PAGE 5    THE CATS'  PAUSE,  NOVEMBER 27,  1976
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This One Belongs To The People Of Kentucky
Question - Okay, coach, tell us about the team which went from 2-8-1 and last in the conference in 1975 to 7-4, and a berth this year's Peach Bowl.
Coach Curci- Before the game started, we said we won the Penn State game for the team, we won the Florida game pretty much for the coaches and we won this one for...for the people of Kentucky. It's been a long time and it was a great valiant game, a game I expected. Tennessee is a great pride-ful team and they play their defense every bit as tough as we thought they would. It was just a great game and great win for our team.
Question - Coach, you're going to a bowl game. Which one?
Coach Curci- I don't know, no one has said anything to me. We had to earn it and I think we've earned it now. I just hope we get a chance. (This question was posed just minutes after Kentucky had upset Tennessee 7-0. About fifteen minutes later Curci learned that the Peach Bowl had invited Kentucky to play North Carolina December 31 in Atlanta.
Question - During the pre-season press conference, you said you didn't like to think about it, but there might be the possibility of Kentucky going 0-11 this season without a win. How do you reflect back on this season now?
Coach Curci- It's just a wonderful year. The guys have really worked so hard. We've had a lot of adversity. It's just amazing what a bunch of people can do when you've got your back against the wall and you come bouncing out. That's about all you can say. Our defense today was superb. I don't know any reason for it. We've been playing good defense all year. We played good against Florida. It seems like we play especially good against the great teams. Our defense today was no exception. There at the last today, Tennessee's offense was even going backwards. It was just a great dedicated effort.
Question - Did you have a couple of worried moments there in the second period when you got the ball down near the goal line but failed to score?
Coach Curci- Well, I was hoping for a field goal because I thought ten points might be the difference. I didn't think seven points could win this game. It was a very emotional game.
Question - Did you ever think a pass would win the Tennessee game on a 7-0 score?
Coach Curci- We worked on that, in fact we put that play in yesterday. Friday we put that play in because we thought we found a hole in their defense. Their linebacker, (Andy) Spiva is a great linebacker, the best
we've played against this year. He's a super football player and it's great our conference has people like him and Morgan but he flies so fast, we thought we could get them out of position on that one play and it ends up we did. It happened twice, the other time we did it with Chris Hill. (On the initial play, Greg Woods caught a pass from Derrick Ramsey and raced 62 yards for the game's lone score.)
Question - You double-teamed Ail-American Larry Seivers all day, Kentucky appeared to do a good job on him today.
Coach Curci- Two men are not enough on Seivers. You really need three. He's a great player. But our defense did a super job today.
Question - What about Mike Sig-ano's play in the secondary today?
Coach Curci- He's one of the best defensive backs in the conference, I don't see how anybody can keep him off the all-conference team. He's made so many great plays out there today. Our punt return worked the best it has all season. There were so many stars, (Bobby) Winkel played so well, obviously because he came from Tennessee, an Still who played both ways for us, he was super.
Question - Once there when Kentucky was on the goal line, it appeared Ramsey might have scored. Did you think he was in for the score?
Coach Curci- As a coach, I'm about fifty yards away from the play. There's no way I could spectulate on that. The officials are right there and I'm sure they called it the way they saw it. We should have got in there. We had three cracks at it. But that says something for Tennessee's defense.
Question - You said the Florida win was sweet. How about this one?
Coach Curci- We really worked ourselves into this position. We started off and nobody knew what we were going to do. then we beat Penn State, then we beat LSU and then we come into a very critical game with Florida game and beat them and then we're in this game and this was the biggest game we've played. I mean every game was big game. But this game is the most important becuase you have a possibly bowl game on the line, eleven years of frustration from losing to Tennessee, we haven't won on the road in a couple of years. So all of a sudden this was the most important game. I just don't know how many more we could go through like this. Right now, I just want to go home and go to bed.
Question- Is Kentucky football over the jump now?
Coach Curci- I think that (the 7-0
win) would help. I'd like to think that would help us get our own kids in the state. I think we have to be able to continue to keep our own kids at home in the state. Something like this won't allow people to say we can't play good football at Kentucky. It certainly should help.
Question - How did you feel at the half, leading 7-0, when you possibly have been up by fourteen?
Coach Curci- I thought ten points was what we would had to have to win but I tell you an observation (assistant) Perry Moss made. He said maybe it's best it's 7-0 because we will have to play harder, because our defense was superb and we did have field positon.
Question - Before the game, what position did you hope to be in by half time?
Coach Curci- I was hoping to be behind by no more than ten points. I think we're the kind of team that keeps getting stronger as the game goes on.
Question - Did you think Tennessee's defense was tiring near the end?
Coach Curci- Not even the slightest were they tiring. If anything they were stronger. They were getting a feel of
our offense and everytime I looked around Spiva was everywhere. He's just a great football player.
Question- Who called the touchdown play?
Coach Curci- Perry (Moss) called it. We both were thinking the same thing but he called it at the right time and it was a great call. We put the play in on the blackboard just before practice yesterday and we figured that would be a play that would be tough on them. And that was the play.They way they rotate their secondary, they didn't have anybody to cover the back coming out of the backfield. It's lucky, when it works it looks good and when it doesn't it looks bad.
Question - Greg Woods wasn't too happy during fall practice when you asked him to move from the defense back to the offense. I guess he is happy about that decision today.
Coach Curci-(Laughing)I'm glad he went back to the backfield. He's done a fantastic job for us this year. Little (Robert) Brooks did a good job (Chris) Hill, and (Rod) Stewart steady and the big horse (Derrick Ramsey) is the guy everybody has to stop so that opens up other people.
Football Play-Offs This Weekend
There's plenty of sports activity going on at the UK campus this weekend, including football play-offs of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association.
The KHSAA Class A championship will be staged at Commonwealth Stadium at 11 p.m. followed by the Class AA title game at 1 p.m.
Saturday's action pits finalists of the Class AAA at 12 noon at Commonwealth Stadium.
And then the 7:30 p.m. tip-off for the first Kentucky game in the new Rupp Arena against Wisconsin. The game will be televised live on the UK Television Network and on Channel 27, WKYT-TV here in Lexington.
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