University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss Head Football Coach Jeff Bower Post-Game Quotes
10/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Southern Miss Head Football Coach Jeff Bower Post-Game Quotes
Opening statement
?What a good win for us. I?m so pleased with our players. We found a way to win. We made the plays when we had to in the ball game. There were so many big plays at critical times at the end of the game. Dustin made a heck of a play, and then Damion Carter comes in there and converts the two-point play. Then we go to overtime, and get a heck of a throw and catch by Damion. And our defense, like they do so many times rises up and makes a stop.?
On the decision to go for it on fourth down late in the game
?I didn?t think we?d get the ball back. We hadn?t stopped them much; they held on to the football. I just felt like we had to take two shots at it, because we may not have another shot. As it was our defense stopped them, and we get the ball back. Like good teams that know how to win, you go down the field and put it in the end zone.?
On Houston
?You have to give a lot of credit to The University of Houston. We said all week long this is a talented football team ? much better than their record. I give a lot of credit to their team and coaching staff for the way they played. They played hard tonight. This is a football team that got beat pretty good last week. If there is a team that could have folded the tent based on what?s happened it could have been them, but they had a lot of fight in them.?
On Dustin Almond?s injury
?He pulled a hamstring. I don?t know how serious it is yet, but he couldn?t play anymore.?
On the plan with Carter at quarterback
?We wanted to run our offense, and do the things that Damion does best. I thought the offensive line took charged. We did what we had to do.?
On winning the game
?It keeps us 4-0 and undefeated in the conference, and that?s the most important thing. I didn?t want to go Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and not enjoy a win.?
On the Houston offense
?They mismatched us. They did a good job of getting Vincent Marshall the ball. Their quarterback is a heck of a player. They got us off-balance. I don?t want to take anything away from them, but we tackled poorly. They made a lot of plays, but we missed a ton of tackles.?
On preparing for the Houston offense on a short week
?It?s hard. It?s a fast offense. They do a good job on some mismatches. It?s tough to duplicate with their scout team.?
On Damion Carter
?I thought he was really cool. I think he cherished the opportunity to go in there and make some plays. I wanted him to go out for the coin toss too. I think some of the other coaches wanted to send an older guy out there, but I want the quarterback out there taking care of that.?
On not creating turnovers
?We were close so many times, but the ball didn?t bounce to us. But that?s O.K., we won the game.?
On finding a way to win
?The thing that?s most pleasing to me is how we won the game. Our kids expected to win the game. They believed, and they did what they had to do to win the game.?
