COACHPHILLIPS: First our injury report. Billy Joe Murphy actually ran today. We’ll try to find out tomorrow how he does with swelling. If he doesn’t, we’llget him into some individual tomorrow. Then if he doesn’t swell after, thatwe’ll start getting him in some more of the practices.
Taiedo Smith, he ran Sunday, looked okay. We have to see how he does today, and then make a decision tomorrow whether ornot he’s capable of practicing.
Larry Warford is day‑to‑day withan ankle, but should be able to play on Saturday. He’s day‑to‑daywhether or not he’ll practice. The reason we say day‑to‑day isbecause we don’t want to reinjure him. We think he can go on Saturday, sothat’s the reason why he’s day‑to‑day.
We have had a chance to watch the tapeobviously a couple times. We’ve got to get better, especially offensively. Wegot to do a better job with our field position also. When you’re strugglingoffensively, it’s hard to go 80 yards because teams, all they want you to do iscontinue to snap the ball, which is our goal, keep offenses continuing to snapthe ball.
We started on the 20 or less seven out ofour 12 drives, and that’s hard, especially for an offense that’sstruggling. We got to do a better job at getting field position. A lot ofthat has to do with our kicking game and getting people stopped on defense.
On the other side, we talk about fieldposition. 11 of the drives that Louisville had last week ‑‑they only had one that started backed up. They had two on our side of theball, which scored two out of three times. We had none on the other side ofthe ball. We got to do a better job in field position because it’s hard whenyou’re struggling offensively to drive the ball 80 yards.
Also I think our defense is playing reallygood, playing good defense. The thing that we can’t do is we can’t allowpeople to throw the ball over our head. Red zone defense teams have not scoreda touchdown on us. They’ve been in the red zone five times against us, andwe’ve allowed four field goals, so we have not given up a touchdown.
The thing we can’t do is we can’t allow thepeople to throw the ball over our heads. That’s happened in a couple games.
We’ve got to do a better job as coaches. I’ve got to do a better job also. We have to give these guys a better plan anda better job of executing a plan that we give them.
We have a huge challenge. Florida isaveraging 37 points a game, averaging 200 yards plus on both sides as far asrunning and passing. They are only allowing 8.7 (points) giving up, giving up30 yards of rushing, which is what we ran for last week, 35 yards. That’s ahuge challenge.
Got great team speed in all phases. In thespecial forces, they have returned (a punt) for a touchdown, they’ve blockedtwo punts.
Huge challenge for us. We’ve got to play aclean, fast game with no mistakes, playing field position, taking our shots onoffense, running the ball when they give it to us, making them snap the ball(when UK is) on defense to have an opportunity to win this game.
Any questions.
Q. re: Gene McCaskill
COACH PHILLIPS: Gene again is day‑to‑dayalso. The reason why they mention Gene is because we think he has a chance. He should practice tomorrow, so I didn’t mention Gene. But he should be fine.
Q. Florida has always been known for greatspecial teams. Any special emphasis on special teams this week?
COACH PHILLIPS: It’s always a specialemphasis. You don’t want to get a punt blocked. The percentage goes up reallyhigh for a team that gets a punt block. Obviously last week we got a puntblock. It didn’t go backwards. Luckily it went forwards. Our defense wasable to get them stopped.
We always have to put an emphasis onprotecting our punter. That’s one of our goals every week. There’s threethings I ask all three coordinators to give me what it’s going to take to winevery week; special forces, it’s going to take protecting our punter andcovering punts also.
This team is a great punt‑block team. They’ve blocked two already this year. One of them they had 10 guys on thefield, nine guys up, bad snap. We have to have the correct execution. Theydidn’t have it. They blocked that one. They blocked one last week also.
We’ve got to protect our punter. That’s ahuge emphasis, not just this week, but every week.
Q. How concerned are you about the offensiveline holding up?
COACH PHILLIPS: Well, I’m not concerned. I’m concerned about our overall offense. We’ve got to get going offensively. This is a similar deal to 2008, when we lost all the production. Our defensehad to carry us for a few weeks. The difference is we’re turning the ballover. That’s the difference.
2008, we won our first three games. The waywe won our first three games is not turning it over and creating turnovers. Right now we’re even in the turnover margin. That’s the huge difference. Youcan’t turn the ball over when you’re struggling offensively and put yourdefense in some tough situations. That’s what we’ve done.
Q. You talk about clean and fast. Do you reallythink you have to play perfect against Florida?
COACH PHILLIPS: I don’t think you have toplay perfect. It’s hard to go out and play perfect. If you ask Florida lastweek did they play perfect, no, they didn’t play perfect, but they won thegame.
I just think you have to take advantage ofopportunities that are given to you. Can’t have drops. Can’t have turnovers. You can’t have 14 minus‑yard plays. You can allow a couple, but youcan’t allow 14 of them and have a chance to win.
I don’t think you have to play perfect, butyou have to play smart.
Q. Re: Florida’s transition to a newcoach.
COACH PHILLIPS: They haven’t changed. They’re Florida. They have great athletes. They were in a transition lastyear, if you ask me, transition with the quarterback change. That was theirtransition. This quarterback has been the starter for two years. I don’tconsider it a transition.
Defensively, they’ve always been reallygood. They’ve always had great personnel. They’ve always had great personnelon offense as well. The special teams coordinator is the same as last year. Same philosophy. I think last year was the transition period. They got greatplayers and a quarterback that’s playing good for them also.
Q. What do you know about Charlie Weis and howhis offenses play?
COACH PHILLIPS: You know, Coach Minter’sworked for Charlie at Notre Dame, so they know each other. It will be a reallygood matchup between those two guys knowing each other.
I mean, Charlie likes to run the football. Also off the runs, he’ll have a play‑action off all the runs he has. He’ll have a screen off of every run that he has. We just got to make surethat we recognize the things that they’re trying to do, attack blockers, getoff blockers, make plays.
Q. You mentioned their speed. How can speedimpact a game and how much of a concern is that?
COACH PHILLIPS: Well, I mean, all of us inhere have heard the term ‘speed kills.’ I know that’s one of the clichés. Which one is overrated? It’s not overrated this week. They got the type ofspeed that can hurt you.
They have probably the fastest guy in theworld. They got probably the second fastest guy in the world. Urban (Meyer)built this team. He said he wanted to be the fastest team in the country andthey probably are.
We’ve got to make sure when we get anopportunity to get our hands on them, we’ve got to wrap them up and get achance to tackle them, we have to gang tackle, get off blocks and get to thosefast guys also.
Q. With all the waiting that EJ Fields has had,what has been his attitude?
COACH PHILLIPS: His attitude has beengreat. We never questioned his attitude, his want to play. He was suspendedearlier in the season, so he didn’t get a lot of reps. Why give a guy reps that’snot going to play for you in the opening games? He got some reps in the secondweek that he took advantage of. Didn’t get an opportunity because we thoughthe was still behind.
Got an opportunity (in the Louisvillegame). He was going to be our first guy to go in the game at the receiverposition. He went in, took advantage of the opportunity that was given to him,did what receivers are supposed to do, which is catch the football.
Like I say, he made some big plays for us,one on the scramble that Newton threw out of the end zone. That could haveeasily gone the other way. He steps in front of the defender, comes back toit, makes the play. Those things give receivers a chance. He got a chance toplay and took advantage of it. He’ll get even more of an opportunity thisweek.
Q. EJ said it was easier on the field?
COACH PHILLIPS: And it should be. Thatsays something about the way we practice, our practices. We try to turn theheat up on practice so it becomes easy. The game should be easier thanpractice.
Q. Compared to last year, how much is TreyBurton showing up on film?
COACH PHILLIPS: He showed up a lot lastyear, he had six touchdowns against us. They don’t actually do as much (ofthose plays) this year. They’re more of a conventional offense. They’re notas much gun, read, option, those things. They’re not doing those things theydid with him last year. They’re getting the balls in the hands of some ofthose world‑class sprinters we were talking about.
Q. Running the ball about 70% of the time onfirst down. On those plays, 1.2 yards per carry. Is 70% running on first downpredictable at all?
COACH PHILLIPS: I’ll tell you, in the firstgame, first half we threw the ball five times on first down. Getting really,really far behind the count, behind the sticks. That was a game that we sawthat our defense was playing outstanding. It was, Hey, just don’t screw it up,give our defense a chance to win this game.
Same with the second game, similar to thefirst game. Our defense was playing good after the first three series. Itwas, Hey, let’s just move the sticks, don’t turn the ball over, take shots whenyou get an opportunity, and we should win the game. Those things happen.
We’ve got to throw the ball first down. We’ve got to mix it up. We can’t be predictable. Those first two games,that’s the reason why the percentage is so high because of the first two games.
Q. Talk about speeding up the tempo.
COACH PHILLIPS: We’ve got to play faster. Looked like we played a little faster when we went into a two‑minutemode. Not sure we’ll go that fast, but we’ll try to do some no‑huddling. If you can remember, when we were a big no‑huddle team, we’d burn up theclock. Our time of possession was a lot more than the opponents had.
I think because at times you take your time,you get up there, see what’s going on, then there’s time you have to playfaster in the two‑minute mode.
We got to mix it up in the type of tempos wedo play because I think it does give us an advantage. Obviously it did lastSaturday. We got to try to find a tempo that fits us.
Q. Do you talk to the players about the streak?
COACH PHILLIPS: No, that was the past. That’s the past. We don’t talk about the past. We talk about the present. The present, this team is the team that has to play Florida, not those lastteams that played them.
Q. (continued thoughts on team’s currentsituation)
COACH PHILLIPS: We’ve been here before,battled our way out of it. We’ll continue to battle our way out of this. We’re 2‑1. We’re not 0‑3. Yeah, we could be 0‑3. We alsocould be sitting here at 3‑0 also.
As bad as we played the other night, we gota chance to have the ball first and goal inside the 10 yard line and win thisgame or take it into overtime, and see what happens.
We’re 2‑1. Let’s see how we do therest of these games.
Q. re: effect of Raymond Sanders’ absence
COACH PHILLIPS: It doesn’t matter if you’renot blocking people, getting hat on hat. Doesn’t matter if you have 14 minus‑yardplays. Doesn’t matter who’s in there. I got a chance to meet Gale Sayers. Itwould be hard for him, even, if we’re not blocking people, getting a hat on ahat.
I think the backs that played the other daycompeted their tails off. CoShik (Williams) got an opportunity, another guythat took advantage of it. There will be opportunities for other guys thathaven’t had opportunities. All that does is build up confidence in eachposition. I think we got even more confidence in the running back position. We got more guys that can make plays for us.
We miss Raymond. We’d like to have himback. He’s done for two or three weeks. We’ll see what happens when he comesback.
Q. Question regarding the offensive line.
COACH PHILLIPS: I don’t know. It’s themillion‑dollar question. We got to get them better. We got to get themplaying better, us as coaches. That’s our job. We’re not giving up on thoseguys. Those guys play a lot of ball around here and have had a lot of successaround here.
We’re struggling right now. It’s not justthe offensive line. It’s the offense in general. It’s not just the offensiveline. It’s a team thing. That part of the team is struggling right now.
Like I say, we don’t turn the ball over, wedon’t look as bad. You’re not sitting here talking about how bad our runninggame is because I think we have more opportunities. You have moreopportunities to run the ball when you turn the ball over. You have moreopportunities to score. We just haven’t had enough snaps to be able to run theball.
Q. On third‑and‑longs, you’vehad 22 plays. What is the thinking on running (some of those plays)?
COACH PHILLIPS: A lot of times on third‑and‑long,they drop eight guys. You’re throwing into some tough coverages. When we dropeight, that’s where we got a lot of our interceptions. We’re one of the topteams in the conference in turnovers because we getting people in third‑and‑longand they’re trying to drop back and throw the ball. Every zone is coveredunderneath. You got three deep behind it. I think it becomes really tough.
We’ve tried to run the ball (on someplays). In the past we have converted on third‑and‑long by runningthe ball.
Q. How does the Florida defense compare to whatyou’ve faced so far?
COACH PHILLIPS: They’re better. You canlook at the statistics and see. We talked about the team speed. They’redefinitely better. So, again, we’ve got to play cleaner than we’ve played tohave an opportunity to beat these guys.
Q. When you look at the quarterback sacks theother night, what was it?
COACH PHILLIPS: It was a combination. We’ve got to get the ball out of our hands. We’ve got to protect better. Wehad to sight adjust a couple times that we missed that we can’t block a coupleguys.
Morgan, for the most part, protected himselfand knew we had enough guys to block the guys we have.
Again, got to win one‑on‑onebattles. A few times we didn’t win one‑on‑one battles and a fewtimes he hung onto the ball too long. That amounted to a lot of the minus‑yardplays. Six of the minus‑yard plays were on sacks.
Q. Re: players being angry about the loss
COACH PHILLIPS: This is definitely anemotional game. You have to wear your emotions on your sleeves. We want ourguys playing angry. That’s the way this game is meant to be played.
Q. As a coach, how aware are you about the wayfans feel about things?
COACH PHILLIPS: I feel the same way. Youknow, I feel the same way as everybody. Hey, understand this: I care aboutthis program more than anybody in here. There’s not one person in here thatcares more about it than me.
I’m angry. I’m angry. I’ve been a part ofan 0‑10‑1 season. Battled ourselves to get to a 9‑3 season. As a coach I’ve been in a 1‑10 season. Battled ourselves to where we woneight, nine games. I’m angry also. I’m not satisfied with what we’re doinghere, I’m not. It starts with me. We’ll get it corrected.
Q. On fans judging the program, you’re onlythree games into your second year as the head coach.
COACH PHILLIPS: I think it’s fair giventoday’s society because this is a society that, what do you call it, microwavesociety. I think it’s fair. I know what I signed up for, I really do. I’mnot one that takes this position for granted. I understand what I signed upfor. I understand the concerns that everybody has. I have the same concerns. We’re trying to get them fixed.
Again, I care about this program, thisfootball program, as much as anybody that’s out there.
Q. I think you said one of the words of adviceRich Brooks gave you was turn the noise down.
COACH PHILLIPS: Yeah. Listen to it meansyou don’t react to it. People say, ‘We want to do this.’ Youdon’t react to it. You stay with your plans. There’s nothing wrong when youhear it, but just don’t react to it. That’s what ‘Don’t listen to the noise’means.
I watched that old guy go through the samething, how he handled it and reacted to it. We’re trying to do it the sameway. We’re battling our tails off, continuing to recruit as hard as wepossibly can.
Q. What is your reaction if players tweet thingsto fans?
COACH PHILLIPS: I think it’s unnecessary. I think we got great fans, we do. We got great fans. We feel their concerns. We got the same concerns that we’re trying to get fixed. I don’t think that’snecessary.
Our fans did a really good job last week. We expect them to do a good job this week also.
Q. Did Coach Brooks react to whatever he heardbehind closed doors?
COACH PHILLIPS: No. He never came in,throwing stuff, telling me to do this, telling Coach Brown to do that. No, hedidn’t. We went about business as usual.
There’s some things that he would come inand say he wanted, but it wasn’t because of a reaction to something he heard. I’ll do the same.
