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Top-Ranked Tigers Fall in 3 OT's at No. 17 Kentucky, 43-37

by LSUsports.net (@LSUsports)
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Top-Ranked Tigers Fall in 3 OT's at No. 17 Kentucky, 43-37

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The top-ranked LSU football team lost for the first time in 14 games, as the No. 17 Kentucky Wildcats overcame the Tigers in three overtime periods, 43-37, on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium.

LSU (6-1, 3-1 SEC) led by 13 points late in the fourth quarter, 27-14, but was unable to hold off the Wildcats.

Kentucky (6-1, 2-1 SEC) bounced back from its only loss of the season at the hands of South Carolina in front of 70,902 fans. It was the Wildcats’ first victory over a top-ranked team since 1964.

In the third overtime period, Kentucky benefited from pass interference call on third-and-goal from the 6, allowing a new set of downs. On third-and-goal from the 7 after a delay-of-game penalty, wide receiver Steve Johnson caught a wide open pass from Andre Woodson in the right corner of the endzone for a touchdown.

After taking a shot to the back from an LSU defender, the Heisman candidate had to go for two points by rule. His pass into the endzone was incomplete — but it didn’t matter.

In LSU’s chance to answer, the Tigers ran the ball on four consecutive plays, the last of which by Charles Scott came up a yard short of a first down at the 16-yard line.

The Kentucky fans stormed the field in celebration.

Woodson, who overcame two interceptions, was 21-of-38 passing for 250 yards and three touchdowns. Backup running back Derrick Locke finished with 64 yards on 20 carries. Starter Tony Dixon had 45 yards on 17 carries.

LSU lost for the first time since Florida’s 23-10 victory in Gainesville on Oct. 7, 2006. The Tigers’ stay at No. 1 should come to end after two weeks. 

Quarterback Matt Flynn struggled finding his rhythm, completing 17-of-35 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown. He was sacked three times.

However, LSU’s ground attack was good enough to carry his team throughout the day. Scott led a platoon of Tigers runners with 94 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries, but only rushed only twice in the second half including the final play from scrimmage.

Jacob Hester added 61 yards on 18 carries, while Trindon Holliday had 24 on five touches.

LSU out-rushed Kentucky, 261-125. However, the Tigers were constantly pushed back by penalties, finishing with 12 for 103 yards.

Additionally, injuries mounted on both sides of the ball. Though wide receiver Early Doucet returned from a four-week absence to play the second-to-last play of the game, cornerback Chevis Jackson, safety Craig Steltz, and defensive end Kirston Pittman left the game in the second half.

None of the injuries appeared to cost the Tigers future playing time.

To open the game, LSU won the coin toss and deferred its decision until the second half.

Kentucky managed to enter LSU territory after seven plays, but stalled on a third-and-8 incompletion at the LSU 48-yard line.

The teams traded punts without gaining a first down on the next three possessions before the Wildcats broke the scoreless tie with a 12-play drive late in the first quarter.

Woodson and junior tailback Tony Dixon paced the nearly five-minute drive to the LSU 2-yard line. Faced with third-and-goal at the LSU 2, Woodson rolled out to his right and took aim for the endzone. His pass was tipped into the air by LSU safety Craig Steltz and into the waiting arms of Kentucky sophomore tight end T.C. Drake.

Though not the intended target, Drake’s reception was the first of his collegiate career.

With only 13 yards in its first offensive series, LSU turned to the speedy Holliday, backup quarterback Ryan Perrilloux and Scott for a spark.

Holliday’s 17-yard run up the middle of the defense only ended when he tripped over LSU receiver Jared Mitchell at the LSU 38-yard line.

After advancing to midfield for the first time, LSU recovered from a sack of Perrilloux when Scott ran for 55 yards to the Kentucky 1-yard line on the final play of the quarter.

After the teams changed ends, Scott ran off right guard for his first touchdown of the game, tying the game at 7-7 with 14:55 left in the half.

Kentucky took advance into positive territory again. However, after LSU was flagged for pass interference on a third-and-10 pass from Woodson, the play was challenged by LSU head coach Les Miles and overturned because the pass was tipped by a rushing Pittman.

LSU started from its 19-yard line and again alternated between its two quarterbacks. This time it was Flynn getting into Kentucky’s side of the field with his feet. Facing third-and-18 due to an offensive pass interference call against freshman Terrance Toliver that negated a 44-yard catch, Flynn ran for 22 yards. An additional 15 yards were tacked on for a late hit on the LSU sideline.

Scott barreled inside the Wildcats’ 20 with a 17-yard run, however, the Tigers were forced to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Colt David.

LSU led 10-7 with 5:42 left in the half.

On Kentucky’s next play from scrimmage, Woodson threw his third interception in nearly 1,000 passes in 2007. LSU cornerback Chevis Jackson broke in front of the receiver to earn the pickoff at the Kentucky 46-yard line.

With the short field, LSU was able to convert a fourth-down play when Kentucky was flagged for pass interference on LSU wide receiver Brandon LaFell. The Tigers used four different running backs on the drive to return to the endzone, as Scott rumbled in from 13 yards to give LSU a 17-7 lead with 1:48 remaining in the half.

Kentucky made quick work of the LSU defense on the ensuing possession, hitting passes of 14 and 51 yards to get deep into Tigers territory. Woodson then ran untouched for a 12-yard score.

Kentucky got within three, 17-14, at the half.

Holliday took the second-half kickoff from the endzone to the LSU 44 to setup the Tigers’ next scoring drive.

Again alternating Flynn and Perrilloux, the Tigers converted its ninth-straight fourth down dating back to 2006 before avoiding another attempt. On third-and-13, Flynn found LaFell on a bubble screen for a first down at the Wildcats 26.

Four plays later, Flynn faked a handoff the Scott and passed to the right corner of the endzone where tight end Richard Dickson scored for the second time this season.

With 9:12 left in the third quarter, LSU led 24-14.

LSU again intercepted Woodson, as freshman dime back Chad Jones made a diving grab on third-and-8 that may be useful for the two-sport start on the baseball field in the spring.

Looking to close the door midway through the third quarter, the Tigers drove to the Kentucky 15-yard line. However, tight end Keith Zinger dropped a touchdown pass from Flynn in the left corner of the endzone and the Tigers settled for a 30-yard field goal with 3:49 left in the quarter.

Kentucky again answered with big plays on the ground, setting up an eight-yard touchdown pass from Woodson to tight end Javob Tamme.

The Wildcats cut the lead to 27-21 with 1:13 left in the third quarter.

After an LSU punt, Kentucky took over at their 37-yard line. After 13 plays, the Wildcats were finally stopped at the LSU 15 before Seiber hit a 33-yard field goal to get Kentucky within three, 27-24.

Kentucky got the opportunity to tie the game when Flynn under-threw LaFell deep down the field and had his pass intercepted at the Kentucky 37.

The Tigers defense — playing without Jackson, Pittman and Steltz — again bent but didn’t break. Kentucky advanced to the LSU 9-yard line before Seiber made another chip-shot field goal from 27 yards to tie the game at 27-27 with 4:21 left.

Prior to overtime, LSU advanced into Kentucky territory. However, the Tigers advanced only to the Kentucky 40 and settled for a 57-yard field goal attempt by David.

In the first overtime, Kentucky converted a third-and-8 from the 13 with a 12-yard pass from Woodson to Johnson. Two plays later, running back Derrick Locke was able to get the nose of the ball over the end line for a touchdown.

It took the LSU offense only four plays to answer the score, as reserve running back Richard Murphy caught an eight-yard pass, Hester ran for nine yards and tight end Richard Dickson reached low to grab a six-yard catch to the Wildcats’ 2. Murphy then ran untouched from the 2-yard line on a misdirection play and David converted the PAT to again tie the score at 34-34.

In the second overtime, LSU was flagged for an illegal touching penalty that negated a catch inside the 10-yard line by Toliver. After a sack, the Tigers were forced to settle for a 38-yard field goal by David.

Woodson threw three-straight incomplete passes, making the Wildcats’ placekicker Lones Seiber attempt a 43-yarder. The kick was true by the sophomore to tie the game at 37-37.

The Tigers return to action on Oct. 20 when they play host to Auburn in Tiger Stadium at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN.

LSU at Kentucky
Oct. 13, 2007 ? Commonwealth Stadium (Lexington, Ky.)
Post game Notes

Team Notes
1. LSU’s game captains were 6 Colt David, 18 Jacob Hester and 48 Darry Beckwith.
2. LSU won the toss and deferred to the second half. Kentucky received the opening kickoff.
3. Tigers extending their consecutive starts streak today were: CB Chevis Jackson (33), LB Ali Highsmith (21), LT Ciron Black (20), CB Jonathan Zenon (20), LG Herman Johnson (17) and DT Glenn Dorsey (15).
4. LSU’s streak of 25 straight games with a sack (dating back to North Texas in 2005) was broken tonight.
5. LSU’s streak of nine straight successful fourth down conversions was snapped tonight on the final play of the game. Prior to that the Tigers were a perfect 7-7 this season and had converted on the final two fourth-down attempts last season. 
6. LSU has scored points (4 TDs and 2 FGs) on its first possession of the second half in six of the seven games this season, including a touchdown in today’s game. The South Carolina game is the only time the Tigers did not score on its first drive of the second half.
7. Defensively, LSU has held six of seven opponents scoreless on the opening drive of the second half. Florida was the only team this season to score in its first possession of the second half against the Tigers.
8. Tonight marks the ninth overtime game in school history and the first multi-overtime game in program history. LSU is now 6-3 all-time in overtime games.

Individual Notes
9. RB Charles Scott‘s 55-yard rush on the final play of the first quarter was the longest of his career.
a. Scott scored his third and fourth rushing touchdown of the season and the eighth and ninth of his career in the first half. The first came on a one-yard run on the first play of the second quarter and the second was a 13-yard run with 1:48 left in the second quarter.
b. The multi-rushing touchdown game today for Scott marks the second of this season for the RB and the fourth of his career. 
10. PK Colt David‘s four extra points today were the junior’s 125th, 126th, 127th and 128th of his career. He now trails LSU career PAT leader John Corbello (129 PATs) by one PAT.
a. David kicked a 31-yard field goal with 5:42 left in the second quarter, a 30-yard field goal with 3:43 left in the third quarter and a season-long 38 yarder in the second overtime. The successful kicks were the 21st,  22nd and 23rd of his career in 34 attempts.
b. David’s three made FGs in today’s game moved the junior into eighth-place on LSU’s career field goals made list with 23.
11. CB Chevis Jackson intercepted a pass left in the second quarter. The pick was his third of the season and sixth of his career.
12. QB Matt Flynn tossed his fifth touchdown pass of the season and 15th of his career on a four-yard pass to TE Richard Dickson with 9:12 left in the third quarter.
13. TE Richard Dickson pulled down his second receiving touchdown of both his career and the season with a four-yard catch from Matt Flynn with 9:12 left in the third quarter.
a. Dickson’s four catches tonight tied his career high set against South Carolina earlier this year.
14. S Chad Jones recorded the first interception of his career with 8:08 left in the third quarter.
15. LB Darry Beckwith‘s 12 total tackles today is a new career high. His previous best was 11 recorded against Fresno State in 2006.
16. RB Richard Murphy rushed two yards for score in the first overtime. The touchdown was his second of the season.
17. LE Tyson Jackson‘s eight tackles tonight marked a new career high. His previous best was six which he recorded in two separate games.

KENTUCKY POSTGAME NOTES
Final Score: No. 17 Kentucky 43, No. 1 LSU 37 (3 OT)
October 13, 2007 * Commonwealth Stadium * Lexington, Ky.

Team Records and Series Notes
Kentucky improves to 6-1 overall, 2-1 in Southeastern Conference play.
The Wildcats are now tied for second place in the SEC East with their victory.
LSU leads the series 38-16-1, ending a four-game win streak by the Tigers.
Kentucky is now 3-10 all-time in games against opponents ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press poll.  The other two wins came on Jan. 1, 1951, vs. Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl and on Sept. 26, 1964 over Ole Miss in Jackson.
Kentucky is now 2-0 this season vs. teams ranked in the AP top 10 at the time the game was played.  The last time UK defeated two top-10 teams in the same season was 1964, when the Wildcats dispatched No. 1 Ole Miss and No. 7 Auburn.
This marks the first time in school history that Kentucky has dispatched two top-10 ranked opponents at home in the same season.
Kentucky is now 2-1 this season vs. teams that were ranked in the AP top 25 at the time the game was played.  The last time UK had two wins against ranked opponents in the same season was 1977, when the Wildcats were 3-0 vs. ranked foes.
Kentucky is now 5-0 at home this season and set a Commonwealth Stadium record by winning its eighth consecutive home game.
Kentucky has now won six of its last seven games decided by 10 points or less.
Kentucky is 11-2 spanning the last two seasons since falling to LSU last season in Baton Rouge, La.
With the win, the Wildcats become bowl eligible for the second consecutive season. Kentucky is the third SEC team this season to secure bowl eligibility. LSU game into the game with six wins, while South Carolina captured its sixth victory of the campaign against North Carolina earlier on Saturday.
Saturday’s game marked the sixth time in seven games this season that the Wildcats have scored 40 or more points.
The Wildcats are 4-1 all-time when trailing or tied at halftime.

Overtime Game Notes
Kentucky improves to 2-2 all-time in overtime contests.
The Wildcats played their second consecutive multi-overtime game, as Kentucky dropped a seven-overtime thriller to Arkansas during the 2003 season.
The Cats are 2-1 all-time in overtime games played in Commonwealth Stadium.
Head Coach Rich Brooks is 1-1 all-time in overtime games during his tenure at Kentucky.

UK Team Notes
The crowd of 70,902 was the fourth-largest in Commonwealth Stadium history. It was the largest since the 2002 Georgia game (71,017) and the second home crowd this season to rank among UK’s top five largest (70,857 vs. Louisville).
Kentucky’s 43 points were the most that the school has ever scored in a game with LSU. The two teams have met 54 previous times in the history of the two schools.
The Wildcats had 375 yards of total offense, marking the 13th consecutive game that Kentucky has gone over the 300-yard total-offense mark.
Kentucky had over 200 yards passing (250) for the 13th straight contest.
The Wildcats’ 43 points and 375 total yards marked the most accumulated by an opponent against the Tigers this season.
The Wildcats’ final defensive stop in the third overtime marked LSU’s first failed fourth-down conversion of the season.

UK Individual Notes
Quarterback Andre’ Woodson finished 21-of-38 for 250 yard with three touchdown passes. Woodson had more than 200 yards passing for the 13th consecutive game.
Woodson has thrown at least two touchdowns in eight straight games.
Woodson (7,055) became just the third player in school history to record more than 7,000 career offensive yards. He joins Jared Lorenzen (10,637) and Tim Couch (8,160) on that exclusive list.
Wide receiver Steve Johnson, Jr., recorded his second game-winning touchdown of the season, also hauling in the winning grab against then-No. 9 Louisville. He scored on a 7-yard reception from Woodson in the third overtime.
Johnson tallied a career-high 134 yards receiving, besting his previous career-high of 111 that he set at Arkansas on Sept. 22.
Johnson’s touchdown reception was his seventh career scoring reception and his sixth this season.
Lones Seiber tied his career high with three field goals. He also had three against South Carolina in UK’s last outing. Seiber connected on field goals of 33, 27 and 43 yards in Saturday’s game.
TE T.C. Drake made his first career reception a scoring one, catching Andre Woodson’s deflected pass for a two-yard TD.
Andre Woodson’s 12-yard TD scramble was his longest rush of the season.
Jacob Tamme caught his eighth career TD pass, his third of this season.
Jeremy Jarmon recorded the first double-digit tackle game of his career, finishing with a career-high 10 tackles.
Linebacker Wesley Woodyard extended his streak to 31 games with at least four tackles. He finished with a team-high 11 stops.
Woodyard recorded double-figure tackles for the fourth consecutive game and the 15th time in his career.
Wide receiver Keenan Burton had 135 total offensive yards in the game to lead the Wildcats. He now has 3,687 career total offensive yards, which moves him into seventh-place all-time in that category.

2007 Kentucky Football
UK vs. LSU Post-Game Quotes
October 13, 2007
Commonwealth Stadium ? Lexington, Ky.

LSU Head Coach Les Miles

Opening Comments
“I give credit to the Kentucky effort. I thought they played their tail off. You have to be ready to play anytime you go on the road in this conference. You see this brought to life again today. (There were) many ways to win this football game; so many ways to correct things. That’s just the way it is, when you have a game of length, play four quarters, go to overtime, just a number of things, a number of issues. I can tell you I’m surprised at how well Kentucky moved the football and surprised how effective they ran the football. We’ve got a team that’s sick. I did not enjoy this. We’re going to have to regroup, going to have to prove, going to have to work hard, get ready for another game next week.”

On whether the team lost focus…
“It was kids playing hard, playing as hard as they can. I’m going to tell you right now I thought this team came to here to play. Anybody wants to challenge me with that, they’ll have to check the effort, because I looked at that and I watched it every snap, that they played hard. It wasn’t any loss of focus. Mistakes were made? Yeah, you bet. I don’t think it was a loss of focus. They played as well as they were capable, certainly we’ll have the opportunity to correct that. As a coach, I can coach better and I will. I promise you. When something like this happens I look at me first. I can do better.”

On the physicality of Kentucky…
“I give credit to the effort that the Kentucky team had. They played hard, start to finish.”

On the missed field goal at the end of regulation…
“I had a feel that Colt David could hit it. He certainly got a nice leg into it, but it wasn’t meant to be. He hit the ball far enough, but a little off center to the left.”

Difference in Kentucky between last year and this year…
“I think they played well. They made few mistakes; they’re a much better football team.”

On passing game…
“If we hit a couple of those things that were open, we missed. The penalty on the long throw, we tried three or four deep throws where we felt like we had some advantages on the perimeter, but we didn’t hit them and when we did we got penalized.”

On dropping passes…
“Any time you’re in big games, any flaw, any dropped footballs, when you don’t move the chains, you put the pressure on your defense, put the pressure on your offense. I was surprised. It appeared to me at times we were getting to Woodson, but it was sporadic. Again, I have to give Kentucky some credit there.”

LSU Players

#48 Darry Beckwith, LB
On Kentucky’s success …

“They [Kentucky] executed well and they made the plays that we didn’t”

On Kentucky quarterback Andre’ Woodson’s performance…
“Our game plan was not to put too much pressure on him at the beginning of the game, but start getting more pressure on him as the game goes on.”

On Derrick Locke’s success as a running back in the game …
“He is a good running back. We had some missed tackles. They [Kentucky] had a great offensive scheme and executed well.”

On LSU losing its first game of the season…
“We are shocked. Anytime you lose, it hurts. We just have to keep our heads up and we have a ton of games left. You can’t win them all. This is a tough conference and we have to keep our heads up because we still have a lot to play for.”

On Kentucky’s win…
“We are going to get everyone’s best effort. When you are highly ranked, you will get everyone’s best and we are not always going to play like this. They played us very well and my hat goes off to them.”

On still playing for the national title…
“You never know what will happen.  We are still in it. A one-loss team can still make it to the national championship. Everyone might have one loss, so we are going to keep competing and hopefully we will get there.”

#32 Charles Scott, RB
On his playing time in the second half…
“I was not frustrated at all over not playing a lot in the second half.  I played a lot in the first half, and we just mixed it up in the second half.”

On the impact of the overtime loss…
“We just have to keep fighting.  It was a hard-fought game.  That’s what we always say in practice – we have to keep fighting.  It hurts a lot, but we have to push through it.  This feeling right here is what we don’t want to feel again.”

On Kentucky’s performance…
“There was nothing surprising about the way they played.  We knew it would be a hard-fought game.  Nothing about their play surprised us.”

On LSU relaxing after going up 27-14…
“We didn’t relax at all.  We were still trying to put points on the board, and still trying to execute.  We obviously didn’t do that well enough.”

Kentucky Head Coach Rich Brooks

Opening statements…
“Micah Johnson hurt his shoulder in the first half and we had to take him out on that last stop that we had. I think Braxton (Kelley) actually made the tackle on that fourth down play. Micah’s shoulder’s not real good. Tony Dixon’s hip flared up again. Andre’ Woodson took a shot on the touchdown pass in the ribs.”

On the win…
“I just can’t say enough about these young men. Whenever it starts to look dark, that’s when they dig down and find something extra. They did it again tonight. They did it in first half, did it after LSU went up by 13 in the third quarter and they certainly did it in the overtime. I can’t say enough about our defense and the way they stepped up in the overtime. The way we stayed with their receivers, covered them and rushed the passer. I’m so very, very proud of this football team. Obviously this is a very, very significant win to go to 2-1 in the league. We’ve got another difficult game with Florida coming up here. We’ll take a little time I’m sure to heal up some of our bumps and bruises, but we look forward to getting this place rocking again. I want to thank the fans for sticking with us in that game and making a lot of noise and being a factor. It looks like Mitch will have to pay another fine. I guess that’s become a little bit of a habit.”

On the play of his team…
“The guts and the backbone and the character to keep coming back when things didn’t look good, particularly in the third quarter when they came out and got up by 15. They were going through us and we weren’t doing much. All of a sudden, we come back and start making plays. I can’t say enough about the guts and the character of this football team. That was a heck of a football team we beat out there tonight. You’re probably not going to get a much better game than that and it ended in our favor so our fans could enjoy it. Maybe that’s payback for the one that got away.

“I’m just a lucky guy to be coaching a special group of young men that have really battled through more than you can imagine to get to this point.”

“I knew it would be hard to run the ball and let’s not forget Derrick Locke coming off the bench in the second half and making some significant plays for us. There were some people who talked about redshirting him earlier in the year but I can’t remember who that was. The offensive line did a great job and as I mentioned Jason Leger was playing hurt. The offensive line did a very, very good job on the pass protection. I can’t emphasize that enough ? how good that was against those guys who can flat rush the passer.”

On the significance of the win in the SEC race…
“All I know is we’re trying to get into the SEC race and be a factor in the championship and we made a significant step in that direction tonight. Now there is no undefeated team left in the league. All I know is I’m doggone happy to be 2-1 and we’ve got a chance if we can take care of business moving forward. We’ve got a chance to be a significant player obviously. Those people who maybe didn’t think we were a real contender, I think that may have changed tonight.”

On the improvement from last year…
“I’m not amazed. I’m very pleased . To go from 49-0 last year to a win tonight. I think that’s pretty significant improvement. This is still a marathon. This is one game and it is huge, but we have five left and they’re all tough. What we did is give some other people hope that they’re still in the mix and they are. I don’t know that anybody is out of it in the SEC East or West right now.”

On third and long…
“If you don’t have some balance against that, they’ll kill you. When we did get in third and long, we converted a couple, but it’s not where you want to make your living. We got one of them back. Trevard Lindley recovered and made the interception which was a huge momentum swing I think. For us to be able to move the ball and score on that defense was impressive. They are the best defense in the nation. Total defense, pass defense, rushing ? you name it. They were up there in every category and for us to do that speaks volumes of the job that Andre’ Woodson did managing the offense at the line of scrimmage. Those runs we hit on them to keep them honest, he was getting us in the right play and that was huge.”

On the UK kicking game…
“Lones Seiber for two weeks in a row has been perfect. He’s gone from the doghouse in everybody’s mind probably to the penthouse. He made some clutch kicks. I thought Tim Masthay was pretty good on the kickoffs. We allowed one kickoff return of significance. We did ok with our return game against their coverage. I thought we didn’t lose any ground in the kicking game and we might have gained a little bit.”

On LSU’s defense…
“It’s huge to beat the No. 1 team in the nation and to do it the way we did it. To keep coming back, it wasn’t a fluke. We lost the turnover battle but won the game. If you’d told me that was going to be the case going in, I wouldn’t have believed it. You can’t give a team like LSU that many chances, but the fact that we were able to score on them says a lot about our team. They just don’t give up points. I admire LSU and what they have done but his is a very, very sweet win for us at home.”

Kentucky Players

#12 Dicky Lyons, Jr., WR

On beating LSU…
“First and foremost, they are the number one team in the nation.  We got the national spotlight back to where we want it to be.  Having beat LSU, I go home with a high head for the rest of my life because it is the last time I play them and we beat them in triple overtime.  It doesn’t get much better than that.”

On playing against LSU defense…
“Going up against one of the best defenses in the nation just goes to show that we have a top rated offense.  Being able to score against them shows how hard Andre’, the coaches and the offense work during the game.”

#99 Jeremy Jarmon, DE

On UK fans rushing the field after the game…
“This was the first time I stayed on the field after the game.  Watching the fans rush the field just shows the backing we have as a team.  It is the chance of a lifetime to have the number one team travel into your stadium and you get the opportunity to upset them.”

On Andre’ Woodson’s performance…
“Andre is the leader of our team.  I am fully behind him.  We wouldn’t be where we are right now without him.”

#78 Christian Johnson, OG

On beating LSU…
“It feels amazing. It’s a big-time win. We said we had to come out hard, physical and aggressive and I think we accomplished that goal.”

On Andre’ Woodson…
“Andre’ is an amazing quarterback. When I look at him and see where he’s come from, he’s a great success story. He’s gone from being someone who was fighting for a starting spot to one of the best quarterbacks in the country.”

On practices leading up to the LSU game…
“This week’s practice was a lot faster and more physical. You could tell people’s spirit had changed and we believed we could beat LSU.”

#3 Andre’ Woodson, QB

On beating LSU…
“We’ve been saying all along we’re a good team and we have to prove that with big wins. We did that tonight and hopefully we can do it next week too.”

On the difference between this season and last season…
“The biggest thing is confidence. No matter who believes in us or who doesn’t, we stick together. We’re a family and that’s what drives us.”

On the team’s mindset when it was down 13 in the third quarter…
“We just continued to believe. The defense kept them out of the end zone and set up field goals instead. We kept believing that we could move the ball.”

#13 Steve Johnson, WR

On Kentucky’s confidence coming into the game…
“We had a lot of confidence.  It was all about our defense in overtime.  The offense scored and made plays, but the defense played big for us.”

On his 51-yard reception right before the half…
“It was the same play we used in the Louisville game.  I knew the corner was going to sit, and he was still on me but I had to adjust to the ball and make a play.”

On being a contender in the SEC race…
“It feels good to be 6-1, but it would be even better if we were undefeated.  We have to forget about this game tomorrow and get ready to play Florida next week.”

#56 Braxton Kelley, LB

On his game-saving tackle on fourth down…
“They (Louisiana State) had two fullbacks in motion to the right, and they had a down block on the end.  The fullback got to the ball, and I didn’t get blocked at all.  I ran through the gap in the middle and made the tackle.  I knew it was fourth and two and I could tell they were going to run the ball by the way they were set up.  I had to make a play in the backfield, and there was no doubt in my mind that he (Charles Scott) hadn’t gotten any yardage.  I got some help from Wesley Woodyard on the back side as well.”

On Trevard Lindley’s interception…
“Trevard is never beat.  He made a nice catch, and he has great hands.  He’s an awesome player, and he has potential to go to the NFL whenever he is ready.”