University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Louisville Postgame Quotes
11/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Louisville Postgame Quotes
Louisville Head Coach John L. Smith on Louisville-Southern Miss football game:
We have been fortunate with overtime games. I?m proud of our guys. They fought back. They really hung in there and believed at halftime when we were down by 14 points that we could come back and win. You can?t say enough.
We got some turnovers, which was huge. That really helped us a bunch, and Dave (Ragone) was careful with the ball. He is mad at himself and upset with himself, but also he got us back in the game as well. He came to me after the game and said, ?I feel bad because I almost lost this game for us,? but I responded saying, ?Look how many games you?ve won for us too.?
Things will get better, I hope. We will get some guys back. It?s good to get through this one with the injured guys. You got to talk about Dwayne White. He hadn?t practiced all week long and stepped up and played. That was a courageous effort. I?m just proud of our guys.
I can?t go on without saying something about Southern Miss. I read in the paper where their players were saying something about respect. When we came into this league, they (Southern Miss) were the measuring stick. And we measured ourselves by them. We get more out of a win beating these guys because you respect these guys more than anybody. You respect their staff, you respect their kids, you respect their program. They?ve got a ton of respect, if from nobody else, I guarantee they?ve got it from us.
On turning around after down 17-3 at halftime:
We were more focused, tried not to give the ball away and came up with a turnover or two. The thing we did in the first half is we gave up a cheap touchdown, defensively, which really hurt. They are going to get points on you, without a doubt, but we gave up that one cheap one that just kills you. And we figured if we came out in the second half and not give up anything cheap and make them work for it, we would be okay. And we did. We played really solid defensive in the second half, and we were fortunate with turnovers even though we did give it back a time or two.
On this being a real physical game:
As time went on, I think we grew and our attitude got better. And we kept saying that they are not going to run the ball on us. We going to get the ball back. We?re going to get a turnover. We are going to find a way to win it defensively. So the kids really believed it on that side of the football. It was a great team effort.
On Quarterback Dave Ragone?s performance:
Dave got us back into this game, without a doubt. He made some mistakes, yes. But Southern Miss does so much defensively. They brought the kitchen sink. In fact, they went to the neighbors and got their sink and brought it as well. They hit us a lot, but you?ve got to believe you?ll bounce back and fight.
LOUISVILLE PLAYER QUOTES
Devon Thomas, defensive back:
The way our season is going so far, this can only be a pick-me-up. Hopefully we can build on the success we just had. The second half is probably the best we have ever played as a team. When the offense messed up the defense came in and stood in there. When the defense made a mistake, the offense came in a drove a little bit. From a team standpoint, I think we played really well in the second half. We will always play Southern Miss like it is the championship. Nobody blows the other out. Both teams come to play hard. I?m ecstatic that we won this game today. Hopefully, we will win our last two and go to a bowl game.
Nate Smith, kicker:
I want to thank my line. They did an awesome job today. You know it?s going to be a good game, every time you play Southern Miss. It?s always going to be close. The rivalry has always been there. It?s nothing new. We are going home tonight with a day off tomorrow and get ready for UAB and put this win behind us. We have to look ahead.
