Sept. 19, 2009
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Bobby Johnson, Vanderbilt Head Coach
Opening Statement:
“We got it handed to us tonight. They came out and were more physical than we were. They were coached, played, and executed better than we did. MSU came in and had a good plan. We had poor execution. At times, our defense played well, really gave some courageous effort, but MSU did a better job in the end. They got some key first downs and we didn’t help our defense out with our offense.”
On Mississippi State’s defense:
“They were doing a good job of getting people on our backfield. They were blitzing and we were having a hard time recovering. Trying to go fast tempo didn’t seem to bother them. That’s a problem. If we’re trying to control the tempo of our game, we should be able to get first downs and get into their territory.”
On Mississippi State’s performance this year compared to last year:
“They play us very well. They are stout on defense when they play us. Other people seem to run their offense against them, but we can’t execute. We have a lot of soul searching to do, but we’re not going to give up. We have a lot of football to play. Nobody in our locker room is going to give up. There are some low guys in there right now and they’re going to come out of this and learn from tonight.”
On Vanderbilt’s offense:
“Either we threw it poorly, or threw it well and dropped it. The rest of the time on offense, they were sacking us. We couldn’t get the run going and couldn’t pass to get us out of it. We played great defense in the first quarter and had the ball around the 50-yard line several times and didn’t capitalize at all. We just couldn’t get it in the end zone. We had a good adjustment at halftime, but we couldn’t keep drives alive. We would move the ball and then drop a key pass or lose a third down. Not a good night for us.”
On Vanderbilt’s defense:
“Our defense played well enough to win, but we didn’t execute the way we normally do on offense. The fumble recovery was a turning point for us and we couldn’t capitalize on it. It was just a struggle tonight and, again, you have to give Mississippi State a lot of credit. They womped us out there.”
On Vanderbilt’s mental toughness:
“We were mentally there tonight. I think it was just a lot of tough stuff that MSU was doing and we didn’t react to it well. We couldn’t find the answer and we couldn’t handle it. You can’t fault their mental attitude just because you lose. We just didn’t have the edge that we needed. We didn’t pick things up the way we should have, didn’t take advantage of opportunities we had. We weren’t mentally tough enough.”
Bradley Vierling, Vanderbilt center
On the loss:
“It’s extremely frustrating. When the defense puts you in a position like that, you should be able to score and move the ball. We were terrible, to say the least, on offense tonight.”
On Mississippi State’s defense:
“They were loading up the box a lot, bringing a lot of pressure with their front nine all night. We did a better job of picking up the blitzes as the night went on, especially in the second half. There was too much pressure in the backfield tonight. The offensive line did not do their job and the offense didn’t do their part. I know specifically with the offensive line that we didn’t do our part.”
On the offense:
“Tonight we just weren’t clicking. I don’t know what it was. I can’t say specifically. We just didn’t play very well, especially up front. I don’t think we were seeing things well. We got better as we went on, but we have to do better than that and it all starts up front.”
Alex Washington, Vanderbilt receiver
On the drops by the wide receivers:
“We can’t really blame it on the conditions. We just need to do better. It’s frustrating when you’re putting together things on offense and you can’t get things done.”
On the offense:
“I felt we had a good week of practice. I was confident in our game plan, as was our coaches. A lot of things didn’t go our way tonight. Hopefully we can bounce back.”
John Cole, Vanderbilt receiver
On the offense:
“It’s disappointing when you can’t execute, especially when we had practiced all week and knew what we were going to face. It’s disappointing. We should have moved the ball a lot better.”
On the drops by the receivers:
“A lot of that goes on me. That was a big drop by me at the end. I need to make that play and I’m going to in the future.”
Larry Smith, Vanderbilt quarterback
On the offense:
“We played poorly. We didn’t execute. We have to help the defense out. They were on the field way too long.
On Mississippi State’s defense:
“They blitzed pretty heavily. We didn’t pick them up, didn’t execute, didn’t throw the ball well, didn’t the catch ball well. Overall the offense played poorly.”
On the offense in the second half:
“It was real close. We had three or four pretty good drives then we stalled. Overall we played poorly. We had several chances to get back in the game and just came up short.”
Dan Mullen, Mississippi State Head Coach
On the game:
“I’m really proud of our kids, they were challenged today. Last week we didn’t put them in a good position as a coaching staff but we corrected that. We played hard on defense and sputtered at times on offense, especially on third down conversions. ”
On time of possession:
“We were able to run the ball well tonight and that’s our strong point with our running backs. The defense was able to get off the field quickly and get our office right back out there. Early in the game, the defense held up for us.”
On Anthony Dixon’s emergence in the game:
“He provided a boost of confidence to our offense.”
On the fourth down offensive play late in game:
“The wind was getting stronger late in the game. Our offense wanted to go for it and take responsibility of the game. We got a huge first down which led to our touchdown.”
On using no-huddle on offense:
“It went pretty good. The guys managed it pretty well. We need to get a couple bigger plays from it. Over the course of the season, our younger guys are going to find a way to make plays off of it.”
On the defensive effort:
“We all took the defensive result of our Auburn game very personally. The leadership of our senior players was tremendous tonight.”
Final thoughts on game:
“Vanderbilt played hard defense tonight. They were physical. Tonight was a tough, SEC battle. Any victory is an unbelievable feeling. We put in a lot of time into the game and to celebrate as a family is great.”
Carl Torbush, Mississippi State Defensive Coordinator
On the game:
“It was cut-throat. We were very fortunate to win. It was pin and needles down to the very end. It was a great win for our coaching staff, our players, and our fans.”
On last week’s game:
“As a coach, it’s always tough. You know the kids played hard and played well, and obviously we didn’t get them in a good enough position to be successful in the end. Auburn did some really nice things to keep us from being able to be successful, but there is no doubt that we were all disappointed, frustrated and hurt. I thought it was very important that we came back this week and make some plays and we were able to do that.”
Zach Smith, Mississippi State safety
On game:
“It felt good. It was a three-point game and then a six-point game and we know that a touchdown is seven points so we could go down one but the defense kept that from happening. We talked about relentless effort and that fact that we have to keep punching and keep battling and that’s what we did tonight which caused us to win.”
On playing the nickel:
“Well they ran the ball on us last week and they didn’t this week. I came down from the field to the boundary to apply pressure. Most of the time we had another defensive lineman in there instead of having three like last week. I thought the coaches did a good job and players executed well which allowed us to win.”
