I actually completely agree that the penalties were the biggest problem in this game. They killed drive after drive. But that's also Mullen's fault...
That being said, I am glad to see Mullen admit that he should have tried to score at the end of the first half... I don't understand the "afraid to make a mistake" at the end of the half mentality that he claims he had though. It's actually SAFER to make a mistake at the end of the half because the other team will have less time to go score a touchdown if you turn it over. It would be like dribbling the clock out in basketball at half-court instead of taking the last shot because you are scared somebody will steal it and score.
It's not like we started the drive at our own 5 yard line or something... It's literally an extra chance we get to score and we decided it wasn't worth it. I'm not saying run a hook and ladder or flea flicker or something risky. If you are REALLY that scared then just run your normal offense with hurry up and use your timeouts when you don't make a 1st down and see if you can get into field goal range. Or even get to midfield and throw a couple of jump balls in the endzone. Good coaches don't sacrifice good scoring opportunities like that. It was baffling. I'm glad the announcers took enough time away from slobbing kentucky's knob at every opportunity to call Mullen out for that stupid decision.