What Kent State coach Kenni Burns said after 71-0 loss at No. 7 Tennessee

Everything Kent State coach Kenni Burns said after his team’s 71-0 loss to No. 7 Tennessee Saturday night at Neyland Stadium:

Opening Statement

“Really good football team (Tennessee). Congratulations to coach (Josh) Heupel. They are a team that should compete for a national championship. They have weapons all over the place. They play really clean. We didn’t play good enough, obviously. We have to get better and learn from this. I know that people are going to think it’s an excuse, but it’s not. We have a really young football team. They saw today how far away they are from where they need to be to compete at the highest level. We have to watch it and get better from it. That’s a hurt and disappointed football team right now. There is nothing we can do about it. We have to learn, get better and keep moving on. The encouraging thing was the leadership took charge in the second half and made sure that we finished the game. In the locker room afterward, guys like Khalib Johns and Matt Harmon were calling people up and talking about how we needed to respond from this performance. Congratulations to them (Tennessee), and we have to move on and play the next game.”

What he saw from his Kent State team based on preparation

“I think there was a mismatch in personnel to start. I think our coaches tried to do the best they could to simplify it and allow us to play fast. You’re going to give things up when that happens. What I was disappointed with was we didn’t knock the ball out when we had the chance to. That means just tackling the ball and using the tackling circuit. I think some of our guys get in the moment and go away from what they know and have been taught. They have to watch it and learn from it.”

Kent State’s decision to not go with a running clock in the second half

“Because that’s not who we are. That’s now who we are as a football team. That’s not who we are as a culture. There are a lot of teams that lost today in lump sums; they’re not getting running clocks. A football game is a football game. I talked to our captains about it, and they said absolutely not. I said absolutely not. It’s just not who we are at all as a football program. No way. I think the second half you saw their response to it. They (the players) came back, they fought from it, and that is what their coach (Josh Heupel) said to us after the game that our fight in the second half was impressive.”

How this game can be a learning experience for Kent State true freshman Elijah

Williams

“He got his ankle rolled up there a little bit. We tried to do some stuff to help him out, because we knew Coach (Matt) Limegrover had been doing this for a long time. He knew a freshman center going into this atmosphere might get a little overwhelmed. The ball would go over, so we moved Tony Georges to center and let him play a little bit with his snaps. Then we had some pressures of the situation, motion and snapping the ball a little bit too early, stuff like that. I think Elijah is going to grow from it, learn from it and get better. That’s all he can do. He’s a true freshman. It’s the same with Jay Jay Etheridge, who got manned up a little bit today, and Dashawn Martin. Those are three true freshmen who started today in this game. It’s going to be great for the future, but they learned that they are a long ways away, and they have work to do which is good. Alex Branch went out with an injury in the first drive, so Tevin Tucker had to go in there — a redshirt freshman. He was in position a lot of times but did not knock the ball down. We have to tackle the ball. There are a lot of things for this football team to learn from and get better at. We have to do that. I know it’s going to be whatever people have to say, but what I care about are those young men in the four walls in the locker room. They’re heartbroken, which is a good sign to me, because it matters to them. Their response in the second half shows that it matters to them with how they played. We have to get healthy. I think that is a big thing right now. I think we are a little depleted at running back as well. We have to get healthy, and we have to get our horses back for this game next week and even more so in conference play when we are playing some teams that are more manageable for us.”

What he saw out of Kent State running back Cade Wolford and quarterback JD Sherrod

“Again, two young guys. Cade Wolford is a true freshman, and I just wanted to see what he could do a little bit. You have four games to put them in and see what they can do and if they are ready. I’ll watch the tape on the cuff, and I thought he did some good things. I thought JD did some good things–another redshirt freshman quarterback. I’ll watch the tape and see what we can get out of those guys moving forward.”

His decision to put JD Sherrod on the field in the second half

“I think the score is what it is, you know. Give someone else a chance. See if they can move the sticks and get the offense going a little bit, and I thought he did a good job with that. He brings a different element with the run game. Tommy (Ulatowski) is nursing a finger that is pretty banged up, and I did not want to throw him out there. It was a decision that was made before the game that he would be an emergency case guy. I was impressed with what JD did, and I think he’s got a bright future for sure.”

The Kent State offensive line and how they settled down in a hostile environment

“I think it got better as it went a little bit. We stabbed ourselves in the foot a couple of times with snapping the ball over our heads and managing those situations and getting behind the sticks. We can’t do that. We can’t recover from that. We are not there yet as an offense to recover from that. I think everyone talks about the Tennessee offense, which is really good, but the biggest jump to me and why they are a national championship contender is how good their defense is. We knew that coming in, and we had some uphill battles up front. We did the best we could to try and manage those. But I thought our offensive line, they went out and they fought. That is all they could do. They went out and fought. They have to come back and learn from it and play better next week.”