Sept. 5, 2009

Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery

Miami Head Coach Michael Haywood
On the game as a whole:
"I think the guys came out and played a pretty good first quarter, but we didn't overcome adversity. We had a chance to get a stop after the (first) interception, but we didn't and Kentucky went down and scored and it was a slide from that point on. There were some players that played really hard, but there are some things - technique and fundamental issues - that we're going to have to change. But I think that you make your biggest stride from your first game to your second game."

On being his first game as head coach:
"It's not the way you'd like to start out. You'd like to put some points on the board, but more importantly you want to win. We could have won 2-0 and I would have been happy."

On what he learned about his team:
"The thing I think you notice is that we have a little more heart. I think we're in better shape than when we first started, but we still have a ways to go. We have to make sure some members of our organization play within themselves and to their athletic abilities and we have to put the kids in position to have success."

On having more success on third down:
"It's extremely critical because on offense you've got to keep the chains moving and on defense you've got to tackle better. There were a couple plays on third down where we had five missed tackles - you can't have that. That's definitely one of the things we're going to have to clean up and we're going to have to do a better job of moving the chains on offense."

On the play of the freshmen:
"I have to go back and evaluate them but I was happy to see that they weren't shell-shocked. They ran around and played really hard. When you come in to a game like this at Paul Brown Stadium with the magnitude of it, I think they held up very professionally."

Senior wide receiver and co-captain Dustin Woods
On the changing point from the first quarter to the rest of the game:
"It was the first turnover we had on the deep ball. One thing Coach Haywood always talks about is (adversity's) going to happen and it's how you recover from it. Obviously, we didn't stop the slide and it was a snowball effect and one thing led to another."

On the team's schedule:
"It doesn't get any easier but we knew that coming in. Kentucky's a good team and Boise State's going to be a tough game. We go in to every game thinking it's going to be a tough game and anything can happen. We prepare accordingly and we do what we need to do to prepare for our opponent."

Senior quarterback Daniel Raudabaugh
On the team's overall performance:
"We practiced hard all offseason and felt like we had a good week of practice preparing for the game and had a good game plan, but we didn't execute as well as we'd have liked to and that starts with me. "

On trying to attack Kentucky early:
"We've got some good players at the wide receiver position and after watching tape, we thought we could spread them out and use the field to our advantage. We tried to get the ball in our playmakers' hands - it worked sometimes, it didn't others, but we're going to move on, learn from this and do better."

Junior safety and co-captain Jordan Gafford
On the team's strong performance in the first quarter:
"The guys were ready to play and they were excited. I think in the first quarter we did a lot of things right, played hard and believed that we could win. If you do those things, you have a chance against anybody."

On the team's physicality:
"As an entire team, it's a different mindset. We prepared differently than in previous years. Coach Haywood has preached that from the very first day and I think that's what you saw out there in the first quarter. I think that's the stuff we need to continue and get more consistent with."

Kentucky Head Coach Rich Brooks
On the game as a whole:
"I was very pleased overall. We were slow getting going and you have to give Miami credit for that. They gave us a lot of different looks. We were at a little bit of a mystery as what they were going to run. Defensively I was very pleased with what I am told was our first shutout since 1996. I thought some of our young guys played young early but I think we will see more action out of our front four as the year goes along. "