University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Memphis coach and player quotes, Sept. 13, 2003
9/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Memphis coach and player quotes, Sept. 13, 2003
Memphis Head Coach Tommy West
On the game:
"We did exactly what everyone expected us to do, we won a big game and then came down here and just laid an egg. I felt like offensively that we just got whipped. Our defense kept us in the ball game. The thing that's disappointing is six turnovers. You feel like you've been doing the things you have to do to win games, and all of a sudden you do the things that bad teams do to lose games. It's unbelievable that it was a 9-6 game at one time. We weren't good enough tonight. They were the better team. To sum it all up, I can be as mad as I want to be, but they were the better team."
On the interception at the 1 yard line in the 4th Quarter:
"We haven't got one in yet. We didn't get one in against Ole Miss and we didn't get one in here from the one-yard line. But we gave it a chance. We should have just thrown it out and tied the game 9-9. I mean, let's get it tied 9-9 and go into the 4th quarter and see what can happen."
"I think offensively we got whipped. After the first series, I don't remember getting many first downs. We got backed up and we couldn't get our way out. They just overpowered us. But I thought our defense played really, really well. I'm mad at our defense for giving up that touchdown at the end. They scored points off turnovers."
"We had the chance to win this game, that's the thing that's disappointing. With six turnovers, how do you know? Maybe they are the better team, I don't know, but with six turnovers, there's no way we can know."
On Danny Wimprine's performance:
"I didn't think he was setting his feet very well and stepping in to throw. It reminded me of him a year ago. We've got to go back to our fundamentals, set your feet, and step in to throws. But I give USM some credit too on defense, but not the turnovers. Those were us."
"I thought our defense kept us in it, and we had done all the things to keep us in the game. I mean, we blocked an extra point, we blocked a field goal, and we blocked a punt in the first half, and we had gotten I think two turnovers in the first half. We had done everything we could do to stay in the game, and to be 6-6 at halftime, I mean, I told our guys, let"s go play like we can play and not turn the ball over, and we'll win this game. But it was because of the turnovers that we lost this one."
Going into the off-week:
"We're three games in to a twelve game season. I mean, we've got nine outings left. This won't be a country club off week; we won't bring the golf clubs out, because we've got a lot of work to do. I said it last week, and no one wanted to listen to me, but we're not physical enough up front, and now it's two weeks in a row we've gotten up to the one-yard line and couldn't get the ball in. That's disappointing. I didn't have a problem at all with our effort tonight. We're trying hard. Tonight we just weren't very smart and we gave the game away and that's what makes me sick."
Memphis Player Quotes:
QB - Danny Wimpprine
?Offensively, especially myself, we pretty much just gave them the game. Our defensive kept us in the game the whole way, and I just kept giving the ball away every series. We cannot win with six turnovers, three interceptions, and three fumbles. Sometimes you cannot explain it, you just try to prepare and practice hard and I guess you just do not focus. I was probably the worst Division one quarterback in the country today. Our special teams did an awesome job, we had a blocked punt, a blocked field goal, those guys played hard all night.?
On Playing Here At Southern Miss:
?It is a super tough place to play. Obviously, I was not prepared. This stuff should not bother me. You cannot win games with six turnovers. It was not anything about the place. We just played terrible.?
RB - DeAngelo Williams:
?You cannot have six turnovers and expect to beat anybody. We came out and right off the bat we made two or three mistakes here and there, and at the end it bit us in the butt. When we started to get in sink we would commit turnovers, and Southern Miss is a good enough team to capitalize.
