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VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 16, 2019

Derek Mason

Nashville, Tennessee

Kentucky - 38, Vanderbilt - 14

DEREK MASON: We created some early, obviously, we were able to get up 14-3 and the defense scoop for a touchdown, I thought we had great momentum. But today we just got out-physicaled on both sides of the ball, up front, we lost the line of scrimmage, did not win the line of scrimmage, didn't tackle very well. Could not tackle very well. I thought they ran through tackles, through arm tackles, and just extended drives and extended plays. They were good on third down where we couldn't get off the field. Again, it goes back to tackling. We had guys at times 7-, 8 yards in front of the chains and they run through us. And again, I mean, it's just not strong enough right now. And that's something that as a young defense, or a fairly young defense with some of those older guys -- or with some of those younger guys on the back end, okay, you got to bring your eyes hands and feet. And when you don't, you can't make tackles, you can't tackle bigger, thicker guys in this conference and that's just the way it is. But I thought they ran hard. We knew that coming in, we knew it was going to be that type of ball game, just for us, Riley Neal and the offense. Because they were off the field so long, I thought it was hard for them to find rhythm. And again, with Riley, I mean, he's got to make some better decisions as to what he's doing when the opportunity presents itself. There were a couple times where for him if he just keeps his eyes up, okay, and as he's moving, but he can find guys. But I thought he went to the check down. I thought he found guys. We just didn't make enough plays for him, and I think in critical situations he's just got to continue to make sure that he keeps his head up and finds his targets.

But again, we just weren't good enough tonight. That was a team loss. I thought special teams may have been the best part of what we did. Defense and offense just didn't provide enough offense, couldn't stay on the field without enough opportunities. And defense couldn't get off the field.

Q. You cycled through all four quarterbacks now, the offense still isn't doing much 10 games in. Do you feel like you've exhausted all your options offensively for a quarterback this year?
DEREK MASON: No. I don't think we have exhausted the opportunity to get better. Today was that type of game where we knew we were going to get limited opportunities. Kentucky was going to try to play keep away and they did. They played their ball game and we couldn't play ours. Unfortunately with that, okay, and then our offense went for long stretches without touching the field. And then the ebb and flow of the ball game for them was very inconsistent because they just didn't get out there enough and when they did, we couldn't stay out there.

Q. What gives you confidence in the direction of things here the next couple of weeks and also going forward?
DEREK MASON: What happens is this: You want -- I wanted this season to be a great season, like I always do. I want it for these kids. But we had some deficiencies coming into the season. Starting the season 0-3 definitely didn't help it. And when you look at 0-3 teams here at Vanderbilt, they haven't gone on to do very well. So the odds are against us.

So the biggest thing that I tried to get our guys to do every week is make sure that they compete and that they find ways to get better individually, because when they get better individually, collectively we get better. We got a lot of guys coming back next year. And, obviously, quarterback, okay, that's what we have to focus in on because without a quarterback in this conference it makes it really tough to be able to manage your offense and win games. Whether we, whether we're West Coast or whether we're spread, okay, it's still dependent on a trigger man who can deal it and spin it. Right now I've still got young guys growing up, young offensive linemen, young running backs, Ke'Shawn that are growing up, wideouts. The only wide outs that we lose are Justin Shelton-Mosley and Kalija Lipscomb. So with that we got a lot of playmakers here. With that, we got a lot of playmakers here. We got to make sure with the future that we, that our guys all around him. But the weight room, the off season, all those things have to be important. But right now I'm in the midst of trying to get a football team to function now while we still have guys that can make plays. I mean Kalija, Pinkney, Ke'Shawn, are still dudes that can go get it. And Riley Neal right now is the one that's got to manage it. So next week we got a game, East Tennessee State. Let's go play.

Q. For those reasons that you're telling us about how you're optimistic about the future, have you told those to the administration in-house?
DEREK MASON: No, I haven't had an opportunity to talk about that. I'm sort of staying in the moment in terms of where we're at, again. You got close to nine, ten guys returning defensively, which is what you want. But the weight room's got to be important. That's what you know about this conference. It's a line of scrimmage league. And when you have guys coming in that are juniors and seniors, that way, and you got young guys in the secondary, who are going to get stronger, you'll play better. But I just think collectively there's a lot of talent here. And Vanderbilt's always going to go in waves. It just is. There's going to be cycles of bowl teams and opportunities. It's not going to be an every-year opportunity, unless, unless these guys get it young and we hit it hot. I mean, there's going to be waves and cycles in this deal, and I'm just in a wave right now. I'm just in a wave and cycle where we're not where we want to be, but we just got to continue to keep pushing.

Q. Jared Pinkney was only targeted once today and he was held without a catch for two straight weeks. Why has it been so hard to get him involved in the offense?
DEREK MASON: Man, there were opportunities, I thought, in this. I thought, again, like with Riley, he looked a couple of times, and you say he was only targeted once. Riley looked at him at least three or four times, as I looked at it tonight, he just didn't get the ball. So I don't know if it was coverage -- I got to go back and watch the game. I'm just watching it from the sideline. The only targeted pass was the one you saw thrown to him where he was close to Kalija. But a lot of times there's more to it than just that. It's the idea just, is there underneath coverage? Is Riley trying to throw into double coverage? That's sort of what happens. I truly believe he should be able to get the football. Reasons why he can't get the football? I don't know. I say, I say often, football finds energy, and Pinkney's working hard. I just don't know why he's not getting the ball. So we just got to keep going. We'll find a way next week to try to get him his touches.

Q. Going against their reserves, but you got some rhythm late going up tempo. Do you wish you would have done that earlier?
DEREK MASON: I don't know. You talk about tempo. Again, we couldn't get off the field defensively, so you can go up tempo all you want to, but if you don't, if you can't stay on the field and sustain drives, all you do is put a defense back out on the field like for more snaps. I think in watching us function today we just needed to get off the field defensively to give our offense a chance to get rhythm. Those guys sat out for a long time and I just felt like in watching it, I probably wouldn't have done anything different. I thought we had some key drops on third down. I mean one goes through Kee's hands, like, another one goes through Cam's hands and that would have given us an opportunity. I mean these guys, we just got to make some plays. Everybody's got a job to do. Can tempo be good for us? Absolutely. Tempo can be good for us at times, but just got to make sure you're trying to play complimentary football.

Q. Are you looking forward to changes and tweaks -- you mentioned the weight room, that you can make in the off-season, or do you feel like you're still present in these last two games?
DEREK MASON: We're still present in these last two games. I write down everything I know that needs to change, okay, and I just keep moving forward. From week-to-week there's something that shows itself, there's something that comes up. Growth is optional, change is inevitable. I know that. So, like for me, I'm always working hard to be where my feet are, but knowing, okay, some things need to be different, look different, whether it's strength, whether it's schematically, whether it's -- there's a variety of things, but right now you got to deal with the present.

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