Sept. 30, 2014

South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier
Opening Statement
“Kentucky Wildcats are a pretty good team. They don’t look like some of their teams from 10 to 15 years ago. They’re a very fast, athletic defense that is actually nationally ranked in most all categories. They’re a good-looking team. They’re tough, smart, well-coached and it will be a challenge when we go into Commonwealth Stadium to play Kentucky this year. They’re 3-1, lost an overtime game down in the Swamp, had a chance to win it, but it didn’t work out for them so it should be a heckuva game. Looking forward to going up there and see if we can get back on schedule a bit. Last week is history, disappointing the way it ended, but that’s the way it happened. Actually I thought our defensive team played maybe the best defensive game since I’ve been here with seven minutes left, and we didn’t finish well, didn’t finish on offense and neither of our special teams. About a 20 yard punt return right there near the end of the game also. So we didn’t finish and we have to regroup and go to Kentucky and get back playing hopefully as well as we can.

“When we lose a game, all of the little mistakes that you make all the time, come to light. We had three third-and-ones that we had penalties on. One of our defensive kids lined up offside when we got the interception there in the first quarter. We had a lot of little things and when it’s a close game like that and we lose, they all surface. Hopefully we can be sharper and hopefully not beat ourselves at all and try to play the best we can up at Kentucky.”

On Missouri’s pass rush
“Hopefully we can block a little bit better. Missouri had an excellent pass rush and we didn’t block very well. There weren’t any secrets in how they were rushing. They were only rushing three or four guys at times but we didn’t do a very good job, so hopefully we can play better, pass block, run block, do a lot of things better than we did last week. We got our quarterback hit hard several times and that affects his play. He gets a little antsy. Everyone gets a little antsy when you get clobbered about four or five times so you’ve got to protect your passer. Protect your passer, your punter, your kicker and everybody else. We weren’t good at that last week.”

On almost always going for it on fourth down near midfield
“I think it’s fairly smart to do it around midfield. Statistics say that people that go for fourth down near midfield makes sense. I think statistic people that study it have said that, but we didn’t block one guy and he got through and made a nice tackle… that was just one play in the course of many in a game. When you win those games, it’s no big deal, but you miss a block or this that and the other. I would go for that again at midfield on fourth-and-one.”

On his philosophy of run versus pass balance
“Statistics show that if you run more than you pass, then you win more obviously. We lost a lot of good statistics last week. Mike Davis had over a 100 yards last week, had over 18 carries and we ended up losing the game, which is the first time I think that’s happened. It was tough calling plays last week. We didn’t pass block well and we were running so-so, and it was a struggle. Normally play callers, you call what’s working. Not throwing well, you run a little bit more. If you’re throwing well, then maybe you keep throwing more. It’s pretty common sense on that.”

On Dylan Thompson’s health
“He didn’t practice yesterday. I think he’s going to run around a little bit today. I think he had a little bit of a sprained neck, but he was fine going into the game. Just protection broke down and he got hit real hard a few times and for whatever reason he was not as sharp as I think he’s been earlier in the season.”

On his defense against Missouri
“We stopped the run better. We stopped passes. We forced 10 punts. We were getting them off the field and offensively we weren’t doing very much at all, but then the last seven minutes of the game, we had a chance. They made a couple fourth downs, and one fourth down we just didn’t cover the guy when we had the chance to, but they played with a lot of effort and hustle. Marcquis Roberts started at linebacker and I think added some enthusiasm and some more effort to the team so that was encouraging. Hopefully we can keep up that level for an entire game.”

On having 20 wins over Kentucky
“We played them all 12 years I was at Florida so that’s why I have 20, and 8-1 here, but they beat us up there back in 2010, but we had a lot better teams than them back in those days, and we won some close ones too.”

On four-year scholarships
“I agree with that. When it first came out about four-year scholarships, I thought they meant as soon as a person signs, he’s guaranteed four years. If a young man signs, he can’t just say, `I quit,’ and I still get his four years. He still has to participate and be a contributing player on the team, or you can let him go. If he says, `I quit, but I want my scholarship,’ that doesn’t work. As long as he tries and does what’s asked of him, then he stays on for the full four years. There’s a policy in place now in the NCAA that any player can come back and go back and go on scholarship to come back and finish after three years if they go pro, or four or five years. They can come back at any time and go back on scholarship and I think that was in place before the four-year guarantee was on the table. I agree with the President and our university certainly on that, and as long as a young man does what’s asked, then he’s guaranteed his four years.”

On his playing at home versus on the road
“We’ve had some pretty good road games and some not so good road games. That Arkansas game last year was our best road game probably, but we’ve done decent on the road. I remember back in ’06, second year here, we lost four home games and won about all the road games I believe that year.”

On the job that Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops is doing
“Mark being a defensive coordinator getting a head job, of course he has a defensive coordinator, but I actually think that they’re doing a lot of things that Oklahoma does also. Obviously the brothers meet together a lot in the offseason and so forth and they have a nice scheme of things. They’ll blitz a little more than most teams do. They’ve got guys coming and they play a little more man-to man than we saw last week. Mark’s background is defense. What they’ve done a good job of is the strength and conditioning of the team. They recruit a lot more into Ohio than Kentucky used to and they’ve had some nice recruiting years, their team looks good. They play fast and hustle.”