Sept. 29, 2007
Vanderbilt Head Coach Bobby Johnson:
“I’m obviously pleased with the win. Defensively, we played extremely well, and I think Eastern Michigan played hard overall and well on defense. They caused us to make too many mistakes to be as happy as I’d want to be.”
On quarterback Chris Nickson’s play:
“Anytime you throw four interceptions, you didn’t have a good night. Eastern Michigan did well on defense. Chris still has to be alert enough to know when to throw the ball and when to throw it away… He mad some plays with his legs, but that’s part of the package you get with him.”
On Vanderbilt’s defensive effort:
“I was happy with our defense. They had five interceptions and a fumble recovery. They played the run well most of the game and played the pass well most of the game.”
On D.J. Moore:
“He does a lot for us. He returns kickoffs and did a good job on the first one. He’s around the ball and is active. He’s a fine athlete and made a great play for a touchdown tonight.”
On Vanderbilt’s defensive line play:
“Our defensive line has had two fine games. We have a very quick line, and I think our coaches do a great job of teaching technique. They make calls that use the speed and agility that our defensive line has.”
On Vanderbilt’s record and SEC games on the horizon:
“We feel good about ourselves, but we have some work to do. We know we have to execute better, but we’re 3-1. We had a quality win against Mississippi and followed that game up by winning a game we should have won tonight.”
Vanderbilt Players:
Quarterback Chris Nickson:
On his interceptions:
“A couple of them I threw into coverage. Just some bad decisions on my part.”
On how he responded after the interceptions:
“You just keep going. You don’t let things like that bother you. It’s going to happen. Four picks is unusual. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever thrown four picks. Things are going to happen. You just got to move on and let it go.”
On the team’s identity going into Southeastern Conference play:
“I feel like we’re trying to make it happen for ourselves. We’re together. We have a great relationship with each other. We try to maintain that on the field. We need to bond together like the defense tonight. They carried us. We came out and were able to make plays when it counted. That’s the relationship we have. That’s our identity. If we maintain that, we’ll be alright.”
Running Back Cassen Jackson-Garrison:
On the team’s identity:
“We need to play better. We’re doing some good things. If we want to be where we need to be, we have to play much better than we did tonight. It was real sloppy. For us to succeed, we have to do better.”
On the team being halfway to bowl eligibility:
“I didn’t even notice. I’m just playing game by game. We’ll worry about that at the end of the season.”
Linebacker Marcus Buggs:
On the defense forcing turnovers:
“I think it has a lot to do with the people we have playing. We’re able to get a lot of pressure with our front four. We’re not having to blitz as many times. We’re able to drop more people back in coverage. Our front four has been doing a great job of getting pressure on the quarterback.
On what has changed with the defensive line:
“We have better athleticism and speed. We have Curtis Gatewood, Steven Stone, and Broderick Stewart on the outside. When they get going, they’re pretty hard to stop out there.”
On if the team is where it wants to be going into SEC play:
“We’re still not there. I don’t want to be there the fourth game of the season. I want to keep improving throughout the season, especially as we hit the bulk of the SEC schedule right now.”
Eastern Michigan Head Coach Jeff Genyk:
“I think our defensive line played a great game against a veteran Vanderbilt team, and I think they played good enough to win the game. However, our special teams didn’t make the plays we needed them to, and there were far too many turnovers to win.”
On Vanderbilt’s defense:
“Vanderbilt is by far the best defense we’ve played this season.”
On Eastern Michigan’s defensive front:
“I think it is the strength of our team. We had a lot of guys play well tonight, and I was especially impressed by the way our true freshmen played. It was a pleasant surprise. We have a very formidable defensive line, and if I had to take a positive out of this game, it was how well we played up front.”
Eastern Michigan Players:
Linebacker Daniel Holtzclaw:
On the gameplan coming into the game:
“Our gameplan didn’t focus on the quarterback so much as on stopping No. 10 [Earl Bennett]. He’s their star wide receiver. We just wanted to go out and play fast and tackle well. I don’t know how many catches or yards he had, but I thought we did a decent job on him.”
On the 18 total penalties in the game:
“A lot of those are things that can be fixed. Silly penalties with guys fighting a little bit or something like that. You just need to move on and be ready for the next play. You can’t keep thinking about them.”
On the defensive unit’s pressure on VU quarterback Chris Nickson:
“I thought the front seven did a good job of moving laterally and getting to the quarterback. I thought we were able to force him into some bad throws, and our secondary did a good job of executing and getting some interceptions.”
Defensive Tackle Jason Jones:
On the strategy coming entering the game:
“We knew they were a zone team that has a good offensive line, and they like to move East-to-West a lot. We just knew we’d have to play fast and make some good tackles.”
On getting to the quarterback:
“We had a big emphasis all week on trying to put pressure on him and containing him. We knew he was a good athlete and can move around, but we just wanted to make him move around and force him into some of those plays we saw on film where he throws a little more erratically.”
