University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
East Carolina Postgame Quotes
11/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
East Carolina Postgame Quotes
Opening Statement:
I was proud with how our defense played. They (Southern Miss) had our backs to the wall most of the day, and we didn?t get any help from our offense. Our offense got whipped by a very good defense. I give them credit. It was kind of a slow death. We just could not make a play on offense.
When asked about running back personnel:
Christshawn (Gilliam) had to go both ways; actually he didn?t play any defense. Art Brown has a severe groin strain, so Christshawn had to come over. The good news is Marvin (Townes) made it through the whole game without cramping up. We worked hard all week on Christshawn playing because Art was not feeling good all week long.
When asked about quarterbacks performance:
We didn?t protect, and it didn?t matter who the quarterback was. We just didn?t protect well enough to get anything established offensively.
What did he tell the team in the locker room after the game:
We just have to come back, and particularly on offense next week, we have to answer the bell. We can?t continue to ask our defense to do what they tried to do today and did last week, and that was to win the game. We?ve got six days until we play again, that?s what we will focus on.
This game hurts. We thought, going in, we would have a chance to win it, but Southern Miss played well. There?s a reason why they are one of the best scoring defenses in the nation.
When asked about the holding penalty on the run off the fake field goal on the opening drive:
It took a lot of the wind out of our sails. It was a good opening drive, and the best drive we had all day. Had we gotten seven points on the board then, it may have changed things a bit, at least in our confidence, but those things happen, and we didn?t overcome it.
10 Kevin Miller, kicker:
I thought defensively we played well enough to win the game. Similar to last week?s effort, we gave up a couple big plays on third down, but offensively we never got anything going, and they just seemed to be after us all day.
As soon as the fake field goal got called back, it seemed like that set the tone for the rest of the day.
It?s hard to say anything, sitting here after the game, but I do know there is a lot more to play for than just trying to ruin Cincinnati?s season. It?s our senior class? last home game, and we want to go out and play well for our fans who have supported us the last 4-5 years, and certainly close out with a win. There?s always something to play for. There?s always momentum heading into next year, and of course there?s the pride factor.
If you can?t get motivated to play for yourselves and teammates, then you obviously don?t belong on the field.
28 Kelly Hardy, defensive back:
They are a great offensive team, and we just did not execute like Coach told us to do. We have to go out and try to execute and play harder in the next game.
On touchdown fumble recovery:
I was just trailing the play, and I saw the running back. I just wanted to make the tackle, but I saw the ball pop out, and I went to pick the ball up and ran as hard as I could.
On next week?s game:
We are just going to tell the guys to play hard for us. Because I know they would want teammates to play hard on their senior night. We are going to play hard anyway because it is our last game.
We want to go out with a win and salvage the season and end up with the best possible season that we can. There has been a lot of inconsistency this season. We play hard at times and soft at times. We will go out next week and try to cancel that out with a win.
