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00:00 Okay, well, congrats to Kentucky.
00:03 They came in here and beat us.
00:04 And we didn't do enough to win.
00:07 So it's a disappointing loss.
00:08 And that's on us, so every loss is disappointing, this is disappointing.
00:13 Thought we hung in there in the first half, come out in the second half,
00:18 take it down to score, give up an untouched kickoff, which is ridiculous.
00:22 Take it down to score again and answer again, and
00:25 then give up two wide open wheel routes, two play drive, ridiculous.
00:30 Giving away too many big plays on defense, special teams.
00:33 Needs to be more consistent in offense,
00:35 we can't have two fumbles that really hurts.
00:40 So you do those things, you're not gonna win.
00:42 So we didn't deserve to win, they did, and we've got work to do.
00:47 We've gotta now go play a really, really good opponent.
00:50 And if we can't get those things corrected, it will not be a fun day for us.
00:53 So we've got a lot of work to do this week.
00:55 >> Question.
00:56 >> Coach, after you guys did go up 17 to 7,
01:02 do you feel like it was just a lack of composure or
01:06 a loss of focus, the guys relaxed maybe a little bit once you got up two scores?
01:09 What do you think the key pressure point there for what happened?
01:13 >> Well, I don't know.
01:15 I mean, it was a kickoff return and the guy went untouched.
01:18 Obviously, we had too many guys into the boundary.
01:21 I think Bassett to the field and then he's untouched, so it's bad.
01:27 And then respond again, give up two wide open wheel routes, ridiculous.
01:33 So I don't, it's a bust here and there.
01:37 It might have been some coaching things we need to do better.
01:40 A lot of things, as I look at it, probably need to be corrected and fixed.
01:45 So I'm not gonna blame it all on the players.
01:46 I think we need to do better without coaching and
01:48 making sure that we put our guys in a better position to make those plays.
01:54 >> Yeah, on the two fumbles, did you feel like it was a good defensive play or
01:58 your guys just didn't do a good enough job of protecting the ball?
02:00 >> No, we didn't do a good enough job.
02:02 I mean, we were ball security every day, probably more so than any
02:06 private team in the country.
02:07 We've done a great job as far as not fumbling the ball much this year,
02:11 which is hard to do.
02:12 Interceptions occasionally happen.
02:13 We've done a great job of not fumbling the ball.
02:16 We let one sneak out, then we got a touchdown.
02:18 This shouldn't have happened.
02:20 Luckily, the call was in our favor, and
02:22 then just trying to get a few extra yards, we can't let the ball come out.
02:25 We're driving the ball down the field, and you gotta secure the football.
02:28 And then quarterback is going to scramble, and
02:30 always trying to get extra yards on the first down.
02:32 But you have to protect the football.
02:33 You can't display it for them to put their helmet and punch it out.
02:37 So attention to detail needs to happen.
02:41 And they made a couple physical plays and knocked it out, and it hurts.
02:46 >> Yeah, Jeff, a little bit wrong there on that last touchdown by Ray Davis there.
02:52 It seemed like he had a lot of open space when he got to the second level.
02:55 Have you seen any breakdowns in the defense there?
02:57 >> Well, I mean, I can't tell from the sideline.
02:58 He's untouched, which is ridiculous.
03:02 We wanted to push him back.
03:05 They're almost in field goal range, so we pretty much had an all out blitz call.
03:09 And I guess someone didn't contain their gap, and it snuck through.
03:11 And that sometimes happens when you're all out blitz, and
03:14 you hope you get a negative play.
03:15 But if one person doesn't do their job, it's gonna create a crease.
03:19 So I assume that's what happened, just from looking at it on the field.
03:23 But not until I see it on video, I'll be able to tell you.
03:26 >> Jeff, I had a couple personal foul penalties.
03:28 The first one to start the game didn't really hurt you guys.
03:30 But the second one, it seems like it may have injured what could have been a
03:33 touchdown, drive your thoughts on the emotions of the game, is that right?
03:38 >> Completely disappointing.
03:40 We couldn't have talked about that garbage any more than we could.
03:45 And the person who did it is a great player for us.
03:49 He's a great young man.
03:50 So it can't happen.
03:53 And costly penalties.
03:58 And just foolish, childish.
04:01 And our guys are better than that.
04:02 And that person's better than that too.
04:04 And I'm sure he'll get it fixed, but that stuff can happen.
04:10 >> Coach, it seems like over the last several weeks,
04:11 getting off the field on third down, you forced the opponents into third and long.
04:16 But getting off the field, especially down the second half of this one,
04:19 as well as going back to the UVA and Miami games.
04:22 Is there anything you're seeing there on the third down defense that you feel like
04:25 maybe teams are maybe taking advantage of at all?
04:27 >> Well, to be quite honest,
04:29 I think the last three games on defense have been subpar.
04:32 And we need to do better than that.
04:34 So it'll start with me and our coaches first.
04:38 We need a better plan.
04:40 So I think that's the main culprit.
04:43 We need to get a better plan put in place.
04:45 Make sure it doesn't happen if you give up 100 yard rushers and
04:47 300 yard passers and a ton of points in three straight games.
04:51 So we just gotta get it fixed.
04:54 And then we gotta work down to our players.
04:56 We gotta put them in the best position to succeed.
04:58 And they gotta go make plays.
04:59 So sometimes when you're doing something,
05:03 there has to be a little change here and there.
05:05 There has to be something they haven't seen.
05:07 You can't just run the same thing every week against really good opponents.
05:10 There's gotta be some creativity and some coaching going on.
05:14 So we need to make sure we do that.
05:15 >> Jeff, at times you guys were able to get pressure on Leary getting sacked.
05:20 But it just seemed like the pressure wasn't consistent.
05:22 What was Kentucky doing up front to kind of stem some of those blitzes that you
05:26 guys were trying?
05:26 >> Well, they had a couple play actions where they run blocking and
05:30 kind of keep us on the line of scrimmage and
05:32 allow them a little more time to make the throw.
05:34 And then we gotta get off blocks and we gotta cover better.
05:36 I mean, there's too many guys running wide open.
05:39 So some guys are wide open.
05:43 It's easy to make the throw and that's what happened today.
05:45 So we gotta fix that.
05:46 >> Jeff, putting the outcome aside, were you pleased with how the guys
05:52 handled the moment once Kentucky went up just in terms of staying disciplined?
05:58 Or do you think any kind of focus was lost in the last minute?
06:01 >> Well, I mean, I do think we played to the end.
06:03 I do think that we found ways to respond in the second half and
06:07 we're now playing our best.
06:08 The fact of the matter is we just gave up too many big plays.
06:12 You can't give up that many big plays.
06:14 You can't give up those big plays in the special teams.
06:16 It can't happen and then two tournaments will cost us.
06:21 So you add those things up and you're gonna lose by seven points just like we did.
06:26 So I like our team.
06:29 I think they wanna win.
06:30 And we're gonna have to just learn from all the mistakes we made today and
06:34 try not to repeat them as much as we can.
06:38 >> Jeff, I know all losses hurt, but considering this is UK,
06:42 does this one hurt maybe a little bit more than the others?
06:45 And does it help to have that game next week against Florida State to rebound
06:49 from that?
06:50 >> Yes, this one hurts more than the others.
06:51 We wanted to win this game, we put a lot of emphasis on it.
06:54 I give Kentucky credit, they came in here and beat us.
06:57 So congrats to them.
06:59 We didn't do a good enough job.
07:00 And yeah, it stings.
07:03 Our fans are great.
07:05 They showed out that they wanted to win.
07:06 They did their part.
07:07 We didn't do ours.
07:08 So you gotta look in the mirror and man up and
07:12 work hard to fix it because we have a top four opponent that we gotta play next
07:20 week down in Charlotte and we're gonna have to play a whole lot more efficient
07:24 football to have any chance to be in the game.
07:26 >> All right, coach.
07:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]