Let’s take a quick tour of the SEC to see what the head coaches were talking about on Saturday following their Week 2 games:
NICK SABAN, ALABAMA
On how his quarterbacks performed in a 37-10 win over Middle Tennessee: “I think both guys really need to improve. I think that offensively we started to establish an identity against Wisconsin. We didn’t have one today, but that’s not all the quarterbacks’ fault.”
BRET BIELEMA, ARKANSAS
On the heat Arkansas may receive after following his comments on Ohio State’s schedule with a loss to Toledo: “Gonna have all kinds of different people for different reasons firing shots at us. Gotta dig into a foxhole.”
GUS MALZAHN, AUBURN
On narrowly escaping an upset bid from Jacksonville State: “I think everybody knows we didn’t play our best, but we won. … I think next week, we’ll find out where we’re at.”
JIM MCELWAIN, FLORIDA
On just how embarrassed he was by his team’s 31-24 win over East Carolina: “That was embarrassing. Didn’t deserve to win the ball game. You guys should be embarrassed having to write about this.”
MARK RICHT, GEORGIA
On the usage and performance of his quarterbacks in a 31-14 win over Vanderbilt: “We just didn’t throw-and-catch well in the first half, a little bit of decision-making but we mostly just didn’t hit our targets. One ball got tipped at the line of scrimmage. We didn’t attempt many balls, period. We didn’t move the chains, we didn’t get any third down conversions in the first half. We have to be more balanced than we were today in order for our offense to really move well. We were gonna play Brice [Ramsey] in the first half, and we did, but even when we took a knee at the end of the first half Greyson [Lambert] was in there and we wanted to finish it that way. Greyson, I think completed 11-out-of-16 or something in the second half; much better performance in the second half which is good to see.”
MARK STOOPS, KENTUCKY
On ending his losing streak in road games at Kentucky: “I was tired of hearing about it. The only way you get this victory is by improving as a football team. You ain’t going to talk your way into all that stuff. You’ve got to just get better.”
LES MILES, LSU
On his team’s performance in a 21-19 win against Mississippi State in Starkville: “I’m not (happy). There’s gonna be so much to correct on that film, it’s gonna be ridiculous.”
DAN MULLEN, MISSISSIPPI STATE
On losing to LSU following a failed game-winning field goal attempt: “Losing sucks. I don’t care when you do it. Early, late, morning, night, by a lot, by a little. Losing absolutely sucks. That’s what it is.”
GARY PINKEL, MISSOURI
On escaping Jonesboro, Ark. with a 27-20 win over Arkansas State: “I’m very proud of our team for battling, but the sense of urgency … I told our team, we’re not even close to how good we can be. But next week we’re going to grind through practice.”
HUGH FREEZE, OLE MISS
On whether offensive explosions in back-to-back weeks have the Rebels prepared for SEC play: “I saw the first quarter and thought we looked sharp, and we looked good. I probably killed some of the momentum. I felt like the game was maybe getting away a little bit. Are we ready for SEC play? I don’t know. It is hard to tell. We have to line up better defensively and get in the right spot. We need to get our eyes in the right spot. We have had some lapses in that. We didn’t take care of the ball particularly well today. Chad Kelly did. I am really proud of Chad after today. We looked a little soft at times today. I can’t answer if we are ready or not, but we are really excited about finding out next weekend.”
STEVE SPURRIER, SOUTH CAROLINA
On the close nature of the Gamecocks’ 26-22 lost to Kentucky: “We play these games all the time where one play makes a difference. This time we had one or two that didn’t go our way.”
BUTCH JONES, TENNESSEE
On what he told his team following a double-overtime loss to Oklahoma: “I told them, never lose this feeling. The day you don’t feel like coming to practice or you don’t feel like working hard, think about how you feel right now. And we have a group of kids that take great pride in their performance. They give us everything they have and I love them and I’m proud of them. They came up short, but they laid it on the line. They played hard and made one more play than we did.”
KEVIN SUMLIN, TEXAS A&M
On the debut of the “new” Kyle Field: “It’s hard to make Kyle Field better, but we did the impossible. It’s a great fan experience. Being close to the field is awesome. To run out there the first time, our players were excited and I thought that energy level showed early. Hopefully we’re going to do our part to put a product on the field to make people want to be here.”
DEREK MASON, VANDERBILT
On the success of Vanderbilt’s hurry-up offense in a 31-14 loss to Georgia: “Match-ups were in our favor. We were able to get a good balance with it. We had one or two good runs and then could decide between a run or a pass. Johnny [McCrary] is more comfortable in that position, so it’s something we’re going to have to look at.”
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.
