Ole Miss Football Head Coach Matt Luke met with the media Monday to recap the Rebels' 31-6 win over Vanderbilt, while also looking ahead to Saturday's SEC road trip to Missouri (6 p.m. CT, ESPN2). The full transcript can be found below.
Opening statement…
"Looking back at the last game, I was very pleased with the defensive performance. The more you watch it, the more you like about it. I was really impressed with the defensive line, I thought they played their best game to date, holding their gaps and getting off the field on third down. Looking at it offensively, we were able to get some explosive runs which was a positive in generating that many yards on the ground. We need to find ways to get the ball to our receivers in different ways, especially as people start loading the box to stop the run. We need to be able to hit some of those 1-on-1 matchups. We can improve on that as well as on third downs."
On matchup with Missouri on Saturday…
"This is a very good football team. Defensively, they are very fast especially up front. Their guys move around and cause problems. Offensively, they're very physical. They have the best tight end we've played yet (Albert Okwuegbunam) he's very good. They have a good quarterback, good running back and a physical offensive line plus we're playing on the road in the Southeastern Conference, so it'll be a huge challenge. Coach Odom has done a good job and his kids play really hard. It'll be a tough challenge going on the road at Missouri, it's the only stadium I haven't played yet so looking forward to it."
On the challenges that Missouri's speed on defense present…
"They do an outstanding job of not staying in one place. They're constantly moving, stemming. They're powerful and quick so again when you're big, strong and fast that's a good combination. They do a good job of moving around and creating problems for offensive lines."
On handling Matt Corral's health this week…
"He's continuing to get better. There might be a point this week where he's back to 100 percent. He could have gone out there and thrown some, but to say he could've gone out there and ran the offense, I don't think that yet. As he gets to 100 percent we're going to continue to look at him."
"He could've gone out there and played. To say he was going to run out there and do a zone read, pulling the ball and feeling good enough to get hit,
that's the challenge."
On Wyoming's run game against Missouri to open up the season…
"Right before the half, there were two big runs back-to-back. That was where the yardage came from, similar to our Vanderbilt game for us breaking those two runs back-to-back, it just happened pretty quick. It just happened against them, but they are very stout against the run."
On preparing for Kelly Bryant as if he's playing on Saturday…
"All indications point to him playing and that's the way we'll go about preparing."
On Missouri losing Cole Garrett for the season
"He's obviously a very good player, had two picks in the last game. You can tell he was the guy getting everybody lined up. He is a physical, tough guy and he could drop into pass coverage too. Anytime you lose a leader like that, it's no different than us with MoMo Sanogo, they'll have somebody step in and be ready."
On Deantre Prince, Jay Stanley, and A.J. Finley contributing right away this season…
"You hope all the guys you recruit can do that, but you just don't know until they get here. Those guys have stepped in and have done a good job. Offensively, you knew with the lack of experience coming back that those guys would have to play. Defensively, it's good to see those guys push for playing time, and when a guy like Jon Haynes goes down to injury, a guy can step in there."
On what constitutes a successful season for this team…
"Week-to-week getting better. That is my number one goal. Obviously, the elephant in the room is getting back to a bowl game. Getting this program back to postseason is a huge goal. Right now, we are focused on week-to-week, and I think we are making progress and we can build on that to continue to get better."
On recruiting Snoop Conner…
"Coach Derrick Nix had a great relationship with him. He kept that relationship going. It was a little bit different because he played wildcat quarterback, so he wasn't a true tailback. But he did so many things. You saw that he liked contact, he was physical, and then he went to the Mississippi-Alabama game and had some success. He is a great kid. We felt like he was a fit with what we wanted to do and we had the opportunity and took him."
On getting the receivers more involved…
"We want to run the football. But, when people load the box and have some one-on-ones, we want to be able to make big plays down the field and try to capitalize on that."
On Braylon Sanders…
"Braylon is still battling the hamstring and he just wasn't 100 percent. He is week-to-week. Hamstrings are funny because they can run, just bursting and changing direction sometimes give them some trouble. We are trying to get him better and his hamstring fully recovered. He kind of re-aggravated it at the end of the Alabama game and was struggling all week in practice."
On how carries are distributed…
"Some of our runs, it does depend on who is in the game. But some of them, John Rhys Plumlee, based on his read, can pull it. You can't always control it. It's based on what the defense does. A lot of the time, we have two running backs in the game at the same time which is good. A lot of it depends on how the defense plays it."
On the progression of the offensive linemen…
"I think they are progressing. They are getting better. I like the way they are playing. I like their mindset and taking some pride in running the football. They are playing really hard but I think they are progressing each week. There are always things to get fixed, and they'll certainly have a challenge with all of the movement they are going to see this week."
On Jonathan Haynes…
"I think Jon Haynes is probable. I think he'll have an opportunity. He was in walk-throughs yesterday and looked fine. Tuesday will be a much better indication of how he'll be, but I think all indications are that he will play Saturday."
On facing defensive line movement…
"No question they can handle it better. They are going to have very good people doing it this week, so it will be a challenge. But every team that we have played after Memphis has done that since they saw it on tape, so I think we have gotten better. Every team has done that up to this point to try and stop the run. We'll be better. With very good people doing it, it provides a challenge."
