Nov. 9, 2002

Recap?|? Box Score?|? Notes?|? Photo Gallery

SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH LOU HOLTZ

“This week, I ran the offense completely. I ran the meetings and the practice, everything I put the game plan together. I called virtually every play. I always take pride in the way I can control a game. But not today.

“Most of the time, we forced one on one coverage, and we could not hit them. We had some success running the football, but we can’t be 50-50. We don’t have a personality on offense.

“Penalties were costly. Stupid penalties. Close calls go against us. Once something goes against us, we don’t rally back. We have to find a personality.

“Defensively, we played fairly well. We gave up the big play, and we gave up third down. They were far too successful on third down.

“The kicking game was OK, except we missed the field goal. Roughing the punter was frustrating.

“I’ve got to look at myself, but I have never had trouble with offense moving the football. I am so frustrated. I can’t offer an explanation. I really thought we would be successful.

“On roughing the kicker: When the ball hits the ground, and he scoops it up, my interpretation, it wasn’t roughing the kicker. If anything, it was running into kicker.

“Seemed everything went against us. We’ve got to overcome that. They loaded the box on us. They played great man on our receivers. We had the whole field to beat the guy, and we couldn’tt do it. We are not getting a lot of help. Somebody has got to help us some.

“This week, I ran every practice. We are worse now than we have ever been. I have always been able to move the football. We sure couldn’t do it today.

“Other than the one kick return, coverage was pretty good.

“I feel bad for the fans. They deserve better. I am frustrated, I’ve got to look at myself, where we are.

“On passing: 13 for 31 with three interceptions. We ran for almost five yards a carry, but we don’t get any big runs. The passing game the last several weeks, absolutely horrendous. Eight interceptions in three games. We average 60 yards a game passing. Unbelievable. It was my passing game. We take a lot of bullets out of the gun trying to simplify it. We simplify it so much, you don’t have a whole lot to go to. You’ve got to look at quarterback reads, routes, depth. Five of the six (wide receivers) that played mostly are walk-ons, two others are freshmen. I can’t fault anybody. Just myself. We can’t be a one dimensional team.

“on Pinkins: Erik Kimrey had a good week of practice, so we said let’s just see. Lo and behold , we throw interception. Most of our interceptions come when the doggone guy starts scrambling.

“We don’t get big plays, so we have got to be consistent.

“Arkansas is a very good football team. Very athletic, good on defense, corners are excellent. They can jam and play man. They don’t give up the deep ball.

“Once something goes wrong, we don’t bounce back. We make too many errors. No. one, we have got to look at personnel.

“I’ve never had seniors play well on senior day. I am disappointed for them. But it’s all part of life, part of being embarrassed. Live it and move on. Continue to persevere. I wish there were another way.

“Kenny Irons is a better game player than practice player. He’s a terrible practice player. He fumbled every single practice this week.

ARKANSAS HEAD COACH HOUSTON NUTT

“We had an unbelievable effort today. Every time you go on the road in the SEC, it is so hard and wins are so precious. It is just so hard in somebody’s backyard and in this type of environment and win. It says so much about your kids and their heart.

“Special teams: Our kickoff team did a great job. Punt team did a great job. They came after us and our punt team did a great job with making great blocks. The one where Butler scooped the ball off the ground and had to get rid of it – that was a critical play. We got the ball back off of a penalty and that gave us a first down.

“To be able to shut them out, that is such a mouthful. In the SEC, to say back-to-back weeks your defense shuts them out, is hard.

“I thought we controlled the ball. We felt good about it. We mixed it up at the right times and made some good passes. I thought Matt Jones had some good passes. He had the chance to get two more touchdown passes, but I’m happy with the ones that he hit.

“[South Carolina] came ready to play and they played hard. They made some excellent goal line stands early in the second half.

“We’re not going to look ahead. The only thing we are looking at right now is practice tomorrow. We’re taking this season one day at a time. We’re not that big in the SEC, but we’re quick, we’re fast, and those kids really love to play.

SOUTH CAROLINA PLAYER QUOTES

S Rashad Faison
“This isn’t the way we wanted to go out as seniors. The ball game wasn’t fantastic, but they did what they needed to do to win. I just want to go to Florida and play like I’ve never had a chance to play. I’ll have no regrets.”

QB Corey Jenkins
“That’s just the way it goes. We know what kind of talent we have. We also know what kind of chemistry we have, but we aren’t putting them together on Saturdays. We have to stay confident. If you don’t go in confident, you won’t win.”

LB Jermaine Lemon
On preparing for Florida: “We’re going to look at the film and try to refocus. We have to settle down a little bit. You have to put it behind you and start focusing on the task ahead.”

S Jonathan Martin
“It’s frustrating when it seems like everything goes against you. We have to learn to pull together and get the job done. It’s frustrating on both sides of the ball, but we have to play as a team.”

DB Dunta Robinson
“I didn’t play up to my standards today. I had a bad game, but that’s part of football.”

ARKANSAS PLAYER QUOTES

1 Lawrence Richardson, CB
“We were challenged today and we passed the challenge. They challenged me and I did what I had to do to break up the passes. They [USC] did what they wanted to do on the first drive, then we started to take control. We started out concentrating on stopping the run, then we moved to the pass. That’s all we had to do to get control. Both the offense and the defense played well. The offense got it done and put us into a position where we were more comfortable with the job that we had to do on defense.”

22 Tony Bua, OLB
“Today we were just trying to do what the coaches wanted us to do. We have to give them all the credit; they just did a great job today. We tried to establish ourselves in the first quarter and take it to them. We are working on our consistency and I think we did a pretty good job of staying consistent on defense. Any time you can keep a team like South Carolina from scoring all game, that gives you confidence; this game was a huge boost for us. It feels great to be on this football team.”

9 Matt Jones, QB
“We got a couple of breaks on offense today and were able to take advantage of them. That was the biggest part of the game, the opportunities we got that USC didn’t. It was a test for us to run the ball, but by the third quarter I think we wore them down a little bit and were able to establish a running game. All of our backs did a great job and had good games. I am really proud of how our team performed today.”