University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Southern Miss-UTEP Postgame Quotes
10/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 4, 2008
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SOUTHERN MISS HEAD COACH Larry Fedora
POST GAME QUOTES
Opening Statement "Obviously this was a disappointing loss and from what I can tell right now defensively we could not get off the field. We gave up to many plays on third down again and we had way too many penalties. Offensively we did not finish out enough drives in the red zone and basically our kicking game was atrocious, whether it was kicking field goals of having a fake punt run on you. Their kickoff return team brought it out to the 50 a few times. The only bright spot was our kickoff return team making plays where they had not in the previous few games. We will just keep working and get better.
On Damion Fletcher setting the Southern Miss career rushing record "He would trade it for the win I guarantee you. I know him and he would trade it in a heart beat."
On the feeling of this loss: "Its pretty tough on you, it will be interesting to see what kind of character this team had and how they will bounce back."
On the blocked punt in the first quarter: "I think Johdrick (Morris) blocked it, they did a great job on that play. It put us in great position for our first possession. We had some good things happen tonight, don't get me wrong, maybe I am just a little negative right now. We did some good things in all three phases of the game and those are the things we will build on. From everything I can tell right now our problems are correctable, we just have to get them corrected.
On the play of Austin Davis: "They were bringing a lot of pressure so I think the pocked was caving in on him a few times. He is still doing a good job. He took care of the ball again tonight except for theone interception, but the guy made a heck of a play. He threw the ball where he was supposed to on the outside, but the defender just cut under it and made a play. I don't think he threw into coverage many times, he did a nice job and there was some pressure on him throughout the game."
On the penalties in the game: "I don't know if there was a penalty that was not crucial, everyone of them was crucial. We had a chop block, which I think was the first call of the game, which I will be interested in seeing on film."
On the missed field goals: "We missed nine points in field goals, those are missed opportunities. You talk to the offense about finishing drives, we have to finish those drives off and get one touchdown on one of those drives and it is over with and we are not talking about it. When we put our kicking unit out there they are expected to make those field goals. None of those were out of our reach, they were all makeable kicks that we did not make."
Gerald McRath:
On loss: "Any loss is tough. It is definitely tough to lose two times at home. You feel like you have some calls that were tough, and some plays, like my personal foul. It's tough."
"It doesn't hurt as bad when you know the team just physically out played you but you know they just beat us, we made a lot of mistakes."
"They can hold the ball as long as they want and run three plays, or run twenty plays, it comes down to just stopping them. Third downs were critical once again, we are just seeing the same things over and over. Getting off the field is critical, field position is critical, we can look at the tape, and obviously we can change the game around."
On possibility of Vittatoe still in pocket: "To me he was. Clearly it was tackle to the outside of him, but there's nothing I can do about it. It was the way it was called."
Damion Fletcher:
On giving back the yards and record for a win: "That's right. I would."
On loss: "I feel bad. We worked hard for two weeks and just didn't come out with a win. We are just going to have to try to bounce back, and go out there and practice hard, and come back next week."
Determination before game: "We just focus on the zone all week long. The offensive line did a great job tonight, hats off to them, they did a great job, coach stayed on the hard all week and they did a great job tonight."
Austin Davis:
On getting the ball in the end zone: "Moving the ball isn't going to do any good if you can't get it in the end zone. We just have little things here and there that are hurting us, backing us up. We just have to figure out how to get in the end zone when we get down there that close."
On UTEP's final touchdown: "Words can't describe it. We worked so hard and put so much time into this. I know those guys did to. But I just don't know what to say."
On what is the next step: "We just have to realize we are so close, we were that close to 2-0. A few plays here and there and we would have beat Marshall, a few plays and we could have beat UTEP. We just have to make the guys realize that we were that close. That's what hurts so bad. We have the team to do it, but if they start thinking we don't then that's when this will go downhill and it will go that way in a hurry. So not only me, but everyone on this team needs to realize how close we are, it's still early in the season."
DeAndre Brown:
On loss: "It was a heartbreaker, I think as a team we did a very good job trying to get a win in overtime. I feel like we need to put this one behind us and look forward to next week."
On his game: "I didn't play much in the first half, and coming out second half I was real hungry for the ball, I wanted to make plays and coach told me to make plays, and they threw me the ball and I made plays for them."
On intensity lacking in beginning of game: "We just need to overcome diversities, penalties and personal fouls. Things where we can use our head and not do. I believe we have to limit our mistakes and come out and just play the full game."
On having two weeks to prepare: "It's very frustrating. With two weeks of preparation, I think the coach prepared us well. We just didn't have our heads all the way in the game."
