DLD: It's Positive Tuesday:

Q: How do you go about approaching your team after losing a game like that?

Coach Kiffin: Well, I talked to them today about the feeling you had the five seconds before you knew there was a timeout, how great that feeling was and seeing them run out there on that field. I wanted them to capture that feeling and remember what it was. Then, I wanted them to remember what it was like in that locker room when they felt terrible, miserable. The feeling in that locker room at that time, any one of those guys would have told you `I would do whatever it takes to change that,' they would take back anything at that time. What I talked to them about is remember that thought you had compared to that other feeling. Well that is winning and losing and I want you to remember that when you come back on Wednesday and then on Thursday when you go out to practice and you are in your meetings preparing and studying your opponent. You make sure you know everything you can do to protect our team to put us in the best position to win. That's what you want to avoid, that feeling (loss) and you want to have that other feeling (winning) and everybody will try to give you that feeling on game day but you have to have that feeling during the week so that you get to the point where you have more good feelings than bad feelings.

Coach Kiffin: After watching the film, I have the same feelings as I did after the game. Some things to build on, our running game was very good at times and it should have been better than it was, 200 yards, but we left a lot of yards out there, LaMont [Jordan] had some good runs but missed some reads at times where we could have been more productive.

Our passing game was basically embarrassing and that falls on all of us. From up front to receivers, to backs to the quarterback to the coaches, all of us so it's obviously something to improve on.

To all of you who plan on voicing your displeasure Sunday, this was Kiffin's message: "I apologize to our fans but I can't make our decision based on their reactions. That's not fair to our team. I feel Josh this week continues to put us in the best position to win."

Why is that, exactly? Here is Kiffin's unedited answer:

"I feel right now that there's so much that goes into the game besides just numbers. There's checks he's making on third down. There's third-and-9 where he audibles to a run vs. a certain blitz that he has about five seconds on the play clock to get done, and we make 10 yards and make the first down.

"There's a bunch of little things hidden in there. Or a time somebody comes in free and he moves out of the way or throws one to Zach (Miller) for about five yards that could have been a loss of 8. Right now I feel he puts us in a better position to win. Will that be the case next Monday? I don't know."