University of Tennessee Athletics
Lane Kiffin's Media Day Transcript
October 20, 2009 | Football
Oct. 20, 2009
Blog: Berry named Lott Trophy semifinalist
"Big-time matchup for us this weekend. We are going to play the No. 1 team in the country at their place, so we are going to have a very intense week of practice. We started yesterday with a good practice. We're going to have to do everything right to have a chance to make this matchup competitive again. We are excited about the challenge. I think it fits our personality as a staff and as a team. These are the types of challenges that we like to have. We have to go back to the field today and practice extremely physical because this is a very physical team. This is a team that comes at you downhill on both sides of the ball and hits you in the mouth. I love the style, the way that they play and what they do. They are really a model for the direction we are going."
On defending Mark Ingram and why he is such a great running back: "He has so many yards after contact. You watch so many missed tackles on him. He bounces off of so many people, so we are going to have to do a great job wrapping up and of getting guys running to the ball. Time and time again, you think you have him down and then he spins out for five or six more yards. Not only in the running game, but he is dangerous in the passing game. He actually has more catches than Julio Jones."
On the travel roster being set:
"We have to look at a number of things. This week at practice, we are looking at guys in different spots and that will have to do with playing time and the travel roster as well. It is not that hard for us to make the travel roster as it will be a few years from now. As we get more depth and more quality players, that will be hard on Fridays when we make those decisions. But it is pretty easy now."
On Alabama's offense:
"They do a great job up front. They are a very disciplined offensive line. Very rarely do they screw up and let a guy come free. You can see that this is a team that is dedicated to running the ball and dedicated to being physical. If the quarterback is not playing well, they are not going to keep throwing it. They are going to turn around and hand it off and you are going to have to stop the run. If you don't stop the run, you are not going to have a chance. That is an emphasis for us, no matter who we play, because that's what we believe in -- running the ball and stopping the run, especially this week.
On fall break and the bye week affecting the practice time:
"I think it's a long season and we work our guys extremely hard, especially in the preseason. We have so many young guys playing, freshmen that are used to high school seasons being much shorter. I think it was very important to us to get our guys back with their families because most of our recruits come from out of state. I definitely think that was very critical for us because they come back refreshed and they had a great practice yesterday. It was a very physical practice. Even though it was Monday, we treated it like it was a Tuesday, so I think it worked great.
On Julio Jones not having more catches:
"He is a phenomenal player. Julio is as dangerous as they come with the ball. I don't really see teams taking him away very much. I think they just don't go to him or throw him the ball as much. It's hard to argue with what they are doing. They are a great offense and they run the ball. I love the style that they play but you always have to be prepared for them. Julio has had one touchdown all season but he can easily get three or four in a game real quick.
Comparing Julio Jones to A.J. Green:
"Julio is more physical. They are both really dangerous, both really big and both can go up and get the ball. A.J. has a tendency to run out of bounds when he gets the ball and Julio tends to finish his runs when he gets the ball and is more physical.
On Julio Jones returning punts from Saturday's game:
"I thought he was really good on Saturday returning the punts and really dangerous. For a big guy, he is extremely quick and he can really accelerate, so he is very dangerous. They have two really great punt returners.
On how important it is to keep Alabama's offense on the field:
"We have seen this happen in games where we have not done a good job doing that. We leave our defense out there too long because, No. 1, we aren't very deep and, two, because we are small. We are a small defense; we are more built on speed. We can't stand to play a number of plays as more physical teams can.
"We saw this happen in the Auburn game. We did a poor job on third downs. We kept our defense out there too much. We have to find a way to make first downs versus these guys and keep our defense off the field and in good field position. We have to do a great job in special teams; these guys have beaten people by winning the field position. They manage the game extremely well. They are very well coached."
