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On winning three games in a row to get to 5-4:
I gotta credit our staff and our players. If you have a group of bad eggs in the locker room, you will not survive that type of situation….We didn’t have that. We had a bunch of guys that continued to work, that continued to go after it, that continued to try to improve. We’re very technical in our approach as a staff with our players and the players responded. It’s one hundred percent our players in my opinion, in how they’ve responded to hard coaching, to confrontation…We’re by no means where we need to be, but we’ve certainly improved and I think everyone can see that and I think everyone can see the belief and the confidence the players have in some of the stuff we’re doing.
On Jake Bentley and the role Muschamp takes in coaching him:
Jake is a very grounded, humble guy. He goes and watches film, he prepares himself, he’s hard on himself. He’s not really a guy that you need to sit there and correct...I’m just a guy that tries to help our offensive staff from a scheme standpoint with some of the things I think they’re gonna see and what people may try to do. I let Kurt [Roper] do the coaching of the quarterbacks, that’s his job, that’s what I’ve hired him to do.
I don’t think the moment is too big. I think he handles the moment very well. He’s not a guy that’s gonna look in the mirror and think it’s about him. He knows it’s about the team.
On the 98-yard drive to take the lead in the 3rd quarter:
That was the sealing point of the game…When you’re able to run it off your goal line, that’s demoralizing for a defense.
On the defense:
We’ve gotta be an opportunistic defense. We have to. We’re not dominate enough where we need to be right now. Going into the year we needed to play really good on third down, we’ve been average. We needed play really good in the red zone, we’ve played outstanding red zone defense and we’ve gotten turnovers.
On the targeting call on Chris Lammons and how Lammons is doing mentally:
It was a bad break, but it was the correct call. But when the quarterback is sliding, you gotta pull off…There was no malicious intent, but it was the correct call…It is what it is. It’s a hard play.
He was good, he’s happy we won…He wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.
On whether Muschamp will talk to the team about it being mathematically possible to win the SEC East:
No, I’m not very good at math so I don’t get in to all that. We need to worry about our next ballgame. We’re gonna enjoy tonight and start working on the Gators tomorrow.
On the team’s fight and continued improvement:
You’re 2-4 going to the open week and the negativity is amazing. But the guys just keep having confidence and believing in what we’re doing…Our work ethic and our preparation has been key…Our young guys continue to mature, continue to get better.
The fun is in winning…our guys work extremely hard and we’re gonna get after it again Tuesday morning.