Q. How do you guys grade yourself as an offensive line? The rushing stats were really good. Do you look at numbers or have a feel you guys were opening up holes?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: We kind of have a feel of the holes. I know I do for sure, but I feel like as a group we do all together because like we go into like each drive and talk about the plays with our coach and talk about what's good and what's not, and then we kind of remember the plays that are hitting the defensive plan.
So we kind of feel through it throughout the game, and at the end, the coach will tell us how many rushing yards we have and stuff like that or we'll see the stats. But throughout the game, I feel like we get a feel for what plays are working, and if it's run plays, we know we can feel the defense getting tired and stuff like that, just keep on running it because we kind of know. Yeah, that's kind of how.
Q. What's the biggest crowd you played in front of at Louisiana?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: Probably last year, the championship, we played against App State. There was --
Q. 50,000? 60,000?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: It was a lot then, but now that I think about it since playing here, it wasn't too many. That was probably the biggest crowd maybe.
Q. What's it going to be like playing in front of 100,000 against you? You've played in front of 90,000 for you.
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: It's going to be different. It's going to be a challenge for sure, but I feel like, if we stay focused in there, we know what we can do, like communicate well and like stay on the same page and don't shoot ourselves in the foot too much. We feel like we'll be good and we can handle the crowd and control the noise pretty well.
Q. What is the key to communicating? You guys did play at Texas last year, it was 91,000.
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: Yeah, I forgot about that. That one was crazy.
Q. Was it crazy?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: Yeah, it was hot too.
Q. So what is the challenge communication-wise?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: Making sure that we are on the same page, like I say. Not just verbally, but like signals-wise, like making sure we're doing the right hand signals and stuff because it's going to be loud and we're not going to be able to hear each other all the time.
So making sure the running backs and quarterbacks are on the same page protection-wise and in the run plays, like with the mike, and like when the box moves, making sure everybody on the O-line sees, even the tight ends because they're a part of it too. So making sure we're all on the same page from that standpoint, I feel like it will help us out a lot with the noise and stuff.
Q. What's the potential of this running game?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: I feel like we've got a chance to be great if we do the small things right and don't forget the fundamentals as the season goes on. I feel like we just continue to do what got us here, the small things like hand placement, footwork, and stuff like that, and just all of us being on the same page going to the same Mike and stuff like that.
We keep those small key details throughout the whole year, I feel like that will help us get to where we want to be at the end of the year and be great.
Q. Being Montrell's a former teammate at Louisiana, what's it like seeing the success he's had?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: It's fun. It makes me proud honestly because, when I see it because I watched him in practice like when he first came as a freshman, and like seeing the growth from him learning how to pull back a seam more and learning how to read cuts and read blocks better and better from watching the practice film. It's just fun.
Then just excited to see him there. I know he's going to keep getting better. So it's fun.
Q. Do you guys have a little chemistry from playing together last year?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: We do. We talk about different plays, like between drafts, like when we know certain plays that are called front side, but he knows they can hit back side because of how my block is, stuff like that, I feel like that goes back to practicing and from last year. I feel like those things are kind of what relays over to now.
Q. Does your family bring you care packages of food from Louisiana?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: My uncle did. My uncle and my dad did the first -- was it Kentucky? They just brought me some seasonings and stuff like that. I asked them to bring me a few things. Nothing too special, but just like a few things.
Because my dad cook a lot of crawfish. I don't have time to cook crawfish like I want to. You got to have the pot and the boiler. You got to have time to make the crawfish, so not right now. Maybe the bye week for sure. For sure the bye week.
Q. What's the message on that game-winning drive? It just seems like you guys went out there and decided to hand it to Trevor every single play? What's the feeling as an offensive lineman knowing that's kind of the game plan?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: The message on the last drive was we told as a group we've got to put it on our backs. We knew we were going to go out there and do it, and we knew they couldn't really stop the run that well. We knew it was the fourth quarter, so we knew they were tired. We practice for situations like this, so we were ready for it.
It was fun because we knew exactly what they were going to go do. We knew either they were going to stop it or they weren't. After we got a few first downs, we realized they couldn't, and we knew we're going to score.
It's fun, and it brings us confidence as an O-lineman and as a group with the running backs too to know that, when we need us too, you all can lean on us to get the extra three yards for a first down or something like that. It helps us out from that aspect of it.
Q. What do you think of Billy turning to a true freshman running back from that standpoint and the plays that Trevor has been making?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: We all felt like there was nothing wrong with that decision because we've seen Trevor in practice and he be up for those types of moments. He showed it early even in fall camp. He's not the regular little freshman running back that comes in and has to wait a few games before he gets a few touches or something like that.
You honestly can't even tell he's a freshman when he's in the game the way he runs the ball. He's just got a natural feel for it. We all got comfort with that, and we knew he was going to do it as soon as he got here. Yeah, he was ready for it.
Q. Not sure how much you know about the history of Florida football, but is it odd to go three games without a passing touchdown? Do you guys even sense that?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: Honestly, no. I didn't know that until, I think, before the game they said something about it, I guess, because like just from people talking and you be on social media and you see it.
As a team, we all know that if we have success as a team -- we talk about it in team meetings. If we have success as a team, individual goals going to come. So if we don't get it now, eventually it's going to come. We're just not playing our best offensively-wise as a team. Once we fix those things, everybody;s success is going to come. We've got to get good as a team and fix our small, little kinks up front, and skill position-wise, we'll get to where we've got to be.
Q. How do you assess the O-line's performance in pass blocking so far?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: I feel like we're doing pretty good. We need to get a little tighter and quicker with our reaction time with the communication based on the fronts we're seeing and the pressure they're bringing.
I feel like as the games go on and as we get a better feel of reading defenses and knowing what the disguise pressure looks like for us, and when someone is really coming, how they feed us in and stuff like that, I feel like, as we get better at reading things like those, it helps us get better at pass blocking and twists in games, which builds confidence. When we build confidence, we get better and better as a group. So things like that.
Q. How key is it for you guys to be able to control the tempo a little bit given how Tennessee likes to play so quickly?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: It's going to be important this game because it's going to help our defense out a lot. I feel like in the last two or three games, we let the defense down by having them out there so much. Even the last game for sure, because I didn't know until yesterday we only ran four to eight plays and the defense was out there for over 50.
And I feel like we're overworking them. We need to hold the ball a lot more this game so they don't have to be out there as much. If we can control the tempo, it's going to be easy for us to control the game, and it will help us win.
Q. A couple of offensive linemen we had here in the past said that playing the O-line was what they love because it gave them a chance to beat up on people and they could be peaceful outside. Is that kind of your mentality too, you love to beat up on the other guys?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: I can agree with that, yeah. It's kind of like controlled violence, like I could put my hands on somebody legally and do what I want to them between plays and nothing happen to me. Then after the plays, I can be calm and cool. Once the ball hike again, I get to flip the switch and turn into that person again and do the same thing. It's kind of fun actually.
Q. When you're beating up on them, do you talk to them too?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: No, not unless they talk to me. I mostly try to keep my breath and not get too tired. Sometimes you have some that talk and you have some that don't because they know what's going to happen. It all depends on the type of game you're in.
Q. Your run defense has been kind of inconsistent over the last couple of weeks whereas run blocking has been a strength. Besides team drills, is there anything you guys as a unit can do to help the offensive line develops as the season goes on?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: We talk about it in our O-line room. Coach always says every position is important because the scout on O-line who goes down there and gives them looks, and sometimes coach likes to pick it up to help them get the best look they can. We only get so many good-on-good reps during the season, and most of our reps go to scouts. So Coach is always on the scout team guys to make sure they give the defensive line the best looks they can to help them out before the game.
If the scout team plays as good as the next team's O-line, I feel like that helps them a lot with stopping the run and containing what the other team's offense is doing. So we talk about that a lot in our meetings. Coach tells the scout team guys to give the best look they can to help them out, and it helps.
Q. How many sacks did the offensive line give up? The stats say two. Did you guys give up two?
O'CYRUS TORRENCE: Yeah, we'll take that.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports