Mark Stoops recaps win over Southern Miss, previews South Carolina

y uh once again just proud of our team the way we handled things uh played a uh relatively clean played hard um once again I have to acknowledge the fans it was incredible what a great atmosphere to hang around and wait for us for two hours plus and and then uh give us a lot of inspiration coming out I understand the catwalk out here which we weren't able to do was completely jammed and uh so hopefully we'll get to do that here this week so I call them to to show up again uh excited about opening up SEC play here this week um obviously the competition improves greatly so um one thing about that game is I thought we did some really good things but there are a ton of mistakes and so many things we can improve on and that that's exciting for us to get back to work and really that's our Focus you know our daily habits what are we going to do what are we going to sacrifice to to improve um you know to get better today uh you know with our short-term goals and and uh and look to improve um you know once again uh you know South Carolina is the team that we always seem to have good games with uh through through my many years here uh always a very good game always evenly matched and um you know we're looking forward to that challenge in uh calling that home crowd to to once again show up like they did last week and make a difference I we get greatly appreciate them and uh you so uh getting ready here for South Carolina starting today there's a lot of positive things to point out from the game is there any teaching moments that you're going to be hovering over your team from T oh there there most definitely there there's you know many many things you know from and you know you saw that I think you know you probably watched opening day football and leading up to our game with the ability to watch some games Thursday Friday and then you know we played so late Saturday there was some time in between to watch and we try and I try to bring up a lot of things to the players to head it off before it happens because it it it's just normal kids are all amped up and excited about that first game but you really got to focus on your job you know and do your primary responsibility first I think there was a lot of good teaching moments on that being done and then there's some moments where when you're playing somebody new you you know the reaction time is different you know and that's where you have to rely on your rules and and and doing your job and and at times we were uh you know as a as a I'm a DB guy and a defensive guy at heart you know you know and I use it I use it with the players I'm like you know that they're busy watching the game you know when they're out there playing they can't watch the game when they're out there playing ball you know they have to read their keys and do their job and then play football but there's no room for for them to view what's going on Vision yes vision is important but taking care of your job doing your primary responsibility reading your keys all those things uh it starts there mark speaking of football terms you probably wish that you had a full 60 Minutes of Reps for your guys to you know for and everything challenges to ramp up to such a big game next week no you only had a quarter or three two and no no that part of it no we ramped up very hard in Camp and we're ready to play and our guys were uh I I I do think you have to understand ingame one as we talk about last week I talked about I talked about in here Monday last week of them controlling their emotions controlling their breathing control and all that that was a challenge when you tea off two hours plus you know after you're supposed to and then they get out there and but we did have long drives we were pushed I mean our guys are in good shape that part of it I'm not worried about but uh but to the beginning part of your question yeah it does bother me that we didn't get a lot of Reps for some guys that we could have gotten some reps you know that that uh there's some players that worked extremely hard that that we wanted to see in a game like situation we we have a big lead and you know so that part of it you know is is disappointing I also think you know for for you know the offense you know getting in Rhythm you know as as I mentioned post game you know 16 first downs at at half you know we at one possession I think in the second half you know 18 first downs I mean you know I would have loved to have seen us continue to move the ball and uh you know get some yards and and get some plays in and getting you know try to continue to build on the Rhythm that I thought we found in the second quarter um you know that but it is what it is Mar you all had a massive field position advantage that game when you kind of look at the drive chart special teams just what did you see from that that group when you yeah the special teams were were were really solid you know really good um you know we got to continue uh to improve continue to build on that but they were really solid we knew um you know you know we knew that there was probably no chance that they'd kick the ball to Barry on you know what I mean so we were very prepared for uh for some short kicks and you could see we exploited that with the big return you know and on the opening kickoff return um so Willie had a nice return there we would work that we expected some form of a short kick squid squib Pooch you know whatever but uh we didn't feel like in in any way they were going to kick the ball to Barry on work to give a couple long third Downs in that first or I guess second defense the drop but you didn't give up any more third down conversions after that what happened with the team would you just it it just goes to you know the point I was making earlier just seeing different plays you know Vision just being amped up you know and just you know you got to play with with clean Vision clean eyes and you know do your job and guys are getting a little uh little ansy running themselves out of position you know but we just executed better bottom line executed better um mixed it up and you know we got to continue to do that you know sometimes you know for for Coach white and for any defense I mean it is what it is you know you you know maybe you're going to be in man maybe you're going to be five you're going to bring six but you got to win some one-on ones as well Mar it looked like as the game moved along the offensive line was really getting into a good rhythm with the in the Run game in particular I I agree I thought um you know they the coaches did a nice job of just mixing it up and and uh you know mixing up the Run game hitting them with the perimeter stuff stretching them out hitting it downhill just just a good mixture talked about Jason patteron since the spring one series you got it went really good out there just what about him made him able to seize that you know a spot rotation as a freshman I think we've seen that since I think you know just the you know the opportunity he had in the spring to get a lot of reps and he made the most of it you know he's one of those guys that's um you know he's pretty serious you know he's he's locked in on his daily goals and and he works hard daily you know kind of puts his head down keeps his mouth shut and works hard and uh he's worried about just getting better and uh I don't mean that in any selfish way you know he just wants to help the team and and wants to get better and I I love that attitude what sort of challenges does wi Sal present yeah he's uh you know a uh a dual threat guy he's big he's strong he can throw the heck out of the ball down the field um you know you saw that uh so you saw you see the arm Talent um you know so I think a a very good football player that um is going to get better with every snap he takes every game every rep you know he'll improve and uh but very good you know physical guy with a lot of lot of attributes you know he could run on good throw um you know he seems like a very mature young man so you know obviously everything you read and see about him takes the game very serious and works very hard at it Mark I think against OD South Carolina Edge rushers were responsible for six tackles for loss and four Force fumbles key those guys block yeah they have a a really good combination with you know five and six so you can see them both out there you can't miss them you know you may get the numbers confused cuz they both play uh you know they're uh one's a a very mature uh older player that that's an impact player in U in Canard and then you know with uh Dylan Stewart the the you know five-star freshman big- time player um very disruptive those guys are uh they they they're just very good players you know they're athletic um they get off on the football they attack you know they but they also uh have a nice f you know when they you know tried to you know bait him up field and run some draws and things of that nature they they they they read it well and and uh retraced well so they're good good football players question the game back I was pretty impressed with Jack Burton like one those better games here what did you see from him and just the grow he made this offseason yeah he he did he did good he's he's getting better he's going to be pushed you know by coach wolf and and all of us and uh you know again I think he he he's growing they're they're still a player too that that he needs to finish uh better and uh you know we had a couple opportunities had he finished you know cleaner uh but but you know a lot of guys there's a lot of guys that that I could say that about that that were striving for improvement and and uh but he's he's certainly getting better as you mentioned the games of sou Carolina been evenly matched last year that loss down there said after the game one of the more frustrating last year do you bring that up with the team this year or is it new team New Year it's always new team New Year you you've heard me say that what a 100 times you know what I mean whether it was dealing with bad streaks good streaks you name it uh every year a new year um I think with that being said you always try to learn you know what I mean from from teams you play maybe uh things that pop up things that have happened um you know we're always going to try to learn and uh you know grow from mistakes or things that have happened you know things of that nature but you mentioned that the games had been closer do does this opponent does it get more juice out of your guys I think it you know I don't know is juice overrated we need to be prepared you know we need to be prepared you know and uh our guys had uh after a 2 hour 20 minute delay last week head juice you know but it's really about going out and executing and playing you know so um I think the fact that it's a conference game this early uh definitely amps things up a little bit what did you think your offensive operation as far as getting the tempo you wanted to get well I think you saw that you know with plays you know we had a a good number of plays uh in again good and and again how many times have you heard me say you're you're going to distribute the football if you get first downs you know we want explosive plays I think we found a nice mixture we we created some explosives but we also move the ball you know and the tempo and the operation was better wasn't wasn't perfect you know by any stretch um we've got to clean up some things with uh just you know formally and all the different nuances there is quite a bit that goes on pre snap with our offense and uh coach uh you know coach push talks about that constantly you know that we have to win the PRI snap because there's a lot going on with formations motions shifts and then then executing because if you can do that effectively it put some pressure on some guys we had any false start I don't think we had any false starts I did have to burn what two I think two timeouts you know so that that and and you know I went into the game saying hey I will burn the timeouts like like you know I wasn't panicking about that you know if if something wasn't perfect let's just call timeout regroup and get them get them settled in because again there's a lot going on and uh you know I think it's I I I like where we're headed we have some more work to do Brock Vander Griff obviously in his first college start a lot of things that could have gone wrong with the delay didn't obviously an early turnover over uh but his ability to settle in uh and really make plays with his feet the vision that he seems to have downfield what kind of a weapon is that going into the season because it seems like it's something we haven't had you know except for will will when he was here a couple years ago fully healthy yeah I I agree I think he I think he made very good uh decisions I thought Brock as I mentioned postgame I thought he played like I I thought he would play and I had a lot of confidence in him going into the game and and I think he delivered does that mean he played perfect or anything like that no he he knows he'll be the first to admit that there's things that we need to improve on but I thought his pocket awareness was very good I thought um you know in practice that's hard to simulate all of that all the time but the fact that he could step up you know you know in and scramble when he had to scram you know buy time to throw the ball um throw in Rhythm and on time he did all those things and um you know he's not going to be perfect no quarterback is with all that decision making there's a lot that goes on there's a lot they're reading and then they have to feel all that pressure as you just mentioned I mean we're certainly going to not be as comfortable this week with South Carolina's defensive front in the way they could uh you know pressure the quarterback so we got to make sure we have a very good plan for that and and um you know but but you know he played very good it was good to see I thought he played like a confident you know confident quarterback he didn't seem like a first year starter um so hopefully he can continue to improve on that coach the defense was able to force a couple turnovers and get some sacks and it's kind of led to some saying that this might be one of the better groups you've had what about this group is different to maybe some of the better defenses you had you know I don't know that that's too be determined I'm not ready to anoint them yet you know on any of that um there's things that we need to improve on um a great deal from this game and uh I just want to see us stay in the daily Focus um and handle the things we need to do daily uh you know to help us today you know improve on some of the things and the mistakes we made and then you know this week with our short-term goals of taking care of business here uh with with our next game I think the fans were really excited about Bush especially that one Series where you took I think it was three straight deep shots I don't know how many times in your 10 year you'd be comfortable with a guy you know calling three straight shots but you seem to be comfortable with bush and how is that working out I you know in our staff meeting yesterday you know I pointed that out to him too I told him I loved it you know I loved the way it attacked it and and went at it you know and um you know that's that's not always going to happen or anything like that but uh you know you have to mix things up you know you have to um you know we went into it we understood you know their defensive philosophy they a year ago I think they gave up a lot of explosive they talked about it in the preseason about keeping things in front so we went into it with a mindset of hitting some intermediate stuff and uh you know and working those chains as I mentioned and then when we had our shots hit them um and there was there was a few that that we missed also you know whether we we checked outle one that we we had a we had a shot and it was the right coverage for the right shot but we uh we missed it and um you know so just continue to work at it but I've noticed that with Coach you know all the way from from from Spring you know he he's not afraid to get the ball down the field it seemed like Brock was confident in it there was one he rolled out opposite arm side and threw a great ball barion very reel it in but for him to move out still take those I thought too it was an incredible throw you know what I mean it was uh one of those ones that he was going to his left had to turn and throw and and uh throw a very good ball and at that point you know again you know no excuses for Baron it was raining and a little slippery and he didn't didn't bring it in and it was also one of those ones where you know it was definitely hanging in over the middle you know you're going to take a shot too but but uh we'll we'll get the next one I was looking at some numbers here for Alex Rainer you know dating back to the beginning of the season he's made 29 last 32 field goals I guess has he been even better than ad you trying to jinx him he even better what you thought he got no he he's a very good player I mean it's probably fair to say he's a little more consistent and I I mean I had an expectation when he came in he was a good kicker and he's done that yeah Mark I think I'm the only third and Shore you guys had Saturday you ran the end round to bar on how do you feel about your running backs in those situations where everybody knows you got to run the ball with chip out I thought that was a point you know I made um Saturday morning in in uh one of our meetings with our team that that that that I wanted to be able to run the ball when the whole stadium knew we were going to run the ball and um you know I think you know we we got going in the Run game but we're going to continue to improve and we need to we got to continue to change challenge them I felt confident in our running backs with no problem and I felt confident with our old line we just got to get on the same page and we have to do it um I told you after the game that that that that was my my fault on the fourth and you know one I mean if I think you all know me and watched me over the years you know I'm I'm going to be calculated with that but but pretty aggressive when when the time's right and depending on the opponent and the situation and the whole deal but not that I regret it we go up two scores you know you go up 10 nothing you know I felt good about making the field goal as you pointed out with Alex being pretty steady but yeah again I got confused on the change with that m going on over there you know fourth and one in that situation uh you know at the moment I'm like guys this is my bad like I I was confused I didn't see the change and and you know you only have so much time you don't want to get a delay a game you know so when I see those sticks and you're substituting 11 guys you know I want to get that operation going so they're not rushed and get a delay and all that but again no excuses just it the situation was what it what it was go you're good here on ran it twice as many times as they threw it how does that challenge your defense not just to be Stout but also to make sure your secondary is engaged yeah I think part of that is just like us as well with uh with sellers pulling it down some too and and reading it and checking you know what I mean and we had some of that as well um you know I think uh you know I'm sure they want to be balanced you know but anytime you have a quarterback that's dual threat you know it could add it could add a few more runs in there as well and there and there's reads on there a lot of their run plays have screens and Bubbles and rpos and things of that nature that um you know any quarterback ours included as as you keep on playing you know what I mean you you you feel more comfortable mixing it up and and sprinkling in some of those throws you have a like Brock who can keep things alive if I could go back real quick last year we had second and two and we had one that we could run or we could throw and I and and and it it kills me that we didn't hand it we throw the ball backwards and lose seven yards instead of going out couldn't scored so anyway still pisses anyway I don't know why that just jumped in my mind but go Jeff sorry when you got a guy like Brock who can keep things alive and keep those eyes down the field everything do does it take some time for the other guys around him to to learn that and adjust that hey we've got to stay in this we have worked that and again coach Hamden has done a a a tremendous job we've worked that since spring you know so we work that in practice and again we're not perfect and get out in games and things happen but uh I thought he did a nice job at directing when he had time the other day but yes I think you keep on um you know as you get on the same page and keep on playing hopefully that'll improve as well with with Brock gu with your previous transfer quarterbacks have come in here all had a measure of experience starting what was that transition different or how different was it with Brock and how did you kind of get in prepared well if you think about it you know when we when we took will you know we hadn't thrown you know very many matter of fact I don't know you could I'm not don't quote me exactly but I mean there's more you could look it up there's more yeah there's a lot I know you guys got a lot of time to look things up but uh but uh but I could argue that there was probably more film on Brock than there was well Levis you know of of you know seeing what we're what we were looking at you know so um but to your point we did put a lot of faith and confidence in cuz we believed in him and you know what we did see on film we liked uh again I go back to he's coming from a program you know how well coached he was and how complex you know they are you know with you know play in Georgia they're not just good players they're very well coached and so when we were taking somebody like Brock from there who was their backup you saw his operation you saw the way he was coached you saw the way he played in high school you felt pretty good about did you see any any signs of ston or Carson in him I don't I don't I can't I can't get any comparison like that you know what I mean I I just looked at him and had confidence in him how much the fact that he was a coach's son a lot definitely speaking as a CO yeah definitely had had a lot to do with it you know um you know Greg you know his father has you know is is a tough guy and a high school coach and you know definitely instilled that in Brock and um he's wired right there's no doubt about that Mark speaking of time to look things up I think in the last three Kentucky South Carolina games UK's turned the ball over eight times and South Carolina's turned it over twice what's the key to turning that around well again I mean you know that's a stat that you have time to go look at I mean I've watched the games and I will say you know starting with last week I mean turnover margin is big every game you know especially evenly matched you know games so you know that that's always a factor and and always important to us no JQ had the one interception but specifically how did those Corners opposite Max kind of play in that first game with DJ out yeah DJ we're trying to get DJ back healthy I think U that could help us uh bring some some depth um you know and we wanted to get nasier nasier was about to go in and get some reps as well and uh I would have like to have seen that but uh but JQ uh did a nice job you know and Jansen Dunn is a guy that we could play inside a little bit nickel but also a corner and and is coming along so both guys I think will get better as they continue to get some reps under their belt Alex Safari really looked like he was a disruptor moving up forward uh playing in the linebacker spot two tackles for loss how's his progression really helped change the overall defensive team speed which looked really good on Saturday I thought those guys popped as well you know I thought the the top four linebackers inside really played well you know djck you know on the interception really made that interception he always you know he's a steady guy he played a lot for us you know um uh Theos Johnson always you know plays well I think you see him turn it you know the when the game comes on he could turn it up another notch he packs a big punch uh with Rainer you see him always have he has good instincts and is very fast very sudden and uh you know I thought Alex also showed up you know and there's things he could be better at you know it's his first time really playing in there and again he could play a little inside a little outside but he definitely showed some some some pop or you know some some athleticism some suddenness and uh I think you know he's going to get better and better seen from him in Camp what you I thought Trayvon had a a very good game um you know he's a guy that that you know has played a lot of football for us I'd like to see him take another step and I thought this first game showed that you know I thought he was disruptive you know did his job a lot of times those those interior defensive lineman are unsung guys you know nobody talks about them because they're getting they're doing a lot of dirty work and and cleaning things up inside there and uh I thought he played very very well and I thought he showed a lot of growth because drayvon you know has a tendency to be you know he he's an emotional guy and and uh you know there was one late hit in particular and you know what I mean and I don't I I I don't think it was called but there were some things going on after the play and normally he would respond in a different way and he was very frustrated by it but again that's the unselfishness we're looking for it takes a bigger stronger man to take that PA just like when we've got a gift when somebody hit us late it would have been uh third and one I want to say on the goal line one or two you know those aren't give Mees you know what I mean they have a chance to stop us you have a chance to turn it over and they gave us a new set of downs and it was good by our guys not retaliating I talked long a lot about that because early in the year again all the emotions I've watched a lot of football you see things happening all the time of just being an unselfish football team and being a smart football team and having a high IQ we we've got to be that way you know we cannot beat ourselves and football 101 you can't beat anybody until you stop beating yourself and uh I try to beat that into our guys heads and um you know it's hard in today's world to to be extremely unselfish and and play for everybody else but I think we have a really good group and I think this is a good start you know to build from so you know again uh thanks for the support last week I thought it was incredible people uh you know our our our facilities people did you know worked so many hours all day just to thank them and the fans for sticking it out staying with us it was truly amazing great atmosphere great situation and we need it again I call on this week you know we start league play and uh we need this place electric and I promise you our team's going to work hard and uh we'll be prepared and ready to tee it up here Saturday so thank you thank you