Coach Meyer: “I was disappointed and we practiced yesterday, which is the first time we’ve done that on a Sunday. I had to get around the players. We all had to get around those players and put closure to a bad day. We practiced yesterday and I was impressed with the way they came out. We had a solid team meeting. I made it real clear that it is a long football season and that it is not a question of if a team will deal with adversity and injuries. It is not if, but we’ve all been around this a long time. The question is not if, but how you deal with it.
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At some point during the course of a year, 12-0 seasons, 13-1 seasons or 9-4 seasons you are going to deal with adversity. How do you deal with it? We’re going to find out. I’ve got a feeling I know how we’re going to deal with it. That will be with a very hard week of practice and come out and deal with an SEC team.”
On practicing on Sunday:
“We had to get around them so you get rid of the bad taste in your mouth. Myself and some other people had some things to get off their chest and if you want to say something lets say it. The human element takes over. What happens and we’ve all been there and you can’t stand being there, but you lose a game once in a while. The first thing that happens is you feel sorry for yourself and the second thing is you point a finger. It is everywhere from little league to Florida football. I’ve heard it, I’ve seen it. They were good. I liked the way we approached it.
On defenses blitzing:
“We’re not getting near as much blitzes as we’d like. It means you are playing man coverage behind it and in the first three games that did not happen. We got a little pressure this week and we took a couple of shots. How do you beat pressure? You make them pay and we’re not doing that right now. At times when a team blitzes you’d better be careful because someone will be open in man coverage. That’s when you see Tim drift and throw and we just didn’t hit some of them Saturday.”
On the fourth and one play:
“There was a little bit of penetration. There is always discussion and thought (on play calling). Tim’s our best short yard runner right now. Our next guy is 210 pounds. Tim is our best opportunity to get that first down.”
On Tim staying in the pocket:
“It is something we discussed, but it is not something he is being told. He is being told to execute as best he can. I think we’ve made a conscience effort for him to sit in the pocket, but that’s healthy as well. Last week, he did a great job. That fourth quarter was classic. He moved the team down the field several times.”
On the first couple of min. of the third quarter being critical:
“The last five minutes before the half and the first five minutes after Coach Holtz always says are real critical. Our first five before the half have been pretty good. Our first five after have not. I remember the Arkansas game in the SEC Championship game was just awful. We came out and just handed the ball to them and they rallied back. This week we’re 17-7 and came out and did not play very well and twice put the ball right on the ground. Six times we put our defense on the short of the field during this game and we had not done that all year. Coach Holtz told me it is just constant evaluation. There is no putting pixie dust on their shoes. You just evaluate what kind of team you’ve got. We make adjustments and make our plan.”
On Arkansas:
“They throw the ball a lot. We had experience against them a couple of years ago in the championship game and they had two first rounders at tailback. They are throw oriented right now and on defense they are very capable. I know their coach and follow him and he is a tremendous coach. I’ve never been to Arkansas, but it will be an SEC environment and we’ve just got to take care of business this week and get a little better.