Oct. 13, 2009
Opening Statement
"Well we are obviously looking forward to be able to return at home after two weeks on the road. After really looking over the game tapes from this past Saturday, it's no different then what we thought and obviously we didn't play well in all areas. You can't have eight penalties on the road, you can't turn the ball over three times against any team, but certainly us. We had six first downs we accumulated on defense due to penalties. Going back over, we just didn't play well. I was really proud of the guys though, who came back Sunday and were really focused. I think they understood the urgency of getting back on track and we fully expect to do that this week. We will go back to work on that today. Kentucky is a very good football team and we have our work cut out for us. They came down to a two-point conversion against South Carolina, which obviously is a very good football team. They are a good team, so we will have to play much better than we did on Saturday to win the football game."
Since their quarterback got hurt last week, is this a game where they might be doing something really different on offense?
"That is really kind of a question mark for us as to where they are going to go with this. We even went back to last year, to figure out the last two games of what they did quarterback-wise, because they basically had the same issue. We have done our homework and we have our best educated guess, but we are not really sure what that means. We are obviously going to prepare for a number of different scenarios."
What came out of your meeting with Antonio Coleman?
"Him and I had a great conversation the other day just about him personally, production, and things of that nature. I am really proud of him for playing through all of the issues that he has had to play through. He has had to play with that cast on his hand, and that limits what he can do with his thumb, and for a defensive lineman, that's something you need to have. I am really proud of him playing through some adversity with that personally."
How much does it help to have guys who will come talk to you and come share with you some of their concerns about playing?
"It's great. That's what I want. I watch every game tape of every guy, so they are not going to come to me with an issue that I am not already aware of. So, when guys come to talk to me, they know my door is open. We will talk about what's best for the team first and for them second and that's a good thing."
Would you consider a position change for a guy like that (Coleman)?
"No."
Antonio has zero tackles in the last two games. Is it because he is doing some dirty work that is not rewarding on the stat sheets or why do you think that is?
"Well, first of all the stat sheets don't tell the story. I have seen some guys who maybe have two sacks in a football game but become All-Americans because the guard blocked the wrong one, and that's all anybody sees. So, it's very overrated. He is doing what we are asking him to do within the defense. Don't look or read into whether he had a sack or he didn't. We have to play within the structure of the defense and that's what we tell the guys and he is doing what we are asking him to do and he has been the ultimate teammate."
What makes Kentucky good on offense?
"I will start with their offensive line. They are really good up front. They have a very physical fullback; there are a lot of two-backs. There have been a lot of two-back run games right now. Really it just starts with the offensive line. They are very big, very physical. You can tell they have been playing together. They understand what they are doing. It's the product of a system that has been in place for a while. The tailbacks are very physical. They have got a good scheme. So, I think it is a combination of all that, so if you look at their offense they are balanced as good as you can be balanced when it comes to production. They have 167 yards a game throwing the ball and running the ball, which is as balanced as you can get. So, they don't just do one thing, they can run it and throw it. They are very physical and good at what they do."
When does a freshman stop being a freshman in the SEC?
"The bottom line is, you can keep saying that all year. By game seven, they have seen enough of SEC football to know what you have to do to compete in it."
Has Ben Tate been the player that you expected him to be?
"I'm really proud of Ben. But for me to say that he's been more than I've expected, would imply that I didn't expect a lot from him, and I do. He's a good back, but the offensive line has been doing a great job of giving him those lanes. Where he has been impressive to me is when there aren't those running lanes and seams in the defense, he's been very physical and gets things to the perimeter. He's been able to make a guy miss, because he's hard to bring down, and he can gain yards after contact. I just think that he's done a really good job of that--he's beat up and tired on Sunday, the way he needs to be. He's running the ball physically, like we envisioned it and doing a lot of good things himself. But, you know, everything's going to start with our offensive line and we've got to run the ball better this Saturday than we did last. There's no question about it. We had some big runs, but the stats don't always tell the real story. Two of those runs accumulated close to a hundred yards or more, but as a whole on the day, we didn't run the ball the way we needed to run it. So, we've got to get back to that."
Are defense keying in on Auburn's wildcat formation?
"I don't think so. I just think that it's part of the plan and a lot of it has to do with field position. And a lot of it has to do with circumstances in the game, things of that nature. It's part of what we do. When we do it isn't necessarily just what we're going to do in a game. There are certain variables that have not allowed us to be in that situation in the last few games, but we've got it and will certainly get back to it."
With such a young defense, do you live and die by turnovers?
"No question about it. Obviously we started out on the fast track with the turnovers, and we've somewhat faded in the last couple of weeks. Again, for us to be effective, we've got to give our offense more opportunities. We've got to stay off the field. Six penalties kept us on the field for six more first downs. That's a lot of first downs, and we're not good enough to withstand six extra first downs that were caused by penalties. Not enough turnovers and staying on the field to long have hurt us."
Have you seen Ted Roof strategically evolve in his time here?
"We're just trying to put out there what we think we can do. You can't always do exactly what you'd like to do; it's just where we're at. So, we've got to do what we feel we are physically capable of doing. And whether that's being very physically aggressive or not, we've got to determine, week to week how aggressive we can be. As you saw Saturday, we took one of our best defensive backs, Neiko Thorpe, and he had a rough day. He was playing a great SEC receiver and a great SEC quarterback and was playing all the snaps. And the point is if you're blitzing all day, you can run up on these kinds of situations. You've just got to pick your battles as to when you can be aggressive and when you can't, and that's where we're at."
Are you concerned with having such a late bye week?
"No question. We're racking our brains day and night trying to figure out how to keep our guys. It's a new guy or two every week, and right now we're in a very physical place in our schedule, with six games to go. We're trying to work our way through, and have got to."
Will you try to avoid in the future having such a late bye week?
"There are pros and cons to all of it. If you are sitting here and have three recruiting classes under our belt and feel like our scholarship numbers are where they need to be and things of that nature, then on later in the season doesn't necessarily mean what it does right now. I don't know. It depends on how I feel about my team. I think there are good things about having one in the middle of the season, and good things about having one at the end. I guess that's a roundabout way of saying I'm not going to answer that question."
Do a lot of teams have to learn the lesson of preparation the hard way?
"I can't speak for other teams, but I do know how 18-22 year-old guys think, and coaches. And you do the same thing every day, then all of the sudden they have a few wins under your belt, and I always tell our team, `let's not be one of those teams that can't stand prosperity'. You can get lulled into `the same old thing every day' mentality, then you go out Saturday and have your brains beat out--you start thinking `what happened?' Does it have to happen like that to get your attention? I wish it didn't but for us, we'll see. We're on unchartered waters with this football team. But I do know this, with a young team and a team that hasn't been in this 5-0 winning-streak situation recently, it's obvious we didn't handle it very well."
On the same note, do you have to now let them know that the `sky is not falling?'
"Oh yeah, this is not Chicken Little; the sky is not falling. The bottom line is, we didn't play well. We need to focus and recapture the things that got us to 5-0. We're playing a good team at home this week. And like I told them yesterday, it's not doom-and-gloom, but let's troubleshoot and figure out why we got beat. And that's for every guy, ever coach, including me, and starting with me. So that's where we've all got to start. We got back to the nuts and bolts Sunday, doing it again today. But we've got to get back to the task at hand better than we were."
