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SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYS

July 27, 2006

Steve Spurrier

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up day two of SEC media days with head coach Steve Spurrier.
COACH SPURRIER: Glad to be with the media boys and girls again. Always reminded first time I came to this thing back in 1990. How many were here in 1990? A bunch of you still here. Yeah, time goes fast when you're having fun.
It's nice to be back. Looking forward to another exciting year. Hopefully our team can be competitive. We think it will be. Until we go play, who knows. Looking forward to seeing what happens.
Okay, go ahead.

Q. How different is the style of play in the league than it was maybe 10 years ago when you were putting up all those points? Will it ever get back to that, do you think?
COACH SPURRIER: Defense is certainly a lot stronger in our conference than back in the early '90s. Obviously when we started in the early '90s at Florida, nobody threw it around the way everybody does now. I think that's what gave us a little bit of an edge, plus we had outstanding defensive players to go along with that.
I really believe nowadays, there's so many good teams in the SEC. There's probably at least about six each year that have a shot at winning the conference championship. Hopefully in a couple years, we'll be included in one of those six. I don't think you can put us in that right now.
Very competitive league now, I think, compared to maybe in the early '90s, maybe there was two or three teams, four at most, that could win it, and now there's a lot more.

Q. With all the players you have on offense, Sidney Syvelle, Cory Boyd coming back, Mike Davis, can you compare the offensive talent you have on this year's Gamecock team with some of the talent you had on the Florida teams back in the '90s?
COACH SPURRIER: No, not quite, not quite right now (smiling). We'll have probably at least three new offensive linemen, some receivers that haven't played much. Sidney and Kenny McKinley, they're going into their second years. Then the other guys will probably be brand you knew wide receivers out there. Certainly Cory Boyd, Mike Davis are really excellent tailbacks.
We need to get on the field a lot quicker than we did last year. Even though we won some of those games, a lot of those games the other team had the ball more than we did every game last year. We got to find a way to stop the other team quicker and then stay out there longer offensively also.
We finished I think ninth in offense last year. That was the lowest I've ever had a team in the conference, but that's just where we are. If we get up in the top half this year, that would be very good for us.

Q. What is your opinion of quarterback play in the SEC now as compared to in the '90s? Who do you believe are the best ones at that position?
COACH SPURRIER: Man, you're asking the wrong guy that question. I always watch the defenses of the other teams when I'm watching tape, so I haven't really watched the other teams' offenses that much.
I don't know who's going to be the best quarterback this year. I have no idea. Hopefully our guy will be considered. Hopefully Blake Mitchell will come around and play better. Played pretty well last year, but he certainly can play better. If we're going to have the big year, I think Blake really has to play well.
But I haven't studied the other quarterbacks.

Q. Can you see a big difference to quarterback play now than in the '90s?
COACH SPURRIER: Certainly teams are more innovative now than in the early '90s. Every team tries to have a pretty strong passing game compared to back then. If you could just run the ball and play defense, that was the old saying to win the SEC. Now, it was interesting, I think Arkansas led the league in rushing last year. Tennessee was, I think, third in the nation in run defense.
Those stats don't hold up any more like they used to. Somehow or another, whoever gets the most points is the only stat. There's all kind of different ways to do that.

Q. You're at a school where they string in together more than four or five winning seasons in a row, hasn't been too often in history. How tough is it changing the football culture in the state of South Carolina? Is this a job that's a little bit tougher than you thought it might be when you took over?
COACH SPURRIER: No, it's not tougher. Obviously all of you know South Carolina's tradition. Our trophy case has got an Outback Bowl championship in it, and that's the biggest one. Although 1969, South Carolina won the ACC. Their team went 7-4 that year, but they went 6-0 in the SEC. That's the only championship in over a hundred years of football there.
But really the potential is there. We got a big stadium. Seats a little over 80,000. We hope to add about 8,000 or so the next couple or so, double-deck the other end zone. We sell all of our tickets. We have a capital campaign fund going. We're going to have to raise ticket price as little bit to get in line with the other conference schools.
It's going to be interesting to see if our fans continue to support us, which I think they will. I don't think it's going to be a problem. That's an area we need to get in line with, again, the other top schools.
But the potential is there. For some reason hasn't been done. We got all different players. They don't know a lot about the history. They just know that we have an opportunity to achieve things that have never happened before. That's the fun part of it. That's the challenging part. Gosh, winning in Knoxville for the first time in school history was a thrill for everybody at South Carolina. Beating Florida first time in 66 years. So it's exciting to sometimes do some things that have never been done before. That's what makes it really a fun job. We got nowhere to go but up, I tell people, and recruits. We got nowhere to go but up (smiling).

Q. Assuming Blake Mitchell gets off to a good start this year, how soon will you try to get Cade Thompson into the game?
COACH SPURRIER: Yeah, Cade had a very good spring game. Hopefully he's going to really be ready to push Blake. We also signed a young man, Chris Smelley from Tuscaloosa, who has shown a very strong commitment to try to learn our of offense and be ready to play, if needed, this year also. It's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Hopefully we'll have a quarterback that can push Blake a little bit. If he goes bad, we'll have someone to give them a chance. But hopefully Blake will hang in there and play very well. He's been a very good leader through the summer. His commitment level has been strong. I'm hoping he holds up well for us.

Q. You were pretty outspoken in the spring saying your fans needed to kind of open their wallets, their minds about making the facilities a little better, putting the program where it needs to be to win. How has the response to that been from the fans?
COACH SPURRIER: I think the response has been very good thus far. We're still sort of in the process of beginning some major gifts and so forth.
But basically all you have to do is look at our endowment compared to Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, the other schools, you just see we're behind.
Some of our facilities are very nice now. We got a brand new weight room, squad meeting rooms, as good as anybody, probably right near the best in the league. Our locker room could get a little upgrade. Our trainers' area needs a big face lift. Our dining facilities could be improved. Just several areas. We don't have an academic learning center anywhere near what the other schools have either. That's a major project that is being addressed there also.

Q. After being at South Carolina a year, big wins over Tennessee, Florida, other people, how much different is it for you now in year two with this program?
COACH SPURRIER: I think just the biggest difference is you feel like you belong there a little bit more going in the second year. The fans and everybody around there have been wonderful to me, our coaches, our wives. The atmosphere is very neat. We got a ladies' clinic this Saturday. We're expecting over a thousand ladies to come for the ladies' clinic. So interest in football is high in South Carolina. Those of you that live there know, South Carolina is a football state.
For some reason we haven't done all that much historically, but we got hope that something good's on the way.
In life, that's what we all got to have, we got to have hope that something better's coming. We've had two solid recruiting classes. I really like this year's group of guys as far as the commitment they've shown during the summer workouts. From what I hear, they go to about all of them. We're on the way, we believe.

Q. You had some complaints from some of the kids in the voluntary workouts this summer. Did they pick it up down the stretch, complaints about?
COACH SPURRIER: It got a little better from what I hear. I'm not there. I don't take roll. Obviously I hear how it's going.
Our commitment level throughout the entire team is not good enough. It's not as good as the other schools we got to play, in talking to other head coaches. But, you know, that's five to seven guys. We have about five to seven that don't understand what it takes to be a winner. But that's our problem as coaches, to try to convince them what it takes. You don't punish them for missing summer workouts. You don't have to play them, though.
It's our job as coaches to try to get a hundred percent of the guys totally committed. We don't have that right now.

Q. You said that you need to get the ball back more this year and get the offense on the field more. Isn't it your biggest concern, though, with the defense, given what you have coming back?
COACH SPURRIER: Biggest concern is stopping the run. We were near the bottom in run defense. I think every team we played had the ball more plays than we did. Our possession time, we lost every game, I think.
But anyway, we got to get better on third-down offense, too. We were near the bottom of the league in that, and third-down defense we weren't very good.
Hopefully we can improve in those areas, try to get the other team off the field. We got an excellent kick-off man, Ryan Succop who can kick it into the end zone almost every time, at least 80 to 90% of the time. We never force the other team to punt from the 20 until the Bowl game.
In the Bowl game, we actually got an intentional grounding early in the game and forced -- only time we forced a punt. We got to force some punts.
Our team was very good in scoring defense. We didn't give up a ton of points. We just had trouble getting them off the field.

Q. I've asked some of the coaches how they feel about the 12-game schedule being permanent now. Teams will either have one open date or none. I wondered if you had strong opinions either way about that.
COACH SPURRIER: I think it's a very good idea. I guess my background is a little different than most of these college coaches. My first head job was the USFL. We had 18 games, actually three little pre-season scrimmages. Most years we stayed healthy all the way through. It wasn't that big a deal. I think it's easy to play 12 games. The Division I-A A guys, when they get in playoffs, I think they play 14 or 15. It's no problem at all for them. I watch basketball, girls basketball, they'll play four straight nights at the SEC tournament. I don't hear them bitching and complaining that they're playing too much (smiling).
So I think it's easy to play 12 games. Obviously, two of our teams will play 14 because two of them will play in the SEC championship and the Bowl game. That's not too many.

Q. Your opinion on Internet message boards, the things that fans post on them?
COACH SPURRIER: I don't really have a strong opinion one way or the other. That's the world we live in. It's going to happen, so live with it. Just try to teach people you can't believe everything you read. I started to say believe everything you can see. Maybe if you see it, it did happen (smiling). But don't believe everything you read. Yeah, don't believe everything you read is just something we all I think, in life, understand.

Q. You talked about forcing more punts on third down. Last year, was that more of a scheme deal or personnel or just one of those statistical oddity years where you guys -- you were not getting a lot of offensive plays?
COACH SPURRIER: Oh, I don't have the answer why we weren't very good on third downs. Maybe 'cause we didn't run the ball very well either and we didn't stop the run. Usually that's a bad two things to have going for your team.
But our defense did toughen up a lot down inside the 20 and so forth, kept the other guy out of the end zone. We're just going to try to, you know -- scheme-wise, we're going to try to be solid and hopefully confuse the offense some and put our players in position to make plays.

Q. With Clarence Bailey now ineligible, you signed a bunch of offensive linemen in this year's class, how important in your mind is it for one or more of these guys to step up and prove they can play right away?
COACH SPURRIER: Well, we signed seven I think offensive linemen. We're excited about those incoming freshmen. I haven't seen any of them practice or hit anybody yet. We got to wait and see. Certainly maybe two or three could play some this year. One of them may have a chance to be a starter. Just have to wait and see.
We got some returning players, even though we had three seniors, I guess it started in the O-line last year. None of our seniors were drafted, whatever that means. The two drafted guys were defensive backs that came out early.
Hopefully we can replace most of those seniors. Hopefully the guys that are going to be playing will play very well.

Q. You said recently you want to coach 10 more years. Is part of that because you feel like a personal responsibility help get South Carolina's tradition going and get the facilities up?
COACH SPURRIER: Well, I said -- I guess I felt pretty good that day, and I feel pretty good today, to tell you the truth (smiling). You know, that age thing is a funny thing. I've always said, if I start acting like an old dude and talking like one, they need to get rid of me.
As long as I can do everything I've been doing 20 years ago, and obviously I'm lucky health-wise, all that. I found out with those eight or nine months off after the NFL deal that coaching was a lot more fun than being retired. I don't play golf well enough to play year-round. I look forward to about four months of golf to see how I'm going to do this year. At this time, late July, I'm golfed out. I have no desire to play again. Although we got a media scramble Monday morning if anybody wants to come. I got to go do that one. That will probably be the last time I hit the ball till the season's over, I guess, 'cause we start getting -- your mind just gets into football, trying to get ready that way.
Yeah, I think I've got a lot of years, unless something happens to me unforeseen. Yeah, trying to make South Carolina a winner is a challenge. It's fun. We can tell recruits, You got a chance to come here and do something that's never been done before in the history of the school. We can tell them that. If you go to Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, they've already won SECs. You can come here and do it the first time ever.
That's a challenge. Whether or not we're going to do it, we can find out. We've had two solid recruiting classes. I think we're on schedule to have even a better one this year.

Q. Can you talk about that Mississippi State game on Thursday night, how you agreed on that, and why you did also? Can you look forward to that game, talk about what you know about Mississippi State?
COACH SPURRIER: We feel very fortunate that ESPN allows us to open up college football again Thursday night, ESPN, in Starkville. Mississippi State is a pretty good team. I know they didn't win many last year. Their defensive line, I've been telling people, I think is as good as probably any team in the SEC. They got a big, strong defensive line that really nobody handled last year.
Their offense struggled last year is probably the big reason they didn't win more games. But certainly they're going to be a tough team. Personally I've never won a game coaching in Starkville. I'm going to hopefully try to do something for the first time there.
But they're a tough team. The opportunity to play on national TV, open college football, shoot, all the guys all over the country will be watching. We're going to try our best to put on a very good performance.

Q. How do you handle your quarterbacks in the off-season? Do you sit down with them and say, here is what I'd like you to work on? If so, what did you tell Blake Mitchell you'd like to work on?
COACH SPURRIER: That's against the rules. You can't sit with your quarterbacks during the off-season. They have certain hours and so forth. He can come up and watch tape on his own. It's against the rules for the coach to sit around with them.
But Blake has done a good job of coming up and watching tape on his own, from what I hear, trying to prepare. He has shown a commitment to do that. He works with the younger guys, trying to teach them. That's what you try to do, you try to teach your older guys to teach your younger guys the offense because coaches are not allowed to meet with them during the off-season.

Q. How much of an impact do you think the new rule is as far as trying to speed up the game starting the clock when play is ready than on the snap? How much impact will that have particularly offensively?
COACH SPURRIER: I think it will help the underdog teams. Again, last year, like I said, we didn't have the ball very much, but the other team, they had it a long time, but they weren't scoring much. They were sort of running out the clock to help us.
If you're the underdog, obviously you would like fewer plays in the game. When I was at Florida, we wanted as fast as we could have it. Hopefully have about 90 plays a game. We'd have a chance to score a lot of points. But now we're in a little different situation. It can shorten the game and have fewer plays. There could be some real fast games if there's not a lot of incomplete passes and so forth.
I think the rule helps the underdog a little bit as far as shortening the number of plays each team could have. On the other hand, if you run no-huddle offense, when the referee winds it early, a couple instances, it won't affect you too much. You may see more no-huddle offenses coming out.

Q. When Tyrone started calling the plays on defense, how did things change over there? Did he make any adjustments to put his stamp on that a little more in the off-season?
COACH SPURRIER: Yeah, Tyrone and our defensive coaches, we do what I guess all of them do. We visit some of the pro teams, we try to get those zone blitzes down like everybody is doing now, so forth.
Yeah, Tyrone is catching linebackers now, sort of in the middle. I think he's going to develop into an excellent defensive coordinator. We sort of have a little game plan about how we try to call down and distance. I've probably been a little bit more involved with our defensive coaches than some years in the past. I think we know what we want to do and we're going to practice it all pre-season, which wasn't the case last year. We had way too much stuff last year. Guys were making too many mistakes. When guys make a lot of mistakes, that's bad coaching, that's all it is. You can't blame the players.
We're going to try to hopefully be fundamentally sound with very few mistakes.

Q. You mentioned being a little more actively involved with the defense. Will that continue into the fall and in what ways will you be more active with the defense?
COACH SPURRIER: Not too much during the fall. I always of course watch game tape, this, that, the other, ask questions, this, that, the other about what we're doing.
But I think after meeting with our guys now, I pretty much know exactly what we're doing defensively. Certainly I prove that this is best for what we do. Our key now is going to be to find out who the best players are. We don't know who the best players are. We've got one freshman kid there, Emanuel Cook, who looks like he's going to play somewhere. He runs extremely well, he's strong, he's aggressive. From what I hear, he sticks out during the running drills.
We just don't know who the players are going to be right now.

Q. Coming into South Carolina with a team that typically hasn't had a whole lot of success, what are some of your philosophies in trying to get your players they can win year in and year out and how has the attitude changed after last year's success?
COACH SPURRIER: Well, we ended poorly last year. We had sort of a big lead against Missouri in Shreveport and couldn't hold it, tackled poorly, never forced a punt the entire second half, didn't get a turnover, so we got beat. The offense was bad the second half also. That's where we are. We're still a little irritated about that. I am anyway. Hopefully our players are.
We're just trying to get better. We're trying to improve. We're not there yet. Hopefully I can come someday to this meeting and tell you we have a team that is ready to challenge for the SEC, which I did probably all 12 years at Florida. We're not quite in that position right now, but hopefully after another one or two recruiting classes, these guys growing up, becoming ball players, we'll be in that position.
That's our goal. They all know what the goal is. But right now we're trying to win more than we lose. If we do that, that would be a pretty good year for us.

Q. The more time passes by, it seems like your perception among the Florida fan base grows more intriguing. What kind of reception do you expect to get when you go back for the 1996 commemoration? How weird is it going to be considering that you're probably going to get a colder one when you come for the actual South Carolina game?
COACH SPURRIER: I don't really know. I sort of believe they'll treat me like they do the players on the team. Shoot, this was 10 years ago that we were fortunate enough to win it all. We know that we had an extreme amount of good fortune with all the teams ahead of us losing to get in position to play FSU again to win the national championship. Of course, the only one in school history. Those players are special did me and to all Gators. Certainly I feel responsibility to go back and see those guys since we're not playing and we do have a little time off that Saturday.
Myself, some of the coaches that were down there, we're just going to fly in and out that day, probably leave after the first quarter of the game, something like that.
I think the reception will be okay. I can't call it. I was asked during the game down there, it will be very similar to the game at Williams-Brice this year when you're the offensive coach and the play caller, that's all your mind's on. You got 90, a hundred plays, you're trying to figure out which one to get in, which one you need to get this one. Sometimes you don't think who you're playing against. You're just thinking about what defense you're going against on each particular play. I'm sure that's where my mind is really every game.

Q. What is it like chasing that SEC title now where you're used to being favored to win it every year?
COACH SPURRIER: It's a new challenge. It's a new challenge. It's an opportunity, like I said earlier, to maybe achieve some things that have never happened at South Carolina. Some people said it couldn't be down. Lee Corso said you can't win at South Carolina. We're going to try to prove some people wrong. It's fun trying to do that, really is.

Q. Houston Nutt hired his first offensive coordinator at Arkansas. Why is it you don't see more head coaches calling their own plays and how tough is it?
COACH SPURRIER: That happens sometimes. I see that trend going a lot around the country now. I think Mark Richt still calls them, Shula -- Mike Shula. I don't know how many other head coaches call them in the SEC. Anybody have a number on that? You guys study it more than I do. Anybody else that I don't know of? Maybe we're the only three still doing it.
But, anyway, that's what I did to become a head coach, was be an offensive coordinator. I've always felt that's how I can help our team the most doing that. I guess if at some point coach feels like he's got too many other duties, he doesn't have time to do that, they hire an offensive coordinator and let him run the show.
I haven't got to that point yet. Hopefully I won't get to it.

Q. I was wondering if you could talk about the runningback situation, not only with Davis, but Syvelle Newton, what his role is going to be, how is he doing?
COACH SPURRIER: Syvelle has come back nicely from his surgery. Dr. Jeff Guy did a marvelous job of repairing his ruptured Achilles. He told me he was 95. He played wide receiver, tailback, shotgun quarterback. So a little change of pace of the offense, put him back there, let him do that spread stuff that everybody else is doing, and maybe that will make him have another defense they got to have for Syvelle each week.
We'll get him sort of ready for a lot of different positions.

Q. Every year we ask you a playoff question. Are we any closer? If not, how disappointing is that to you personally?
COACH SPURRIER: Well, I don't have to worry about that playoff any more. With you I do think it is tougher for the top SEC teams to be one of the final two. It's tougher. It can be done. Heck, we've proven it can be done. I was reading something in the local paper here that in '92, of course, Alabama won it all going through the championship game. Of course, Tennessee did it one year. We did it one year.
It can happen. But it is difficult. It is difficult with so many top SEC teams, whereas all the other sports, I mean, men's basketball, national champ, Florida Gators, South Carolina beat them twice, Tennessee beat them twice, but that's the regular season. End of the season, the Florida Gators were by far the best team in the country. That's sort of how sports is if you have a tournament and playoff system.
Since we don't have that, a lot of it has to do with scheduling, voting instead of determining it on the field. But that's the way college football seems to want to do it. The presidents and athletic directors and commissioners, that's just the way they want to do it.
I remember Commissioner Kramer was here back in about '90. I said, Why do you want a playoff for the SEC championship but you don't want one for the national? He just looked at me funny. He couldn't answer it either. He didn't have the answer for that one (smiling).
But I think it's neat the way we do the SEC now, that championship game was always the biggest game of the year when we could get to it when I was at Florida. Hopefully we can get to it some year at South Carolina.

Q. You were talking that you've got great opportunity for recruits, and that's what you can offer them. Is it a real sales job you have to do on recruits to get them interested in South Carolina or have they been really receptive to you?
COACH SPURRIER: Well, it comes and goes. It depends on the individual. A lot of players are very receptive to the idea of playing early, playing as a freshman or sophomore. There's not a whole bunch of guys to beat out. If you go to a school that is not picked to win the conference or anything. So that's something you can offer.
But, really, offering them to do it for the first time, how the fans in South Carolina will embrace obviously that team forever, the one that wins the first SEC if it can be done. If you win one at these other schools, you're just doing something that they've already done before you. You're another championship team. At our place, you can be the first one.
That's our goal right there, is to win the SEC someday.

Q. How does Sidney Rice compare to some of the elite wide-outs you've had in the past?
COACH SPURRIER: Sidney is one of the best. He's a little taller than Ike Hilliard, Reidel Anthony. Probably not quite as fast, but he's improved his speed this off-season. Everybody knows about Sidney now. Wherever No. 4 goes, there's going to be a bunch of guys hanging around him. Our other receiver has to step up and play well for us this year.
Yeah, Sidney, he's a big-time talent, wonderful attitude, worked hard this off-season. Hopefully he'll continue on.

Q. In your mind, how has Sidney handled his sudden success? In your mind, does he still have a lot to prove on the football field?
COACH SPURRIER: He needs to prove he can do it year after year, which I think he knows that. But he loves playing football. He loves catching, working out, all that. He's had a wonderful attitude. I don't think it all has gotten to him much. You always got to be careful who your players hang out with. There's always some agent little runners all over the place. We certainly encourage him to hang out with his teammates, which I think he has done very well.
Anyway, I hope Sidney stays and plays three years. He's eligible to go out after this year. I sort of have a feeling that all players should play three years and then if they're a first-round pick, go before your fourth year. But Sidney, since he was redshirted his first year, he's eligible to go out after this year.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Q. Other than the guys on your team, who are some quarterbacks around the league that you like?
COACH SPURRIER: Well, again, I don't study many of them. I certainly watched Chris Leak play a bunch on TV, so forth. He's a beautiful passer. I don't know if they're going to ask him to run with it a lot. But he's a beautiful passer of the ball, no question about it.
I hadn't really watched much of the other quarterbacks. I really just sort of watch the defense on the other teams.

Q. Normally coaches bring upperclassmen or seniors to this event. You brought Mike Davis. Would you tell us about your thinking on that?
COACH SPURRIER: We just felt like we ought to bring two of the players who have shown excellent commitment throughout the winter and summer conditioning program. Fred Bennett I think is going to be a much better defensive back this year. Fred was not a vicious tackler this year. I think he's a lot stronger now. He had had shoulder surgery prior to last season. May have had a little bit to do with it. But we're expecting Fred Bennett to be a very solid defensive back for us this year, be a good, solid tackler.
Mike Davis is a young man that was our leading carrier, leading rusher last year. He goes to everything, goes to class, does well in the classroom. Very seldom ever misses any workout, lift, whatever he's scheduled to do.
We just felt like he deserved to come. He's our starting tailback, so that's another reason.
But Cory Boyd will play a lot, too. We're excited about those guys, too. Cory Boyd and Mike Davis, we'll see how all that plays out.

Q. How do you deal with those runners and guys coming after your players, either Florida or South Carolina?
COACH SPURRIER: All you can do is encourage your players to stay away from them, don't take anything. We try to investigate if any of them are driving brand-new cars or something like that. As long as they're driving their old beat-up cars, we feel like we're okay (smiling). A few of them have nice cars, though. But football players aren't supposed to have nice cars in college. Yeah, they get those nice ones later.

Q. You mentioned you hadn't won in Starkville. Any particular reason for that?
COACH SPURRIER: Yeah, we got beat both times. They had pretty good teams (smiling).
I'll tell you what, the last loss there in 2000 really maybe helped our team. We won the rest of the SEC games that year. Of course, that was the last year Florida -- last year we won an SEC there. We got clobbered out there. I think they rushed for 300 yards, something like that. We went back, had a little powwow with our defense and our team. From then on, our defense improved a lot, even though we finished I think eighth in total defense the year we won the SEC in 2000. We gave up a ton of rushing yards early, but then we got a lot better later on in the year.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach.
COACH SPURRIER: Thanks.

End of FastScripts...

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