Oct. 5, 2007

Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery

South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier

“I just told Eric Norwood I think that’s the first defensive player I had score two touchdowns. That was some game he had. I think he had an All-American type game. He is an active player that really makes things happen.”

“It was an interesting game offensively. We stumbled and bumbled around a lot and went backwards. Three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out to start the second half. The next two we had touchdown scoring drives. We had some big plays here and there and the entire team played super. I’m proud the entire team hung in there. Kentucky was tough. I thought we could run on the ball against the 102nd team in the nation in run defense.”

“It was a wonderful team victory. Everyone contributed. Obviously our defense was super to hold Kentucky to 23 points and hold Woodson to 227 yards (passing).”

On quarterback Chris Smelley: “He did well on the drives that we scored. He had some plays here and there. Sometimes I think we asked him to check a little too much. We just started calling plays and tried to guess the coverage.”

“I thought our defense could play very well which they did. Of course Eric (Norwood) making those two scores. I thought Kentucky’s defense was surprising. They played a lot better and they stuffed us at times. We couldn’t get back to the line of scrimmage. They clobbered us up front. Fortunately we got a few runs here and there. We thought we could run a little bit and throw it a little bit. It was a tough night.”

“We mixed up our coverages. Emanuel Cook had a super game. He got a game ball. That kid is really a ballplayer. Pound for pound he’s probably the strongest on our team. One time the guy ran down the sideline and he caught him by the one hand and pulled him down. That was amazing.”

On Eric Norwood:
“He’s active. He loves to play full speed. We have to slow him down in practice a lot. I said `we don[`t go that fast against teammates. Get away from him and let him throw the ball.’ He’s good at watching the quarterback and jumping up and picking it off.”

South Carolina Players

Patrick DiMarco
“We played a great game. It was out biggest win since I have been here. It was a game we were looking forward to. We had to come out and play our game and we did.”

“The coaches have been telling us to play with passion and heart. Today was a great example of that. We stepped up and made some good plays.”

Casper Brinkley
“We did well. The defense was good. We knew coming into the game that we had to keep pressure on Woodson, and we did.”

“For future games, we need to eliminate personal fouls. We don’t need to give any team anything.”

“The defense came out and played with 100 percent effort every play. They never gave up.”

Eric Norwood
“I feel like I am becoming a leader. We have a lot of guys that are stepping up. Emanuel Cook leads by his example.”

“It was about being in the right place at the right time. It was about covering the right guy. I came out and made the play.”

Defensive Coordinator Tyrone Nix
“Anytime we can create a turn over it’s a big play. We expect that from our guys. We look for guys with intensity. Eric Norwood does t hat. We are blessed to have him on the team.”

Cory Boyd
“It adds another win on the notch. They played a great game, but the best team won.”

“There are a lot of ball games still. There are still a lot of upsets that can be made. We are glad we paid attention to our game and the things we could control.”

“About the SEC: We are not looking ahead right now. We are going to enjoy this win and get back to the basics. We are going to get ready for North Carolina.”

Chris Smelley
“We were up and down a lot. We were either really good or just completely shut out. We were like a rollercoaster ride for awhile. But then we made some plays and the defense really stepped up.”

“I am not surprised we won. We had some real confidence coming into the game. We knew if we played well, played hard and never gave up – we could win. I feel really good. I think we are controlling our own destiny. We put so much into the offseason and to not play well tonight would be a disappointment. We knew we could do it.”

(as the starter): “I feel like I’ve prepared myself. I have been waiting in the wings, waiting for my chance to get in and make some plays and so far it’s been working.”

Captain Munnerlyn
“I feel we stepped it up a notch. We practiced hard this week to create a lot of turnovers. We wanted to get three or four in the game and we got them. Andre Woodson is a great quarterback. It was a great game out there and we made plays. We take it one game at a time. We play every game hard and work for it in practice. We got the win by creating a lot of turnovers.”

(on Eric Norwood’s two touchdowns): “He’s my roommate. We have bets on who will play better. I told him he wouldn’t make more than two plays so now I have to get him something. He said I wouldn’t either and I made two so maybe he owes me too. He scored two touchdowns – he tied an NCAA record. He’s a great guy – on and off the field.”

Emanuel Cook
“We had a pretty solid game plan. We executed it perfectly. We played a little more zone tonight. We wanted Andre Woodson to throw it more. We did a good job tonight. We have to take it one game at a time. We are trying hard and working hard. We can’t take a step back.

(on Eric Norwood): “He’s a beast. He’s an animal. He’s one of the real leaders on this team.”

Kentucky Head Coach Rich Brooks

“This game was decided on our mistakes and South Carolina’s alertness. One turnover in the end zone, we fumbled a punt and then the lateral, when he [Andre’ Woodson] was getting sacked threw it backwards and [South Carolina] scooped and scored. Then they scoop and score on the other fumble.”

“The differences in the game are turnovers and the penalties. We dug ourselves some long yard situations. South Carolina defense forced us into some and some were uncharacteristic of how we play.”

“[I’m] worried to how the team will respond to this loss. They have to go home and play LSU, Florida and have Mississippi State to end the home stretch. We have to go back to work.”

Kentucky Players

Jeremy Jarmon
“We had a lot of opportunities this game to take care of business, credit them. We gave the ball away a few times. We did make stops on defense. We did make errors on special teams. The first five games of the season we were able to get by without making many mistakes, and tonight we made mistakes on a great team, and South Carolina capitalized on them.”

“I think we played well. I think Steve Spurrier made some good calls at times, I guess from things that he was seeing, but we were aggressive. We did a lot of the things that the coaches asked us to do. We hit the quarterback, we created pressure. We slowed down their run game. We did a solid job, but we didn’t do a good enough job to get the ball back to try to score again.”

On mistakes: “It’s frustrating, but things like that happen. When you’re on the road, hostile environment, things happen. Now the best thing we can do is see how we can rebound in the next few days. We can’t hang our heads.”

On Chris Smelley:
“He was serviceable. He did enough to get the win tonight. He’s a redshirt freshman, and he’s got room to grow.”

Andre Woodson
“We definitely made a lot of mistakes, especially me personally. It’s something we haven’t been doing all year. Hopefully right now we can correct that. I was pretty disappointed, because we definitely thought we could compete in this game.”