Football at Memphis Post Game Quotes
10/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 16, 2010
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Southern Miss Head Coach Larry Fedora
"A pretty complete game, really, overall. We gave up one big play there in the fourth
quarter. But, I'm pretty pleased with the way the guys played. You know, this is a tough
atmosphere to play in to be honest with you, especially with the situation. Our guys, let me tell you, and I appreciate all y'all's help. Every time y'all asked "are we going to be able to bounce back?" it was like someone was questioning what they had inside them, so I appreciate that. Because that helped. It really did. They wanted to prove to people they had something inside them. I was really pleased with their attitudes and enthusiasm and the way they played the game."
Q: Talk about getting off to a quick start.
A: It's something that we talk about all the time. We felt like in this situation that if we could jump on them quick, it would make it much tougher on (them) and, obviously, it did.
Q: Talk about the play of wide receiver Kelvin Bolden.
A: He had a heckuva game. A lot of it just us making sure he gets the ball. He had two big posts, really nice plays. And he's shown that he can do that. He's having to do that with all the injuries we're having.
Q: Were you pleased with the play of the receiving corps as a whole?
A: I'm proud of them to be honest with you. You're talking about some young kids that ought to be backing up guys and just helping out in spurts. But they're having to play. They're having to be the guys that we have to go. They're doing things. Every single on them is helping, whether it's in the running game or passing game. They're all on the field and they're all helping this team. That's why this is a team.
Q: Were you pleased with your team's discipline as far as penalties?
A: I think we had five--they told me. It was an improvement. I'm disappointed we had a personal foul there on the offense at one point. I don't know what exactly happened. I think it was a late hit or something. When they're no whistles at the end of the play, sometimes you're going to have those kinds of things when guys are blocking and trying to block all the way to the end of the play.
Q: Talk about having Desmond Johnson back.
A: It was great to have Desmond (Johnson) back. You watched how hard he ran the ball. He has just continued to get better and better each week. He'll have more and more playing time as the weeks go on. And, all those guys. Lamp (Tracey Lampley) was a warrior today. He played a lot of positions. He was on the field for kickoff returns, punt returns, played receiver, played running back and just did whatever we needed him to do.
Memphis' Larry Porter Quotes
Opening Remarks
"Well, obviously we dug ourselves another hole and put ourselves in position to not respond, and it was hard to overcome in terms of the way that we were playing. Offensively, I don't think we hit a rhythm all day, defensively, I thought we tried to play hard and strong at times, we did give up some big plays, but we understand exactly where they come from and we know what we have to do to fix it, especially early on. As far as special teams, again I think D. A.(Griffin) is giving us what we need and we are going to ask for more. I think Tom Hornsey had a solid day, without me seeing his numbers, and I think Paulo (Henriques) kicked and did some things that led to some confidence on the backend of this game. We are going into a bye week and we definitely have to not necessarily look at the positives, but all of the negatives, and address those in a way that allows us to become a better football team."
About playing five-wide to start the game
"Well, we had a plan to do a number of things, and we wanted to start this game early in five-wide simply because we were down in our numbers at the receiver position, and if we lost one it would take us out of that package early. We saw some things throughout the week that we thought we could take advantage of, and we were able to early in the game,
that is why we stayed with it."
About Marcus Rucker's performance
"It is all about consistency. He made some plays, but we have to have that throughout the course of the game, first quarter, second quarter, third quarter and fourth quarter. But he is the one consistent guy at the receiver position that has shown up the best he can in every game, and we have to continue to get him the ball and force him to understand that if this is a role that we are going to create for him, then he has to deliver."
About Tyler Bass
"We did two different things. We brought Tyler (Bass) and Cannon (Smith) in as well, but there were just some inconsistencies with penalties and things that didn't sit well with me. Also, we were dealing with issues at the center position. We had a true freshman in there, Chris Schuetz, and Mike Antonescu missed most of the week in terms of practice, and we also don't have Brad Paul, so what I wanted to do was put ourselves in position to settle the offense. I just saw too many inconsistencies with the things we did with Cannon (Smith) and Tyler (Bass), which I was really and truthfully looking forward to doing throughout the course of this game."
How important is the upcoming bye week?
"Well we need it in a bad way to settle our personnel big time. So many injuries, too many inconsistencies of guys in and out of the lineup and it shows up on game day. I don't make excuses because like I tell my coaches if we are going to send them (the players) out there we are going to hold them accountable. That is just the bottom line so when you tell me that they are ready to go then I expect them to get out there and execute. We need this (bye week) to truly set our lineup and put ourselves in position to redefine our technique and fundamentals of this football team and allow them to gain some confidence for the backend of this season."