Let’s take a quick tour of the SEC to see what the head coaches were talking about Saturday following their Week 10 games:
NICK SABAN, ALABAMA
On RB Derrick Henry’s big game during 30-16 win against LSU: “The guy’s having a great year. He had a great game today. It couldn’t have happened at a better time against a very good defensive team. But I think he’d be the first one to tell you that the offensive line did a really good job today, and I think it was the whole offensive team being well prepared for what they did and going out and blocking their [defensive] front. He did a great job of carrying the ball, so it was special.”
BRET BIELEMA, ARKANSAS
On decision to go for two in overtime to beat Ole Miss 53-52: “When we scored with 53 seconds in the fourth quarter, I wanted to go for it, but I didn’t want to put that on our guys. I said before we started overtime, be prepared to go for the two-point conversion. During the long delay, I told the players if we make this touchdown, stay on the field and go for it.”
GUS MALZAHN, AUBURN
On return of QB Jeremy Johnson to starting role in win against Texas A&M: “I’m proud of Jeremy. He’s been through a lot this year and for him to come out and play, he made one of the plays of the game.”
JIM McELWAIN, FLORIDA
On having to come back to win a 9-7 game against Vanderbilt to win SEC East: “They didn’t do anything to us that we didn’t see, other than beat us to the punch. When you are on a championship run, let’s call it what it is – we are on a championship run. Sometimes there are games like this and champions figure out ways to win them and these guys are the SEC East champs.”
MARK RICHT, GEORGIA
On controlling the line of scrimmage in 27-3 win against Kentucky: “I was very pleased with what happened up front. It was a line-of-scrimmage game and we won in the trenches today on both sides of the ball. We had a situation where we had a comfortable lead and we were able to pound the ball and chew up the clock.”
MARK STOOPS, KENTUCKY
On playing, and losing to, Georgia after the Bulldogs had such a tumultuous week: “I know the character of that team. Coach Richt has been around forever. That’s a prideful football team. You all just gave them a chance to circle the wagons. You know what they’re all about, you knew that they were going to play good. We have to do the same thing.”
LES MILES, LSU
On his defense’s performance in a 30-16 loss to Alabama: “Defensively, in the back half, I think the opponent had the ball 10 more minutes than we did, about twice the number of plays. Our defense was on the field for the whole second half virtually. We have to improve. We can’t take those kinds of events. This football team is much better than they showed tonight.”
DAN MULLEN, MISSISSIPPI STATE
On the emotion shown during 31-13 win at Missouri on Thursday: “I’m an emotional guy. Winning in the SEC is hard and winning on the road in the SEC is really hard. It’s not easy to do in this league and to come into this environment, a tough place Thursday night with all this other stuff, a really late‐night kickoff. To get a win, I’m juiced man. I work hard to try and get some wins. I love it.”
GARY PINKEL, MISSOURI
On how he plays on the Tigers handling the season’s mounting losses: “We’re going to have a great attitude. No moaning and groaning. We’re going to battle and we’re going to fight. That’s what we’ve always done at this university, in our program, and that’s what we’ll continue to do
HUGH FREEZE, OLE MISS
On dealing with the dramatic 53-52 overtime loss to Arkansas: “It is an extremely difficult way to end the game. I hurt for our kids, for our coaches, our fans and our administration. You put so much into this deal and then you lose a game like tonight that comes down to the wire. It is very difficult and gut wrenching. It will test everything about you.”
SHAWN ELLIOTT, SOUTH CAROLINA
On executing gameplan, yet still falling short in game at Tennessee: “It’s a tough situation when you go and you do exactly what you want to do, you work as hard as you can work, and you lay it on the line and it comes right down and the last play certainly didn’t win or lose the ball game for us, but it rips you. That’s what sports is about, when you love something it should hurt.
BUTCH JONES, TENNESSEE
On importance of winning another close game in a season full of close losses: “Part of the evolution of a football team and a football program is finding a way to win the football game when you know and your players know they didn’t play their best. I give South Carolina a lot of credit. We knew they were coming in here. We knew we were going to get their best effort. Coach Elliott has done a tremendous job in keeping that program together. We knew that they were going to play their best. Again, in a week-to-week season, to be able to find a way to win like this is very, very gratifying. Now we need to get the problems corrected, which we will. But, I’m just happy for the players because their resiliency showed.”
KEVIN SUMLIN, TEXAS A&M
On sizable loss to Auburn at Kyle Field: “We did some things that were uncharacteristic of us. If we take away one of those interceptions and instead we score, it may be different game. We ran the ball fairly effectively, particularly in the third quarter when we drove the ball down the field, but time and the score became a factor in executing that part of the game plan which puts pressure on your quarterback. We’ve got to examine where we are and what we’re doing. Give credit to Auburn. They did a good job.”
DEREK MASON, VANDERBILT
On losing 9-7 at Florida: “We did exactly what we said we needed to do in order to stay in this ballgame. We didn’t turn the ball over, and we wanted to stay ahead of the chains. We just didn’t make enough dynamic plays in the passing game, and that’s what this game came down to.”
Nick Cole is a former print journalist with several years of experience covering the SEC. Born and raised in SEC country, he has taken in the game-day experience at all 14 stadiums.
