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Post-game Quotes: VU vs. MTSU
10/1/2005
Vanderbilt vs. Middle Tennessee
Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005
Vanderbilt Stadium
Vanderbilt Head Coach Bobby Johnson
Opening Thoughts
“I think the game was a great example of us having to play very well to have a chance to win. Even though Middle Tennessee State played extremely well, we made some mistakes that kept us from getting in the end zone and getting momentum. They had a lot to do with that. Some of them were drops and some of them were missed tackles. It was a great lesson for our team. You have to play every play and be ready to compete and we didn’t play every play. We need to be more consistent to have a chance — that’s what got us tonight.”
On his view of the final field goal attempt
“The guy came from our left and came screaming through there. I don’t know exactly where he was lined up. I was watching the spot of the ball and caught him out of the corner of my eye.”
On offensive difficulties
“We had chances to make some big plays. We dropped a ball on a wide open guy across the field in the first quarter. We just weren’t consistent and never seemed to get into a rhythm. I just want to give Middle Tennessee State a lot of credit. They did some good things and played us tough in the secondary making it tough for us to run because they could keep some people in there.”
Vanderbilt Player Quotes
Vanderbilt Quarterback Jay Cutler
On the end of the game:
“We’ll have to look at the game film. The officials did a great job all day. I think the clock should have stopped, but we’ll figure it out and go from here.”
“We had a good gameplan coming in and what they presented didn’t confuse us. Offensively, we just didn’t get it done. This is one game and we still play six more. I think we’ll bounce back tomorrow and get ready for LSU. Either we’ll be defeated or bounce back to play next week. We’re still 4-1 — that’s still a good record. If anyone says we’re a bad team, I’ll argue with them all day. We have great talent and lots of games left to play.”
Vanderbilt Kicker Bryant Hahnfeldt
On the final kick:
“It felt good coming off my foot, as good as any others I kicked tonight, if not better. You always want it to come down to you, and when this happens, it’s not a good thing.”
“The guys in the locker room agree that you can’t blame the game on one play, but instead what led up to that. You need to put this past you and get ready for LSU.”
Vanderbilt Defensive End Chris Booker
“We came out tonight and didn’t execute plays. Coach gave us great preparation — what they were going to do with the ball and with what personnel — and we simply didn’t execute. You have to learn to lose sometimes and figure out your mistakes.”
On MTSU’s Gameplan:
“We knew they would come in throwing. They’ve thrown it all year and have, for the most part, been successful. We wanted to put pressure on them. Again, the coaches put us in a great position.”
Middle Tennessee Head Coach Andy McCollum
(On the game:)
It was [a happy ending]. We’ve had some tough games, some tough losses. Before the game, we talked about Alabama beating Florida, 31-3, and I told the kids, ‘You remember going toe-to-toe with that team? And look what they’re doing. We’ve got a good football team here and you’ve got to believe in yourselves, believe in each other, and just look at the Alabama thing. They’re beating one of the best teams in the country and you went toe-to-toe with them. Let’s go out here and play that way.’
We learned how to finish on both sides of the ball. We bent a little bit there at the end, but the character of this team, the believing in each other came through. We’ve still got a long way to go. We’ve got a week off and we’ve got some confidence. To beat a team of the caliber that we just beat, that says a lot about the character of these kids.
(On the blocked field goal to end the game:)
It all happened so fast. Their field goal kicker is a great kicker, and he had hit three so you had to feel not good going into it, but the kids lined up — they had come close a couple of other times — and I think Jeremiah Weaver broke through on the wing and made the big block. That’s one of the biggest blocks that I’ve ever been associated with.
(On picking up their first win of the season:)
My kids had their backs on the wall. But these kids were hungry to win. Two weeks ago, we let one get away from us by turning it over and today I don’t think we had a turnover, and that’s a positive. We’re still not where we want to be offensively but that’s a pretty good defensive team, too.
(On winning at Vanderbilt:)
Anytime you beat a team from the SEC — a year or two ago people would have said it’s just Vanderbilt, but Vanderbilt’s atop the SEC right now. I don’t think, in the history of our school, we had ever beaten the first place team in the SEC, so that is a positive. But just to get a win. We’ve had some tough losses, but I’m very proud of the way our kids came back, fought back, and beat a good team today.
I think that maybe before people took wins against Vanderbilt for granted. They won’t take this one for granted because we beat an undefeated football team in the SEC that’s going to win a lot more games. They’ve come a long way and to be able to beat a quality-coached SEC team like Coach Johnson and his staff have put out there, it’s big.
MTSU Player Quotes
MTSU Wide Receiver Bobby Williams
We studied them really hard on film all week. We saw that their secondary did not do anything tricky back there. We knew our best bet for winning would be to set up the deep ball. We did that, and were able to come away with the win.
MTSU Tailback Eugene Gross
It felt good to win. We fought hard. A lot had been said all week about our offense not being able to move the ball and not being able to put up points, but we were able to put up enough to win this week.
On Coach McCollum
It was nice to win for him. A lot was said this week about him, but coaches are not the ones on the field making plays. They call the plays, but the players are the ones who have to execute.
On the future
We are going into an off week. We are going to rest up. Next time out, we’re going to come out fighting that much harder.
On the offensive line
The offensive line did a good job today. We came in with a different scheme for them than we played the first three weeks, and it seemed to work better.
MTSU Defensive End Devarick Scandrett
We studied film and tried to learn every mannerism of Jay Cutler this week. The coaches wanted us to be as prepared as we have ever been. We won and that felt great. They’re a great team and Jay Cutler is an excellent quarterback. It was a 60-minute game, and it was a battle every minute. We came in as underdogs. Everybody all week had been talking about how Vanderbilt would move to 5-0 and we would drop to 0-4, but we proved them all wrong.
On the halftime talk
Coming out of the locker room at halftime we all were talking about a three-peat. The players decided for ourselves that we were going to come in here for a third straight time and beat them.
On stopping Vanderbilt’s offense
We capitalized on their mistakes. We got them to do some things they did not do in previous weeks.
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