Sept. 20, 2008
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Bobby Johnson, Vanderbilt Head Coach
Opening statement:
“It was a wild game. A lot of crazy things happened in the first quarter and went all the way through to the end. I am extremely proud of our guys for playing hard. We had a bunch of guys get hurt. We had some guys come in who had not played before. It was a great effort by both teams. Both teams played extremely hard. We were fortunate to come out on top. We got a really good win down here in Oxford.”
On the defense in the second half:
“They returned a kickoff and got one on a fumble. We just kept playing. They got us a couple of times for big plays, but we neverstopped playing, especially in the red zone. We made some big plays on the goal line stand, and of course the fumble at the endwas a huge play. We were opportunistic to say the least. We played very well on defense.”
On the quick turnaround at the beginning:
“I can’t tell you what I was saying. We came back to 10-7 and got back in the football game. Our guys started playing with a littlemore confidence.
On the performance in the second half:
“It speaks to our conditioning. Coach John (Sisk) does a good job with our strength and conditioning program. We are not playing a lot of guys. We are very thin. We are not making a lot of substitutions. We have some people out that hindered us tonight. We just keep playing no matter what happens before. We made some big plays after their big plays. That was a big key.”
After the fumble:
“We were searching for things that would work against their offense. We had some trouble running the ball. It seems like when our guys have to have it, they do pretty well. McKenzie got us close to the goal line down there and then Jared ran down there. It would have been nice to be able to run out the clock, then Bryan Hahnfeldt did a good job with the kick. Those were three huge points. It would have been hard to hold them back. Their kicker missed one, but he’s pretty good. I didn’t want to give them a chance to tie it with a three. So we went for a field goal.”
Vanderbilt Players
Ryan Hamilton, free safety
On the play of the defense:
“I am pretty happy. It’s a team sport; you saw the plays everybody else was making. Nothing would have happened withouteverybody doing their part.”
The play of the team in the second half:
“Every game this season so far we’ve proved that we are a second-half team. We keep emphasizing that, and we take a lot of pride in that.”
On the play of Chris Marve:
“He hasn’t looked like a freshman all year. He’s been very impressive.”
What does 4-0 mean, the possibility of a ranking:
“It means a lot for the team, the coaches and the Nashville community. 5-0 is looking good too. Hopefully we can do that and keep this momentum going.”
Chris Marver, linebacker
On being 4-0:
“It feels great. We’ve been working hard since last season, and it feels like our hard work is paying off. We have to keep it going.”
On being a second-half team:
“We take pride in finishing games. Last year we weren’t able to finish well.”
On the goal line stand in the third quarter:
“That was a big series for us, we had to buckle down. We had to make up our minds that we didn’t want them to score.”
Houston Nutt, Ole Miss Head Coach
Opening Statement:
“It was a tough loss to swallow because of the mistakes and the missed opportunities. I thought we came out and just had a high, ready-to-play defense. I thought they were outstanding for most of the night. It was the best game of the year for them. Offensively, I was disappointed. We couldn’t score at the one foot line. We just had a lot of missed opportunities that could have really put this game away early. We gave them a lot of good gifts tonight.”
On Jevan Snead’s performance:
“He didn’t have a good game. Just a couple of bad decisions, but still, like we have been saying, he is young and has to get better than that. He would be the first to tell you that he has to get better. It’s everybody, though. It’s 11-man football. It’s our whole offense. It’s everybody. We have to do a better job at staying out of third and long.”
On the offensive line:
“Well we have to do a better job at protection. If you look, I bet most of the sacks came on third down. It’s an uphill battle when it’s third and nine, third and 10, third and 11, and everybody in the world knows that you are going to throw. You just have to hope that those first two plays are better. We are just a little out of sync behind the eight ball, and they pin their ears back. They are quick on the edges. They did a good job.”
On going for the endzone on fourth down:
“The offensive line really thought they could move them back. On hindsight, everything is 20/20. At that time of the game, going that far and the way the defense was playing–having to make them go 99 yards, and in fact they did stop them, but we fumbled the punt at the 50. It’s easy to go back and say, `Yeah, we could kick the three.’ I just felt that the momentum would keep on going on our side if we got seven right there.”
On the attitude after the game:
“It’s the toughest walk to the locker room since I have been here. I thought I had them convinced that we were going to win the game. We had great preparation and tremendous attitude. I told them that it is important now that we stay together because there will be a lot of people that will try to be negative and tear you apart. They aren’t putting on the pads, going through practice or in the locker room. It’s important that you don’t listen tooutside voices and stay together. We just need to stay together because we are a team that has come a long way, and just need to fix a few little things.”
Ole Miss Players
Mike Wallace, wide receiver
On the tough loss:
“It was a real tough loss. We really wanted to get that first SEC win, but we just have to stay together as a team and try to get better.”
On the 98-yard kickoff return touchdown:
“I was just trying to give a spark to my team after they scored the touchdown. I was just trying to play my role on the team.”
On the last kickoff return:
“I was surprised that they kicked it to me. I thought they were going to squib it, but I felt like I did my best, maybe I could have jumped over the kicker or something and maybe we would have won it.”
On the turnovers:
“We shot ourselves in the foot. We had a lot of chances to win the game. We fee like we beat ourselves. We feel like we really should have won that game.”
Dexter McCluster, wide receiver
Overall assessment of the game:
“The defense played a great game. The defense went out and played focused and made plays. We just have got to come together on offense and capitalize on that momentum. My hat goes off to the defense.”
On the tough loss:
“No matter what negativity comes your way, you have to keep your head up. It’s going to be big when the good times come. We just have to keep focused. I’m going to try to set an example and stay focused myself so they (underclassman) can see me and see that I have my head up, so maybe I can help them out too.”
Peria Jerry, defensive lineman
On the play of the defense:
“I think we played pretty well, but we just have to eliminate the mistakes and get better”
On his touchdown:
“It was a great play in the ballgame. I felt like it changed the game, but it wasn’t enough.”
On improving:
“We have to go back and watch film and see where we made mistakes.”
On facing Florida:
“We have to stay focused. They put on their pants just like we do.”
Kendrick Lewis, safety
On the overall play:
“I feel like we played really hard and everyone competed to the best of their ability. We fell a little short, but we just have to go out and get better.”
On stopping the run:
“We knew they were a good running team, and we came out and accomplished what we wanted to against the run.”
On making corrections:
“We just have to stick together and play like one and not divide.”
Jamarca Sanford, safety
On the play of the defense:
“We played pretty well at times. We just have to keep playing hard and try to get better.”
On improving:
“We have to do better on our assignments and do what the coaches tell us to do. We have to just keep playing hard and not give up.”
On the intensity early in the game
“Flying around and getting to the ball is just part of playing defense. The balls were luckily bouncing our way and we recovered them.”