Postgame Quotes

Oct. 2, 2010

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Ole Miss vs. Kentucky
October 2, 2010
Vaught-Hemingway Stadium
Post-Game Quotes

Ole Miss Head Coach Houston Nutt

Opening comments:
"There is nothing like winning a conference game. I appreciate our fans, especially the students. I thought they really energized us the entire day. I appreciate our former players, Romaro Miller and Dexter McCluster. Most of all, I appreciate our players. I have asked them to hang in there and never let go of the rope. With adversity and things that happen that you don't count on like having people on the sidelines and having to go into the depth chart, it's not easy. I'm proud of them. I'm proud of our offensive line. Every time our defense got turnovers, we capitalized on it. If we don't do that, it could cause problems. That's what turnovers and working together do. Our punt returns were a back breaker for them. We planned on throwing the ball a little more, but as the game went on we played a little conservative. Brandon Bolden had a huge first down at the end. I'm really proud of Evan Swindall who came in there at the end when A.J. [Hawkins] went down. That is nerve racking. He had to snap the ball in a critical situation for the last four or five plays. Having no turnovers was huge. Jeremiah [Masoli] handled the offense and the clock well. That was really good."

On the sequence of the game:
"Those turnovers are the most precious thing you have. When you get turnovers and capitalize on them, that's huge. That really won the game for us. When you take those turnovers and have 21 points, you can win the game."

On the upcoming bye week:
"I just got through telling our players that this bye week could not have come at a better time. It is one of those years where you lose players left and right. You lose [Kentrell] Lockett, Johnny Brown, Enrique Davis and it all adds up. It couldn't have come at a better time."

OLE MISS PLAYERS

Ole Miss running back Brandon Bolden
On getting the first SEC win for Ole Miss:
It was a great feeling; it was something that we needed to do. As a team, we all discussed it last
week after the game, and said need this win and Sunday we came in and had a game plan for it. We just had to be ready and needed this win.

On the crowd's presence throughout the game:
"It was great, having anybody behind you for that long is a great feeling, not only just your teammates but your family, friends, and just fans in general. Everybody had to stay in it in order to win."

Ole Miss quarterback Jeremiah Masoli
On the final drive, and Bolden's first down run:
"It was 3rd and 20, and that play just sealed up the whole victory for us and the offensive line did an outstanding job."

On grasping the offense better:
"I'm feeling a lot better, knowing where people are at off the top of my head. It's just coming slowly to me."

On bye week and upcoming schedule:
"We have a lot of people banged up right now, and hopefully this week we can all rest and come back and get ready for the big game against Alabama.

Ole Miss safety Fon Ingram
How do you feel the defense played as a whole, despite giving up some points?
"I feel like it could've been better, but we won so everybody is happy. There were a couple mistakes so we'll go back to the drawing board and we'll learn from them. I feel like we did pretty well though."

The way the offense played, how much pressure does that take off your back?
"A lot, the offense went and did their part putting up points, and it's our job to shut them down. We have to congratulate our offense."

How much does the crowd being behind you help?
"That helps a lot. I always need the fans and they were great today."

Ole Miss linebacker Joel Kight
How do you think the defense played today as a whole?
"We played well and we won. That's the important thing, but we just have to keep getting better."

What kind of energy does it give you to have 2 weeks to prepare for the number one team Alabama?
"We get more preparation. We can study them more and the more time you get the better. Plus, we can get healthy because we have a lot of guys banged up, so those two weeks are going to be good for us."

KENTUCKY HEAD COACH JOKER PHILLIPS

Opening comments:
"We can't go on the road and turn the ball over three times in the first half with a short field. We had two turnovers where their offense went on the field with ten yards to go. The punt return was also bad for us. In the second half they started to drive and we gave them 30 yards of penalties. We can't do that. If you do that, you're usually going to lose, especially on the road. I thought our kids battled, and we gave ourselves a chance, but we came up a little short with the onside kick. We have to play smarter. We tackled a little better, but we have to tackle a little better than we did today. We have to take care of the ball offensively, and we cannot give up the big return in the kicking game. Our kickers have to kick it when we designate them to kick it."

On how the game fell apart:
"There were a few things. We had control of the game, especially in the first quarter. We went down the field and scored. The next drive, we felt we moved the ball, but we had to punt the ball. The third series we still felt good and our defense was playing well. We cannot turn the ball over and give them a short field. We thought we had the momentum, but then we gave it to them, and turned it over two more times in the first half. That is really frustrating."

On small mistakes and learning from them:
"They are frustrating. False starts and holding on the punt team are not good. Those are the types of mistakes that we're making. We still have a chance to have a special season. We've lost two games, but now we go home for a three game stretch. We have to go back home and play in front of our fans. We will get going tomorrow. We'll dust ourselves off and get going for the next one."

KENTUCKY PLAYERS

Kentucky quarterback Mike Hartline
Giving the game away on turnovers:
"Yeah, it definitely doesn't help. You take turnovers away and the field position they had with the
turnovers and the one kick they had and it is a completely different game. It's tough. We expected it to be a good game and down to the wire, but coming from behind like that is just tough."

Mistakes on both sides of the ball:
"It is frustrating. Obviously with three turnovers in the first half it is really hard to win a football game. Thirty yards worth of penalties on defense in the second half, it is really hard to get offense the ball back and get something going. I am glad the way our guys kept fighting and got us a chance in the end."

Kentucky running back Derrick Locke
On getting injured (knocked out then hit again):
"I was cool, my chest and my throat were hurting a little bit when I came out there and I had to battle that a little bit but other than that I was fine. I didn't want to put my head down as much, because when we hit we hit helmet to helmet, and you know that hurt, but it's part of being a man, you just have to suck it up. It wasn't the fact that it hurt it was just the fact that I could not feel my legs. I came back and I had an alright game."

Was it frustrating the way it played out with all the turnovers?
"We said we were going to come out here and do what we need to do, then you have a lot of turnovers, you can't do that. We set them up to score, you know when they got the crowd into the game we created a monster. They are a good team and we can't do that. I don't think its youth, it's just an SEC game, and if we want to win we can't do that."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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