Here’s what a few notable head coaches said after Saturday’s SEC games:

LES MILES on taking down third-ranked Ole Miss inside Death Valley: “That was a great game wasn’t it. One thing about these Tigers: If you put them in Tiger Stadium, and give us a little time to fix things, we are going to be very special. This team wanted to make this night special, and they did.”

DAN MULLEN who was complimentary of Kentucky quarterback Patrick Towles after Mississippi State’s shootout win in Lexington: “They made plays all day long on both sides of the football and I don’t know if people are giving Mark (Stoops) enough credit for what he’s doing here with this outfit and what type of team Kentucky is.”

NICK SABAN following his team’s win in Knoxville over a Tennessee team that didn’t quit after an early 20-point deficit: “That was a heck of a game for both teams. Rivalry games can be that way. I really thought our guys were ready to go in the beginning of this game. Played great in the first quarter and a half of the game, got ahead 27 to nothing in the game and I think when we did, we relaxed a little bit. You’ve got to give Tennessee’s guys a whole lot of credit because they sure didn’t flinch and they didn’t give up at all.”

HUGH FREEZE on LSU’s strength and his team’s fall from the unbeatens: “We’ve been on the good side of these for seven (weeks) in a row now. This league is brutal, it’s difficult each Saturday to win football games. Particularly when you may not play your best, and you suffer some injuries you’re not used to having and you’ve got to play some other kids. That hasn’t happened to us this year, but give LSU a ton of credit. We knew last week they figured out who they wanted to be.”

GUS MALZAHN after Auburn held on to beat South Carolina, 42-35, despite the Gamecocks accumulating 535 yards of offense and converting five fourth downs: “They went for everything. That was the hard thing. They executed when they had to, and they did it time and time again. That is the reason it was a close game and the reason it went down to the very end.”

BRET BIELEMA in reference to a trick play that worked for a touchdown and the state of his team after a 45-17 win over UAB: “We tried to design something that makes as little sense as possible. I didn’t come here to beat UAB, I came here to win SEC games and when it comes its going to be very hard to stop.”

MARK STOOPS following Kentucky’s hard-fought 45-31 loss to top-ranked Mississippi State: “I appreciate our team’s effort. We did not play well enough to win, to beat the No. 1 team in the country. Again, I felt like our guys, they went about their business. Their minds were right. Their hearts were right. They tried the best they could. They were a better football team.”

STEVE SPURRIER on South Carolina’s explosive numbers of offense during a loss at Auburn: “The final score is what it is all about, and we weren’t quite enough as a team. It’s a team sport. It was almost a fun game. If we catch the Hail Mary and we make a two point conversion that might have been the greatest win in my entire life. If it had worked out. It was just a close loss. I thought maybe something good was going to happen, but they picked it off.”

GARY PINKEL after Mizzou held off Vanderbilt despite a plethora of flags: “Winning is not easy. One thing I told my players is that every win is a great win. Every win. Because it’s very, very hard to win. That being said, when we get up tomorrow we’ll evaluate this game like we do any game, win or lose. Obviously what stands out to me right now is that we had 14 penalties for 100 yards.”