What Stoops and players said after UK's season-opening win
Opening statement
"One heck of a victory for our team. Very proud of this football team and to come away with a win like that does so much for you. All the points of emphasis that we worked so hard on in the offseason were evident in certain areas, and in certain areas we know we need to keep on working. That's what the first game is all about. That shows a lot of character, guts and determination from that football team to come out and win that game when you're not playing your best football, certainly on the offensive side of the ball. I'm not worried. I know we'll get better. We'll get some things fixed and we'll go from there. I was really just proud. The improvement defensively was very, very evident. We would've never won this game had we not improved our run defense, and we certainly did that. There were some pass plays that we need to do a better job, and we will. There were some, what we call 50-50 balls, that were hung up there that we just need to work on and get better at playing the football and coming down with our share. They hit some big plays on those. You take those plays out of it and I think we really played solid defense. The position on the football was much better, our run defense was much more stout and I thought our defensive line, in predictable pass, we were hard to block. We executed some things very well."
On Southern Miss' offensive effort
"I thought they did a nice job, again, at just getting some first downs, being aggravating and keeping the defense on the field. They converted two fourth downs which was tough on us. It's basically another possession there defensively."
On the forced fumbles
"They were very big. We talked about how we had to win the turnover margin. Us turning it over down in there early was disappointing. We'll get that fixed. The defense creating the turnovers was very big."
Kentucky quarterback Stephen Johnson
On if the previous year's comeback affected team's mindset during second half
"No, not really. Coach Gran's main thing is the story of Peter in the Bible, stay centered and stay focused. Try not to focus on the negative too much, try to do our job and move the ball down the field."
On Southern Miss' defensive line
"We saw that on tape. Those guys are extremely fast. They twist and move a lot which cause a lot of havoc up front. We knew that going into the game. They have some really talented guys on that side of the ball."
Kentucky defensive end/linebacker Denzl Ware
On the team's turnaround from the previous year's defeat to Southern Miss
"It feels great. Southern Miss is a real good team and I wish them the best in their season. But at the end of the day I respect their players but whoever hits the hardest and plays the hardest is going to win the game."
