just wanted to kick it.”
 
On his plans moving forward …
“Yeah, so I have a master’s degree to finish so I’m going to sports psychology after my masters. I’ll go home for a couple weeks after the bowl game now and get to see some people back home, escape the weather, and get to the beach for a little while, and then come back and keep on my degree.”
 
On if he will be kicking at Kentucky next season …
“Yes, as long as I get the job I guess.”
 
#91 Calvin Taylor Jr., DE, Sr.
On the victory…
“This win was very satisfying. To go out with a bang, showing that this is our state. Putting that trophy where it belongs. It felt really good.”
 
On UK dominating the game…
“Like I said, this is our state. There is no doubt. We are the best team in the state. We have proved it two years in a row and will keep that tradition going.”
 
On his experience watching Lynn Bowden preform…
“All week we separated offense and defense. Every time we would ask what they looked like, they would say they were going to come out and dominate. They were going to run for a lot of yards. They did tonight and we are really proud of that. Seeing Lynn, in his possibly last game, go out with a bang like that. I am really happy for my teammates because we had a lot of adversity this year. Nobody will understand. We never faltered, we just stayed together and got tighter. It feels great to see that happen tonight.”
 
On bouncing back from injuries and loses…
“The overall word of the year is resilience. We are a resilient football team. We are a bunch of dogs out there, going out and working hard every day. We lift hard and practice hard. We are a tough football team. I think that is what it says about us.”
 
#24 Christopher Rodriguez Jr., RB, R-Fr.
On the success with running the ball…
“It is great. Obviously, you want to throw the ball a lot more, but if they can’t stop it then why move away from it.”
 
On Lynn Bowden Jr. as an athlete…
“He is a phenomenal player. There is nothing he can’t do.”
 
On being patient for gaps…
“That is something we work on all the time. That is another attribute of being great, being patient. He likes to see where he wants to run and when he does he is going to hit it, and hit it hard.”
 
On the help of the offensive line throughout the game…
“I am going to have to take those boys out. Those guys are good. Shout out to them, they are great. They are not good, they are great.”
 
On if the offense can work without Lynn…
“It definitely can. Before Lynn it was Terry (Wilson). We stuck with him back then and it was going great, so why move him.”
 
#3 Jordan Griffin, S, Sr.
On what this win means to the team…
“Definitely a blessing. We wanted our main focus yesterday was to not take anything for granted, and that was our main focus today. We wanted to just come out here, enjoy the day, enjoy it for our seniors, enjoy it for our program and continue to push forward. That was our outcome.”
 
On today’s game plan…
“Honestly, our game plan was very simple. Everything that we practiced, it came out in the game. Those plays were just mistakes on our end and just missed tackles. That’s something you can control, it wasn’t nothing or anything as far as game plan wise, but we just focused in on those things and went out and played Kentucky football.”
 
On his interception…
“That’s big. That’s a big way to finish it out here on Kroger Field, knowing this will be my last time being out here. That was definitely a blessing as well, being able to do it for my guys, my family and for my program.”
 
On experience playing in the rain this season…
“I love the rain. I think we go crazy when we’re in the rain. So, I like it. Playing in the rain, I think it’s game No. 5 in the rain if I’m not mistaking, but it seems like we play better in the rain, and I’m all for it.”
 
On dominating Louisville’s offense…
“We simply focused in on what we were coached to do. Our coaches had a great game plan, like I said previously, and we just went out there and executed. We stayed together and continued to push on, and that was the main focus the entire week and each and every day that’s what we did.”
 
On Lynn offense…
“Lynn Bowden, first and foremost, is just a tremendous person and a tremendous athlete. He’s a firecracker, he’s very explosive. I’m glad that he’s on my end, he’s on my side. That’s my brother, and I’m very happy for him and his future of course.”
 
On secondary being viewed as the “weak link” coming in the season only to come out strong…
“Yes sir. It’s been a long journey. Going through adversity this year, I’m glad to finish out that way. I know that those guys are going to continue to keep the legacy going and continue to do even better than what we did this year. Those guys have come a long way, and I’m blessed to be a part of those guys.”
 
#31 Jamar Watson, OL, Jr.
On personal performance…
“I’ve seen him on film all week, and I knew how I could attack him, and I wanted to attack him. I knew I had to be one of the guys to win a one-on-one matchup upfront and I did that.”
 
On Lynn’s performance…
“He’s a hell of a player, best player I’ve ever seen in person.”
 
On overall challenges this season…
“It’s been great, but we lost Davonte Robinson in the preseason who started last year, and we lost some other guys. People had doubted us in the middle of the season so it’s good for us to have the season that we had.”
 
On persevering this season…
“I think the leaders led. We’ve had a rough time and the coaches brought us together. They did a good job of bringing us together and different things throughout the season that made us a cohesive team and we fought through adversity.”
 
#1 Lynn Bowden Jr., QB, Jr.
On how much he has grown and learned to be patient …
“I think I played one snap (my first game) and I wasn’t real happy about it. I had to learn to be patient. There were a lot of great players that were here and I had just come out of high school and got to camp late, so I had to learn how to be patient and I did that. I was always a guy that played varsity since my freshman year. I scored, I think, 25 touchdowns my freshman year and got my first three offers. I kind of thought it was going to be like that coming to college and I had to learn to be patient.”
 
On what goes across his mind when he breaks a tackle and is headed to the goal line …
“Today, I had to just trust my speed. My coach and my teammates have been getting on my because I cut too much, and I definitely agree with that. I trust my cut ability more than my speed and today I just wanted to try something new and strike a match.”
 
On if he imagined the season to end like this …
“No, I didn’t. We had expectations, it was just those little tragedies we had and overcame as a unit, team and program. We just kept fighting.”
 
On ending the season with a big win vs. a rival …
“It feels great. We went out there and put our heart on the line and it was good.”
 
On what it is like when everyone knows he is running the ball and they still cannot stop it …
“It is a great feeling, you know what I mean? The coaches here are doing something right.”

Kentucky Football Postgame Quotes 
Kentucky vs. Louisville    
Kroger Field – Lexington, Ky. 
Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019 
 
Louisville Head Coach Scott Satterfield
 
Opening statement…
“Man, just a tough day for the red team out there today. I think the first half, our guys battled well. Big stop defensively right before the half, and then a nice touchdown run by Javian Hawkins got us back in the game. Second half just could never get anything going, and just kind of got wore down really. Bottom line, got wore down by their offensive line and their defensive line quite frankly. I think they kind of dominated the line of scrimmage in the second half and I think that was obviously the difference in the game. Offensively for us, you know, we’d get something going, we’d get a penalty, get it called back and just too many false start penalties, just negative plays, self-inflicted ones, offensively, to get anything going. Then defensively, just didn’t tackle good at all today, and then again, I think their offensive line just kind of put it to our d-line.”
 
On knowing Kentucky was going to run the ball and about missed tackles…
“I mean yeah, we knew they were going to run the football, but it’s still hard to stop – so were all the teams we’ve played. Defensively, we’ve struggled quite honestly, we all know that, we struggled this year tackling. You know, we don’t have very much depth there on that side of the ball. We got to get a lot stronger, and I think that was evident, upfront, really, at the linebacker level. We had guys there tonight, several times, and just could not get them down, broke tackles, and then he’s going to score, you know, because there’s nothing else there. You’re trying to put everybody in that box to stop the run, and once they clear that five- to six-yard area, there’s not anybody else there, and if you don’t make the tackle, it’s going to be a touchdown. That’s why they had so many big plays.”
 
On if tackles are a matter of angles or strength…
“You know, I think it’s a probably a little bit of both. It’s technique, it’s strength, it’s the proper angle, proper fit, where you’re at. I mean, it’s all those things, and we got to get a lot better.”
 
On what Lynn Bowden was able to do…
“He’s a good athlete, good player. I think for them, it starts up front. Their offensive line is very, very good, solid, one of the better lines we’ve faced this year. They work well together, they’re big, they’re strong. Then, what it ends up doing is putting one guy on the quarterback. He was able to get away several times today, there were some big runs. Once he gets an open field, it’s hard to tackle. Once he gets to that point, he’s going back to his days as receiver that he had earlier in the year, from being kick returner. He’s hard to handle in an open field for anybody, and he’s a special player. What they’ve been able to do the second half of their season with him there, what, I think they’ve lost one game maybe since he’s taken over as quarterback. So, they limit your possessions offensively, they control the game that way, and its worked out well for them.”
 
On was Lynn Bowden’s touchdown at the beginning of the third quarter a backbreaker… 
“Yeah, well we grabbed some good momentum at the end of the first half. We stopped him on fourth down and then two plays later we score, you’re feeling pretty good about it at halftime. You’re down four. Second half we couldn’t get anything going offensively and they didn’t really slow down. It was just a bad half for us. Whether we got worn down, I just think when you break it down to one thing it’s really just the trenches on both sides of the ball. They won the game.” 
 
On his message to the team after the loss… 
“I told them that one game doesn’t define us for this season. We’ve had a very solid year, we’ve grown a lot. We got here in January… to right now. But I told them, when you go through tough times, you go through adversity like this. You have to learn from it. You taste it in your mouth. They have to carry that on, particularly to the young guys that are going to be back as we go through the off-season. You have those days you don’t want to go to weights, you don’t want to do things right, you think about this, what it feels like in this locker room, so that propels you to work harder next year. You know I hate it for the seniors, hate for them to go out like this against this team, but for the young guys, you have to learn from it and grow.” 
 
On how they turn their focus heading into a bowl game… 
“I think for us, we will come back in, we will be in for the next couple of days, exams start and we are going to give them about five to six days off. We will figure out where we are going to go play our bowl game. We will come back in and start practicing. It really, for us, is going to be a new season. Put this one to bed, and now, for us, these next three to four weeks we’ll work on fundamentals, try to get better as a football team, try to heal up and mend some spots and then try to get ready to go win a bowl game and carry that into the offseason. What we did this year, we got a lot of promise with this team, a lot to build off of. We will continue to do that, us coaches will be out recruiting basically for the next week and a half. We will be out on the road for that, but that is kind of our schedule for the next week and a half.” 
 
On their struggle in the tackling game… 
“Yeah, it was pretty bad today. It was bad last week, too. You know, Syracuse, you know, against this team right here you’re going to have a long day if you don’t tackle. They run hard, their backs (running backs) run hard, their quarterback can obviously run and it was one of those days. It’s frustrating when you have a guy there and you just don’t get him down. It’s frustrating, as coaches and probably as players as well, we have to get better frontal, we have to continue to learn and grow as a football team and get better in that aspect.” 
 
Kentucky Football Postgame Quotes 
Kentucky vs. Louisville    
Kroger Field – Lexington, Ky. 
Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019 
 
Louisville Student-Athletes

#73 Mekhi Becton, OL, Jr.
On Kentucky’s defense…
“They were really big up front. We couldn’t really cut off the backside. I feel like that’s what affected us the most. That nose guard was making a whole lot of trouble this game, I feel like that affected us the most.”
 
On how this affects the mood for the season…
“I mean, of course it’s going to hurt. We played our rivalry. So, either way, the season, like Coach Mike [Sirignano] said earlier, if we can have a great season, if we don’t win this one it really don’t matter. So, of course it’s going to hurt us because it’s the rivalry team.”
 
On Coach Scott Satterfield saying a bowl game is like a new season…
“Yeah, I agree with Coach Satterfield. It’s like a whole new season. You’ve pretty much just got to just, sit back and not even worry about the regular season. You’ve got to worry about who you’ve got coming up. So, I agree with him on that.”
 
#7 Dez Fitzpatrick, WR, R-Jr.
On whether the loss dampens the season…
“No. To be able to do what we’ve done, from last year’s team to this year’s team, it doesn’t take anything away from us. Obviously, we wanted to beat the in-state school, that’s what we we’re looking forward to the most, but didn’t get it done. We’re not going to look back onto it too much. We’re going to get our corrections and look forward to bowl week.”
 
On how penalties and mistakes affect the offense’s momentum…
“I mean, definitely. If you look back at the games that we did lose, you know, the Florida State game, the Clemson game, you can see our offense doing really well, and just like you said, we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. And the games that we do really well offensively, you know, Wake Forest, NC State and Virginia, we don’t see too many offensive penalties, we don’t see too many offsides or holding calls. It’s just, we can’t beat ourselves up and that’s what happened on the games that we’ve lost. So, we’ve just got to be able to get back into it, film room tomorrow, get right back to it, see what we did and how not to do it the next week and in-time for another game.”
 
On difficulty to throw in these conditions…
“Definitely, it’s a little harder with the rain. Especially not just drizzling, but big old inch raindrops coming down, it’s definitely hard catching the ball, definitely hard throwing the ball, concentration, but that’s exactly what separates you. You know, we both knew that coming into the game it was going to be raining, we knew both teams were going to be trying to pound the ball. And then, whoever made those big plays, those splash plays, but it looked like they just kind of got the upper hand.”
 
#17 Dorian Ethridge, ILB, Jr.
On Kentucky’s success…
“You’ve just got to give credit to them. They have a really good running game, they blocked extremely well, we just didn’t tackle well as a defense and that cost us. Their blocking scheme was really well, and they run block really good, so it was just tough.”
 
On Lynn Bowden…
“He’s extremely slippery. He’s just one of those guys that you’ve got to wrap up, run your feet and get down and we didn’t do too good of a job of that today.”
 
On whether they saw different things from Kentucky than what they prepared for…
“No, they switched up a couple things on their blocking schemes, but we prepared for it well but, like I said, it was just up to us, not making are tackles and executing.”
 
On how to turn things around for the bowl game…
“You go back to the fundamentals. You go back and work extremely hard. You go through the day-one things and make sure it’s done well.”
 
#94 G.G. Robinson, DL, R-Sr.
On UK’s offensive line…
“They were pretty good. They’re up there with some of the best lines we’ve seen this season. There were way more missed tackles than missed assignments. They took the D-Line out of the game. The way they blocked, the three interior D-Linemen really couldn’t make any of the plays. I’ll have to watch the film, but I definitely know it was way more missed tackles. If you want to win a game, you can’t have that many missed tackles.
 
On moving forward for the bowl game…
“Of course it’s going to linger because, of all the games, it’s the one you definitely want to win. But even going 7-4 going into the game, that didn’t even matter, I wanted to win this one really bad. We just have to let it go. We have 14 to 15 bowl practices. We just have to work hard, and whoever we play, we have to get the win against them.”
 
On the mood of the seniors…
“They’re not going to hold their heads. Yeah, we lost, but we’re not going to hold our heads for a month going into the bowl game. Everybody will be regrouped and ready by the time we start practicing again.”