Nov. 5, 2008
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University of Florida football head coach Urban Meyer spoke to the media Monday about the Gators’ upcoming game Saturday at Vanderbilt.
Opening Statement
“I never want to take for granted the atmospheres we get to play in,the great city of Jacksonville. That has probably been my favorite game.Watching for a long time, even when I had nothing to do with Florida, to be a part of that, and the way our guys played. That was a great night for the Gators and our fans.
“The plan to win, I thought that if you’ve ever seen a team prepare better than they prepared last week, ever seen a team execute as far as against quality of people like great, great football players. That’s as good of week as we had, we have to build on that and continue to mature and grow and the week of preparation led to a really good performance for our guys. Our assistant coaches did a brilliant job, but more importantly our players. I’m going to read to you some statistics that you might’ve already seen, but there are a couple that you might not have seen.
“The field position battle was a great job done by our players. We played great defense, held Georgia to 400 yard which is a lot of yards.They threw a lot of completions, but once again the personnel you’re dealing with in keeping out of the end zone were tremendous. Third downs they were only 33 percent, we created four turnovers, two of the four turnovers came in the red zone. We had 172 yards of field position gained from turnovers. That was the 88, 64 and 2. So you had an 88-yard interception return, which I thought was the play of the day, a 64-yard interception return, and Terron Sanders had the 20-yard fumble recovery.Tremendous day on defense.”
On turnovers
“We created four, gave up zero. On the year we’re plus 14and our guys are doing a good job of taking care of the ball. And our defense created some turnovers against a team that really doesn’t turnover that often.”
On red zone production
“5 for 5. Five touchdowns against a very quality defense on the year we are 34 on 35 in the red zone. That must continue to continue having some success.”
On the kicking game
“We only hit six of goals, but a couple key ones were the on-side kick, that was a lot like the interception, that was a key play of the game. I believe it was 7-3 and to give the ball to the offense on the 41 yard line was a great job by Butch Rowley and Steve Addazio. We practiced that over and over again, because we felt like Kentucky, who has a tendency to do that every year we play them, and we practiced it and we practiced it again. That was competitive excellence,Butch’s number was called and he made a play.”
On the defense
“Zero times did the defense have to start in the Florida territory. Near the end of the game when we had some down the line players on kickoff coverage they brought it back a little bit, but for the competitive situations our opponents started at the 18 and it ended in a punt. They started on 19, missed field goal. Started on a 2, interception. Started on the 20, resulted in a punt. Started on 17, resulted interception.Started on 15, interception. Started on 20. That was seven times they started inside the 20 yard line, which is a great tribute to great defense, offense taking care of the ball, and excellent special teams.For the night we were 44 percent on third downs, Georgia was 33 percent.”
On the defense and its return yardage after a turnover
“Last year we played so much bump and run that you had your back to the quarterback. Now guys are able to react to the ball and also our maturity level. Major Wright and Ahmad Black are creating turnovers.Dustin Doe is a little more mature. A lot of the turnovers are because we’re playing off a little bit.”
On Vanderbilt
“It is the best Vanderbilt team we’ve gone against. They are very well coached. They started off 5-0. We have our hands full. Defensively, they are playing very well. They have a linebacker we think is the best in the conference. On special teams, they are very well coached. They are a bowl team.”
On night games on the road in the SEC
“It is as difficult as any conference in America. I saw the Vanderbilt-Auburn game when Vanderbilt beat them in every phase of the game. They are fighting for bowl games and fighting for a lot of stuff.They are playing against the Florida Gators. We’ll work crowd noise and we’ll work on stuff we do for a typical SEC road game at night.”
On Percy Harvin
“He’s got the best first step in college football. He’s matured. He isa guy who had great success early. I’m not sure that is a negative, but at times his preparation and injuries. He’s healthy and taking care of himself. He’s playing the best football of his career and I think he’s one of the best players in America.”