ULM coach Terry Bowden met with media this week to discuss Saturday's season opener for both the Warhawks and the Wildcats. You can watch that above or take in the notes that follow here...
-- "If you're trying to ease into your season ... this is not the game you would want. This is not the Kentucky of old." Looked back to the 90s in the SEC when he was at Auburn "it was one of those games that was on the lower side." Notes Kentucky has been to five straight bowl games. Mark Stoops has made Kentucky a contender in the Eastern division. "They're a very, very good football team." Notes last year they had six players drafted, three free agents. "You might as well be talking Auburn, you might as well be talking Florida... First rounder, second rounder." Pointed out the work in the the transfer portal.
-- Says all they can do is play the best they can play. They know going into a game like this Kentucky will have to help ULM a little bit for things to work out their way. If they don't get anyone hurt they have a better chance the following week. Very candid and realistic from Bowden.
-- "They've publicly stated they want to pass the ball a bit more ... They've got a great tailback and the strength of the entire team is the o-line, so I'm not sure we can stop their running enough to make them pass the football..." Bowden is looking at the Rams offense and thinks it will be a good fit for what UK has.
-- Bowden is keeping as much info back as possible. There aren't many advantages ULM can have against Kentucky. Even if just keeping the score down, you have to look for any competitive advantage. If they put a 2-deep roster together they'd have a lot of "OR" situations. "It's a work in progress situation ..." But this is a new future with a new staff so it's exactly where they should be. Notes they have some additional (new) players they're working to acclimate with the players who were already there.
-- Rhett Rodriguez will be the starter and earned that. Got in back in January so went through the spring. They didn't want to hide the quarterback situation. Because of his talent but also being raised by Rich and around his father's offense that has been helpful. Bowden says he'll give his two cents to Rodriguez "but not three cents." Letting Rich have a lot of say over that side of it. As a coach's son himself, Terry said, and working with so many QBs going back to Jimbo Fisher (his first QB) who basically lived with him, he has always wanted the quarterback to know exactly what the coaches are asking him to do.
Noted UK made a decision on the QB a couple of weeks ago. ULM knew back in the spring. None of the backups decided to pick up and leave. Rodriguez isn't afraid to play more than one quarterback. Backup Colby Suits is more of a developed passer than backup Jeremy Hunt. "But they're both pretty much conventional drop back quarterbacks." They can throw it really well but won't escape as you'd like against an athletic defense like Kentucky's.
-- Everyone wants to use David vs Goliath. That's a miracle story and he doesn't want to go there. Just go play your best and see what can happen. It takes a lot of factors to be competitive against a quality SEC team. But position by position, "I think it would probably be detrimental to the confidence of our team." They have to learn how their players will respond to nerves, a big crowd, etc. "I'm not sure if we're going to have a good idea of where we are in our conference..." ULM has a bye week after the UK game and Bowden said that's good timing even early in the year because they'll probably need to pause and take stock of where they are.
-- Had a lot of fun at Clemson as an analyst. He was always working a game ahead so on Sunday he could give the coaches the report on the next opponent. He was watching mostly as a spectator but he's happy to be back in the saddle. He loves coaching so much because he was a walk-on player where he rode the pine. Now as a coach he gets to be part of the game. It's more difficult and he'll refer to Rich a lot on play calling. Between series he may throw his opinion in.
-- Said this is the kind of game where you say "please Lord, don't let this get ugly... don't let people get hurt." But he's been in a couple of games where upsets have happened and ULM has been in that position before. Points out ULM beat Kentucky "a few years ago" (27 years ago).
-- Doesn't really have connections to UK's staff directly because he's older now. But noted Mark Stoops and Jimbo Fisher having a history. Did coach against Bob Stoops. He played against Kentucky in 1977 when the Cats were undefeated. Noted Curci, Still, Ramsey, "and they beat us along with every other team in the SEC." Then played UK in '94 and 95 when he was at Auburn. Back then you checked that off as one you'd better win at Auburn. Noted Tommy Bowden's history at Kentucky as OC for Curry.
