Opening Statement …
““I certainly didn’t expect it to go that way. We didn’t start the way we needed to. We’ve got to show a lot of improvement in a lot of areas and just disappointed in our start to the game. Anytime you spot somebody seven [points], that’s not good. We gave up some explosive plays on defense. But the positives were we didn’t blink, we’ve got a very emotional team and I thought in the locker room, there were a lot of emotions shown. Tennessee’s got a good football team; I’ve got a lot of respect for Jeremy [Pruitt] and his staff, how hard his kids play, how physical they play. They play a really good brand of football, as we do too. We’ve got to improve our ability to execute and play with discipline and composure, and we didn’t do that at all times today. A couple costly decisions there, 4th-and-1, didn’t get it, they turn around and score the very next play and then right before the half, leaving one out there, could’ve been a huge back-breaker for them, instead gives them huge momentum.”
On the team answering adversity after halftime…
“I think we’re a well-conditioned team and our team has taken pride in the conditioning level. I think we’ve got a team that adjusts well, so if somebody’s giving us trouble with something, we have answers, we don’t just continue to do the same thing if we’re struggling with things. I’m proud of the effort they came out with in the second half with the momentum the defense created. We’re not executing at a high level and that can cause problems; that’s special teams, that’s defensive execution on fastball exchanges, that’s offensively getting lined up, getting in a formation and getting a call. That can be costly if you play a team that can capitalize on them.”