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to Home Games 2008 front page Tide Holds Kentucky 17-14 These are the post game comments and interviews with Antoine Caldwell following the Kentucky game … Antoine Caldwell … We knew it was going to be a tough game coming into it. Kentucky is a good football team. We'll give them the credit. But we did a lot of things out there today that wasn't characteristic of our football team. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot a lot out there today. But it's one of the games that's going to be tough, but we came out with the win. Press Pool ... Coach talked about dealing with success and wanting to see how you guys deal with all the new expectations and stuff ... What kind of things did you do this week (that may have played into that?) Caldwell ... We just did a lot of things that were uncharacteristic of us today ... had a lot of penalties ... just holding ourselves back. Stuff that we haven't done all season long. No matter who you are playing, you do that kind of stuff it's going to be tough to beat anybody, no matter who it is. But Kentucky played a tough game. They played us tough. We'll need this off-week to come back, work on this football team and improve a little bit and we'll be ready to go the second half of the season. Does it fall back on what you said about handling the success and the miscues that you're talking about? Yeah, we have to do things to maintain what we already have going. We did a lot of things today to hurt ourselves. You can also look at it as a positive too. We may have done some things to hurt ourselves, but we also came out with the win. We had that 8-minute drive in the 4th quarter when we needed to put one together. There were a lot of things there that ARE characteristic of our football team. So we just have to get our focus back as a team. We have this off-week to improve and get ready to go in the second half. Those last two drives, you were able to use a lot of the clock and run the ball. That's what you've talked about doing as an offensive line, and have done. How important is that? It's important for that drive to happen, especially in the 4th quarter. The last two drives took some clock out and gave us the chance to put some points on the board. That's characteristic of this offensive line. We've been playing well, been playing physical and did the same thing in many ways today. I feel we dominated a little bit up front. But we didn't get the breaks we'd been getting and kind of hurt ourselves with the penalty yards and the turnovers. That's stuff you just can't do, not matter who you play and especially in the SEC. Coach talked about commending you guys for being 6-0. Can you talk about being there and getting some props from him for doing what you have done? Being 6-0 is tough and I think acknowledged that after the game. He was critical of us for the mistakes that were made ... of course. Then he acknowledged that we were 6-0 and that's tough to do, especially in the SEC. We played a lot of really good team in the first half of the season. And to come out 6-0 ... matter if you win by 1 or by 80, it's huge. We have to sit back and take a step back and realize where we're at and just move ahead on this bye week. What happened on the long run (Coffee 78-yards) for the touchdown? It was a play we been kind of working in practice and it did just exactly what we thought it was going to do. We wanted to go to the weak side and that's what we did. They kind of overran it and Glenn made a great cut and kind of split the safeties. It was a play we've been working and they came out in a look we thought they were going to be in. We just had to finish the play. How does it make a guy like you feel when a guy like Glenn Coffee runs for 218? It's huge. It's huge. We take a lot of pride in the offensive line of trying to dominate the line of scrimmage. Glenn's been doing a great job all year of pushing the hole and doing what he's got to do to get those extra yards. He's been doing a great job. It makes us feel good, but we've got to keep it up though. There's still a lot of improvement to make. Does it surprise ya'll ... this year ... when Glenn pulls away from the defense like that? Naw (laughs), he don't surprise me. I've been watching Glenn run for awhile. That's just one of the first times this season we've let him get in the open field like that and make those big runs. But Glenn's been doing an outstanding job for us. We just have to keep it going. Is this the kind of game in the last couple of years ... with all the mistakes ... that you might have dropped? Yeah. Could have easily dropped this one. But that's the character of this football team. We're finishing. When we needed to put drives together in the 4th quarter and that one late in the 3rd ... when we needed those drives we did it. That's been a characteristic of this football team is finishing games, and that's what we did. Are you surprised at all to be 6-0 and #2 in the nation right now? No, I'm not. We all know what's been going on all off season and how hard we've been working. We did a great job in the off-season and are starting fast this year and I'm happy to be where we're at. Is the sky the limit? Yes it is. There's high expectations from this football team and we just have to keep it going one week at a time. Was this another lesson that every game is going to be a tough one, especially in the SEC. Do you think you guys need a little lesson like that? Uhhh ... I guess so. But we knew coming in the Kentucky was a good football team and we're going to give them a lot of credit. They played hard and did a lot of good things. But we hurt ourselves a lot in this football game, there's no doubt about it. I think 3 or 4 holding calls ... offensive pass interference, turnover inside the 5 ... we did a lot of things to shoot ourselves in the foot and left a lot of points out there on the field. But the main thing is when we needed to put drives together at the end of the game, we were able to finish and come out with a win. (question inaudible) What did Coach Saban say to you about the mistake but also about hanging in there ... Well, he was critical of us after the game. But you know, he also took a step back and acknowledged that we were 6-0. The main thing is you come to win, no matter how pretty or ugly it is. We came out there and played a good football team in Kentucky. They were confident. They were 4-0. But we came out there, played hard and played tough. Matter what we did, at the end we came out with the win and he (Coach) was proud about that. What did Coffee say to ya'll after the fumble? He just told us he had our backs, and we had his. More importantly, we came to him and told him "We got your back." He pretty much got us all the way down there and had been running hard this game and this whole season. You're not going to give up on a guy for dropping a fumble inside the red zone. I kind of put that on our shoulders. Maybe if we were hustling we could have got on that fumble, you know. It was little things like that, but we had his back and picked him up when he had those fumbles. Is that something that's made this team a little bit special or something, just that sort of attitude? Definitely, definitely. The chemistry on this whole team. Having each other's back. Coach Saban and Coach McElwain talk about that a lot. Having each other's back and picking each other up. When that play happened, Glenn was real critical of himself because he holds himself to a high standard. He dropped that ball and came up to us and said, "Hey guys, I'm going to make up for that." I mean, the guy rushed for 220 (218) yard today! That's not bad at all. He did a great job for us today and we just kept pounding and it worked out for us. Heading into the bye-week are you surprised to be where you are now? I'm not. We've worked out tails off to get where we are right now. We've played a lot of good teams in this first half of the season. I feel like we're tested. I feel like the leadership is good. I feel like a lot of people have bought into what Coach Saban is trying to do. And I feel like this bye-week is well needed. We're a little banged up and the legs get a little bit tired. But we're going to go out and improve Alabama this week. Alabama has a lot of improving to do to get ready for whoever our next opponent is. You've got your finger on the pulse of this team .... how ready is it for this bye? Gosh (laughs), we're ready, and we need it because we've played a lot of tough teams and been really physical. But we're ready to get this bye-week behind us and go into the second half of the season. (question inaudible) When the scoreboard says 17-14, do you really think that gives Kentucky enough respect??? Kentucky is a good football team, but I've said before that we did a lot to hurt ourselves. We left a lot of points and yards on the field. Stuff we haven't been doing all season. We've been doing good with turnovers all season and haven't been penalized that much. But Kentucky did play us tough and they are a good football team. When it's 4th and Inches are you guys voicing your opinion about whether to go for it or not? Not really to Coach. Whatever he calls, I mean, that's it. But amongst each other, we had confidence in ourselves that we could get it done. We've got a back that can run hard. We were hoping they would go for it. They did and we picked it up. You had to have liked what happened on those last two drives. They called running plays ... Definitely, definitely. It kind of got to a point where they knew what we were going to do and we knew what we were going to do. You just a hat on a hat and try to move some bodies around and that's what we did. Is Kentucky's the best defensive line you have faced? Probably. Number 98 (#98 DT-Cedric Wilson Fr. 6'-2" 279lbs Clements High, Sugar Land TX) was a really, really good player. He's a strong guy, very active, really really good player. One of the probably the best I've played so far this season. I mean I tip my hat to them. They came out and played hard today.
click the link to read the post game comments following the Kentucky game ... click here for other Homes Games 2008 interviews Glenn Coffee (#38 RB Jr. 2L 6'-1" 198 lbs. Ft Walton Beach High, Ft Walton Beach FL) Antoine Caldwell (#59 OL Sr. 3L 6'-3" 305 lbs. Lee High, Montgomery AL)
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