Will Muschamp, Jake Bentley comment on South Carolina’s tough loss at Kentucky
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This isn’t how the Gamecocks could have envisioned this season going following an offseason full of hype, yet here they are down two games to both Georgia and Kentucky three games into conference play.
That’s the reality South Carolina finds itself in after losing 24-10 to Kentucky in Lexington on Saturday night. The loss makes two on the season in conference play, while the Bulldogs and Wildcats both remain undefeated after five games.
After the disappointing result, Will Muschamp and Jake Bentley fielded questions from the media during South Carolina’s postgame press conference:
Will Muschamp’s opening statement…
“Alright, just going back. As poorly as we played in the first half defensively, we talked in terms all week about keeping your head in the gap and gap control defense. The guys weren’t very patient, they let them take the ball to different places, etc. We’ve got guys jumping out of gaps trying to make plays. Not a lack of effort, not a lack of want too, but not very smart. Just discipline and doing what you’re supposed to do and how you’re supposed to do it.
“We come back in the second half and did that. We didn’t make any changes, we didn’t call anything different. It was absolutely nothing different, as far as what we did defensively. We turned the ball over four times, we had 11 penalties as a team, the field position in the second half really hurt us. I give Kentucky credit, they’ve got a good football team, we’ve said it all week. We self-inflicted a lot of issues to ourselves and you give Kentucky credit.”
On the unsportsmanlike conduct penalties…
“22 penalties for the game is a bunch.”
On coming back from “self-inflicted wounds” …
“Give our players credit. They continued to fight and play hard in the game. We don’t play very smart at times, but we continued to give effort. We just must play smarter. We cannot continue to kill ourselves in turnovers. We haven’t done that, and we are really hurting ourselves this year in turnovers.”
On team composure …
“We need to play between whistles. That’s what tough competitors do. They don’t run their mouths.”
On after game message to team …
“We’re going to watch the film and be extremely disappointed in our self-inflicted issues. Again, I’m not taking any credit away from Kentucky, they played well, and they are well-coached. They’ve got a good team. We hurt ourselves. The first third down of the game, you drop a catch, it was first down. We’re trying to move the chains. How many drops did we have tonight? Six? Seven? I don’t know. They were big plays too. I can’t catch it for them. They have to catch the ball.”
On running the ball…
“Yeah, we were about to run the ball. I don’t know how many we ended up with and we don’t count the sack yardage in our run totals. We had good movement and it was a good team effort. I’m not displeased at all, we just killed ourselves with turnovers and second-half field position. We ran the ball well.”
Jake Bentley
On tough plays …
“Overall, we have to be better, but I put a lot on myself. There’s a lot of plays that I could have done better. I don’t know what it was, wish I did, but I can go back and watch the films to really dissect it. I just have to play better. It starts with me. Really disappointing with how we played.”
On challenges playing Kentucky…
“They are really long and athletic, they play a lot of zone coverage, so it is hard to get behind them – they mix it up pretty well. We must execute better. I need to do better and take care of the ball. I obviously can’t throw three interceptions and think we’re going to have a chance at winning. Just have to do better.”
On recovering from a bad play…
“I think as a team we are waiting for something big to happen. Last year the big kickoff, we were still waiting instead of going out and making it ourselves. We have to be self-starters and just get it done from there. As far as drives, there’s been a lack of execution. I have to make smarter decisions instead of force things down the field.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
