University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Coach Monken Quotes
9/28/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 28, 2014
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Southern Miss vs. Rice
Quotes from Todd Monken
Sept. 27, 2014
Faulkner Field at M.M Roberts Stadium; Hattiesburg, Miss.
FINAL SCORE: Southern Miss 23, Rice 41 (Three Overtimes)
Opening Statement...
- First off, you have to congratulate Rice. I thought they played a good football game. They didn't make the mistakes that we made. The bottom line is, we have to look at this in a number of areas. It wasn't one area that we played well enough to win in a very winnable game - coaching, special teams, offense, defense. We just didn't. That game was right there for the taking. We weren't mature enough in a lot of areas to take advantage of it. Give them credit. They made the plays when they needed to make the plays. From field goal to PAT to kickoff to turnovers on our own end to some of the big third downs they got, some of the foolish penalties we had. The good news is they are correctable. They have to be corrected. It isn't a matter of talent. A lot of those things have nothing to do with talent. That has to do with discipline and playing good football. Good football still wins. You can see glimpses of that at times on both sides of the ball. Putting it together over 60 minutes is something we are going to continue to strive for. It is the only way to do it. We are going to go back to work tomorrow. We have to go up to Middle Tennessee, a good football team. We will look at it tomorrow, make the corrections and move forward.
Was it not establishing the ground game? Mental errors? What was it tonight?
- All of the above. Early on we get a play to start the game. We run a little tempo play. We don't hit him. Have a chance to start fast and hit a post and we don't do it. Immediately after that, we kind of bogged down in different areas. That has kind of been our M.O. How do we piece together enough plays to sustain a drive. We had plenty of opportunities down the field. Whether it was protection, the throw, whatever it was. We had plenty of opportunities to make plays, which is what Old Dominion did last week (versus Rice). They didn't run the ball particularly great last week. They ran the ball better than we did, but they made plays down the field. We just didn't do that well enough tonight when we had the opportunities early in the game. We got ourselves back into it, giving ourselves a chance. We just couldn't sustain it. We couldn't get off the field. We couldn't pin them down with our special teams. Again, there is plenty to go around for how we do it better. That is a good football team, but we are not as far away as we think we are. We are actually a lot closer. I really believe that. I see it every week. I see us improving, but it has to show up on Saturdays.
On some of the miscues...
- It is silly. It is bad football. I don't know about immaturity. You have a junior player who has played four years. You have a junior college player who has played a lot of football. The horse collar, I don't know who that was on, but at the end of the day it is bad football. That has not been our M.O. Our M.O. has been not making penalties and not making those mistakes that are hard to overcome. We had a big run by George (Payne) and instead of moving forward we take 15 yards back off it. Those are the things you can't do. That along with a mixed extra point or a bobbled snap; things that are uncharacteristic of good football teams. Bottom line is we have to do it better. People get tired of hearing that, but that is a fact. I don't see those things in practice. I don't. We practice as hard as anywhere I have been. Obviously, it is not good football. That is just the way it is.
On Nick Mullens wearing Ray Guy's #44...
- He excited to wear it as any player I think would be. I think at certain point you forget you even have it on. I thought it was great for Ray to allow us to wear it and represent him as one of the all-time greats, not only at our University, but in the history of this sport. He did a great job talking to our team on Thursday night. I think Nick wore that proudly and no one will be more disappointed than he is that he didn't play as well wearing that jersey.
2026 National Signing Day Press Conference with Blake Anderson
Wednesday, February 04
Southern Miss 2026 National Signing Day
Wednesday, February 04
Christian Ostrander Preseason Press Conference
Monday, January 19
Blake Anderson Introductory Press Conference
Monday, December 15