Postgame Quotes from Tulsa Contest
11/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 22, 2009
Southern Miss Coach Larry Fedora
Postgame Quotes
Opening Statement:
"We are ecstatic about winning at home and for our seniors. We did something that has never been done in the history of this school I am excited about that. We still have work to do and we have the next one and that is what our focus will be from this point on. Tonight our teams stepped up when they had to and again it wasn't the prettiest thing. But the keys were that we took care of the ball on offense and didn't turn it over. The defense also forced three turnovers. It was tough coming back into the locker room spending 30 minutes and I thought our guys did a great job refocusing and getting their minds right and that was what is was going to be to finish this game."
On DeAndre Brown's Performance:
"I would say week-in and week-out he is getting to be closer to being back and I know some people think he can't run as well as he did (before the injury). Whether he is all the way back there or not I don't know. He feels pretty good at where he is at now and he played a heck of a game."
On Defensive Adjustments Made at Halftime:
"Our defense took advantage of some of things they were trying to do and it was more about settling down. Part of it was our guys were so jacked up. Kinne did a great job tonight. We got a lot of pressure on him. The problem was we just couldn't get off the field. We have got to get better."
Southern Miss Player Quotes
LB Martez Smith
"This was a big win because to help establish everything we wanted to do since the beginning of the season. It was another stepping stone to get to the conference championship."
On Coming Out After Halftime:
"In the first half they tempo(ed) us a little bit as we had to get on schedule." On East Carolina: "East Carolina is a real good team and after watching them on film while scouting other teams, their defense runs to the ball and they have several hard-nose running backs."
RB Damion Fletcher
"We had a little delay but it was a great final game as we came out with a "w."
His Feelings on the Last Game at the Rock:
"I probably will think about it more tomorrow but right now I am excited about the victory. I know it was my last game here, but I didn't want to get emotional about it."
On Running Out for the Last Time:
"I was looking around thinking that this was my last time and my last time to run out here like this. I was looking forward to playing the game and getting the win."
WR DeAndre Brown
On his 95-yard catch:
"I was trying to help the seniors out by trying to get that win and giving them something to remember for their final game here. It reminded me of the ECU game last year. A lot of people have said I haven't shown my speed yet, but tonight I showed that I still have it."
Tulsa Coach Todd Graham
Thoughts on the game:
"It's really disappointing. I can't think of anything else right now except for our seniors. We came down here with a great focus. There's been a lot of negativity and these guys don't deserve it. These guys have won more football games than any group that's ever been at our school. We haven't gotten it done this year. We've fallen short and turned the football over a lot. We did a lot of great things offensively. Defensively, I'm really proud of our guys. We had a bunch of guys hurt. We had a bunch of guys not playing. Our guys came out and really played hard. I thought that they had some big play guys and basically hit us on big plays. We had three turnovers that were critical. My thoughts right now are just about our seniors. I'm as proud of these guys as any group I've ever been around. I recruited most of these guys. It's been the difference between winning and losing the last seven years has been by (just a small amount). By no means did we ever think we'd be where we are at now, and that's probably being complacent. We just lost a lot of close football games. My thoughts are just with (the seniors) and of how proud I am of them and the type of young men that they are and what kind of effort they've given us. I'm really, really proud of those guys. Special, special guys."
"No bowl game. We know now that that's out. We just have to go play next week and try to get those seniors a win and have them go out on the winning end."
On the play of the defense:
"They just gave up big plays. (Southern Miss) was very explosive. (Our defense) just didn't execute. I'll have to look at the film and see what all happened. The tale of the night was just giving up big plays. You have to give them credit. They have a good football team with an explosive offense. (DeAndre Brown) is a real deal receiver. On the same hand, you just can't give up cheap things and plays like that. We were wanting to bracket him and I know at least one of those was just a busted coverage. You just can't do those things, especially when you have them pinned down there. We had them pinned in and they got the long touchdown. We just didn't play very good defense. We gave up big plays. At times we did, but we just gave up big plays. I thought our guys played hard"
"Their kickoff team was probably the best I've ever seen. We tried every way we could to try to spread that thing around. I was just disappointed in all the big plays that we gave up. You have to give them a lot of credit. They have some real athletic players."
On quarterback G.J. Kinne:
"It's not protecting the quarterback. The guy is running for his life. We have not done that. We have not protected the quarterback. The one fumble for a touchdown, we were in max coverage and protecting with seven guys, one guy busts and that was the end result. You just can't turn the football over. The interception he was just trying to throw the football away. The main thing he has to do is just make sure when he is scrambling out of the pocket, they were stripping him from behind and you just can't turn the ball over."
Tulsa Player Quotes
Charles Clay, #9
On how losing six games in a row effects the seniors:
"At this point that's about all we can do. Come out here and get the win and give these seniors a chance to win a bowl game. Right now we just have to go out and send them out on the right note."
On what happened tonight:
"It's just a mind set. We come out and believe that we can take it to any opponent out there. That's the mindset you've got to have, and I think we came out here fired up. We had to opportunity to go to a bowl game, and I thought that got everybody motivated so that was our mindset coming out."
On stumbling in the red zone:
"Going in the red zone, we're just trying to get the right play call. Down there I think every play is critical. You have to give credit to them. They're a good team up front and they came out and played hard. We knew they were going to fight and we knew they were going to give us everything they had."
On making it to a bowl game next year:
"We can do that for these seniors too. They will be alumni next year, but they'll come back and be on the sideline watching the game. We want to be successful just for them and for the program and all of that so that's what we plan on doing."
On how the team got re-inspired after the weather delay:
"We went in there and tried to find things that we could work on. Its not anything to get back up after a rain delay. We were still two scores down and that's what motivated us to go back out there and finish."
On the play of the offense:
"We just had the mindset that we were playing for the seniors. We had a new life when we found out we could make it to a bowl game so that was our focus when we came out. We would try to do whatever we can to leave here with that."