Southern Miss-UCF Postgame Quotes
9/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 12, 2009
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SOUTHERN MISS HEAD COACH Larry Fedora UCF POST GAME QUOTES September 12, 2009
Opening Statement... "I am proud of the way the guys played, tonight was a hard fought conference win in sloppy conditions. We knew it would be a battle all the way and challenged our defense. I thought they rose up and did some great things tonight. By no means was I happy with the way we played offensively but we got the job done. I have always believed and said that good football teams find a way to win when they are not playing their best and we did that tonight. I am pleased to have a win in conference play and we will move on to the next game."
On starting the season with two straight wins... "There is no doubt we are a better football team then we were last year at this time. I really do believe that good football teams find a way to win. There was not one player on the team that was satisfied. There was not one player that was really happy to be honest with you. It was a little morbid in the locker room because they knew they did not play well tonight. That is kind of a good thing. I want them to enjoy a win but also be hungry and they are. They know they can play better. I think we will learn a lot from this game and move on from here."
On running back Damion Fletcher... "I would have loved for him to have carried the ball more in the first half but we could not get anything going. We knew their front seven was really good and believed it. We kept hitting them harder and harder so we could wear them down and we did. We just did not finish off some drives tonight. We had a drop in the end zone and missed some field goals. We left a lot of points on the field."
On receiver DeAndre Brown... "I do not know how many reps he got. We anticipated him getting about 25 reps. I thought for his first game back, for the things he was able to do, I was excited for him. I was excited for this football team to know he is back and 100%. He got hit, he got tackled. He was hit in the legs and he did not have any problems and wanted more. He is ready to go so I do not have to answer any more questions about him."
On Martez Smith's fumble recovery touchdown... "I love that guy. There is a guy who has turned his life around and he believes in himself and his team. He does well in the classroom and takes care of his business. He is not on any list and he is not late. He is playing good football. He loves special teams and loves to hit. He is just a great person to be around. I was excited for him that he made that big play.
Running Back Damion Fletcher On first half... "It took me a while to get in the groove. We'll take a win no matter how we get it. We have a lot we need to improve on for next week. I expect to come out and help the team get better this week."
"There are some things I did wrong as a veteran. I missed a blitz. The (defender) put a move on me and got to (Austin Davis). I felt so bad for missing that block. We can't have those simple mistakes if we want to be a championship team."
On DeAndre Brown... "He is six points on legs. He changes everything from a defensive standpoint and opens a lot of things up for me in the running game."
Wide Receiver DeAndre Brown "I'm not where I want to be yet. I still need to get in the flow of things. Conditioning had a small factor. My conditioning was still not where I wanted it to be."
"It was big to be out for seven months and come back and get the crowd pumped again; making the catches; making the plays to get them fired up. I would like to thank everybody for everything they've done for me since I've been hurt."
"If I do in the game what I do in practice, nobody can stop me, I can only stop myself. As the game came down to the wire, I told coach he could count on me."
"I'm full speed, ready to go. I expect a lot harder hits and I expect to give them. "
On block on UCF safety... "To make a block like that and spring one of my teammates loose got me fired up. He looked kind of out of it, so I walked off and left him to it."
Quarterback Austin Davis "We beat a very good, very physical UCF team. I give a lot of credit to those guys and a lot of credit to our defense. All that matters is that we're 1-0 in conference."
"We never really could get going, but we did what we had to do to get the win."
On timing with DeAndre Brown... "We'll get the timing back and connect on a few more long balls."
On Damion Fletcher... "That's what you have to do against a good defense; grind it out and keep playing hard. That's what we did and that's what Damion did."