University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Postgame Quotes
11/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Southern Miss Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Jeff Bower:
Opening comments:
?It was really a good effort by our football team. It was a great job of bouncing back from two disappointing losses and a disappointing performance last week. The players bounced back and played hard and well in the ball game. I was real pleased at how physical we were. I thought we dominated on defense. East Carolina had 154 yards of total offense. That is about 200 yards below their average. We played well on defense. We had 414 yards of total offense. Derrick (Nix) came up 11 yards short of the all-time rushing record and that is what I was trying to get done in the final drive. We can still get it because bowl games now count statistically. We can get that done. I am really proud of our team. We played well in the game. We made some big plays on offense, and we made some big third down plays to keep drives alive. It was a good effort by our football team. I don?t know what the bowl situation is, but we are just going to enjoy this win.?
On the alternating quarterbacks:
?We wanted to do it because we had some option in the plan. We wanted Dustin (Almond) to have the option and we did that when we went to our heavy personnel. Dustin took the majority of the snaps, but not all of them towards the latter part of the game. We just wanted Micky (D?Angelo) for experience and to milk the clock until I found out how close Derrick was to the record. But Dustin did a great job and made some great plays with the option. East Carolina made him run it all night and on the last touchdown, they took him and he made a great pitch to get it in the end zone.?
On the team?s emotion:
?I think we are pretty good when we play with emotion. Like I said on Monday, if you don?t play with emotion, you are not very good. Football is a game of emotion. There is very little difference from a talent standpoint, from one team to the next. It is a game of emotion and playing with enthusiasm. That was the difference in us today.?
Senior linebacker Joe Henley
On the emotion:
?That was the big key coming into this week against East Carolina. Last week against Tulane, we came out with no emotion and we were flat. We challenged ourselves this week in practice and we wanted to come out and give it all we had.?
On the series against East Carolina helping with the emotion:
?Coming off the way we played last week, we knew that we had to pick it up this week. We wanted to show great emotion, and it was all about pride. We wanted to practice and play with pride, emotion and everything.?
Offensive lineman Torrin Tucker
On the emotion of the team:
?The emotion was high. Everyone wanted to come in and do better after the way we played last week. The last few games we played sort of slacked off in the second half. We made a vow to each other to play hard to the finish.?
On his career at Southern Miss:
?I have a lot of memories. I am going to miss all the guys I played with. I just have a lot of good memories. I spent the last five years of my life here playing football. It was the best time of my life.?
Running back Derrick Nix
On coming up short for the record:
?I was kind of tired. I don?t think I had that many carries in a row in a long time. The record means a lot but it didn?t mean more than winning today. Getting to the postseason meant a lot more. That was the ultimate goal, and I am just happy right now.?
On the offensive lineman wanting the record just as much:
?All those guys up front wanted it. They wanted it more than I did on that last drive. I appreciate those guys.?
