Sept. 28, 2013
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Vanderbilt-UAB Postgame Notes
September 28, 2013
Vanderbilt Stadium
Vanderbilt Head Coach James Franklin
Opening Comments:
“Scoring 52 points is always a plus. Defensively, when you do a good job of holding a high-powered offense to field goals early on [is a plus]. We did get two interceptions and had a chance at a third. I didn’t think we punted well… from a location standpoint. [Jerron] Seymour rushing for 100 yards is great. Austyn Carta-Samuels throwing for 300 yards is great. Two wide outs with over 100 yards is a plus.
“The biggest difference – and what I talked to our team about last night and today – is playing aggressively. We want to play aggressively.”
On Vanderbilt’s Ground Game:
“[UAB] went Cover Zero and tried to stop the run. It was good seeing Patton Robinette in the game. He is a big, strong guy and I am excited about his future.”
On Holding Down UAB’s Offense:
“The fact that early on in the game we held them to field goals instead of touchdowns – that’s a team that has scored 30 points on everyone else.”
On the Importance of Non-Conference Games:
“Scheduling and recruiting are the two biggest keys to turning a program around and building it for the future. You have to be able to play well in non-conference games. Being able to do so builds confidence.”
On Vanderbilt Quarterback Austyn Carta-Samuels:
“I wanted him to go through his progressions, make a decision and let it rip. I thought he did that tonight.”
On the Success of the Deep Ball:
“The biggest difference in this game is that we established the run. When you establish the run and run play-action passes, you can make plays. We’re going to be aggressive. That’s what we did for the last two years. We haven’t played that aggressively this year to this point. I think our coaches called the game that way and the players played the game that way this week.”
Vanderbilt QB Austyn Carta-Samuels
On shovel pass TD to Matthews:
“Definitely that wasn’t the way we drew it up. He puts himself in position to make plays all the time. Our offensive line did a great job. The backside defensive end did a speed rush up the field, so our left tackle walled him off so I rolled out to the left and tried to get Jordan the ball because Jordan and the man behind him were both open and I had to do a Brett Favre pitch, whatever gets it done.”
On Matthews’ TD record:
“I’ve said it before, and this isn’t just the answer that we’ve been coached to give, but with Jordan and our team in general, especially with number 87, he really doesn’t care [about records]. It’s gonna be back to work, he is the one who always says to me and it helps me a lot as well, you’re only as good as your last week. So, for him this week, he accomplished something really special but he knows that it doesn’t mean anything unless he comes back next week and plays really well, also. So we’ll keep the same chip on our shoulder as an offense and come back with that mentality.”
On state of the team:
“We started fast, we had a lot of energy. I thought the defense was flying around. They did a great job. There’s a lot of enthusiasm over there. On offense, I think we got our swag back, and it felt good.
On playing a complete game:
“I think that this game, for the most part, was our most complete game. And I think that allows me, individually, to have more success but also for us collectively. I think that every individual on our offense had a much better day today because of the success of the guy next to him. It’s just all 11 guys contributing.”
On play calling at the end of the first half and confidence from Coach Franklin:
“Yeah, that’s his mentality and also the mentality we’ve had all week. He had individual conversations with all of us about the type of energy he wanted for us to play with today. I think it’s just epitomized in that call. End of the first half, one yard line, ten seconds left and you get stopped going up the middle, then you’re going into halftime with no points. Coach didn’t want three points, he wanted seven, and that’s the mentality that he had today and that we have as a team. We look up to our coach so much, we just do what he asks us to do and just act like him, and I think that was what we did today. I think we were very successful and that’s something we are gonna build upon for next week with a big game here back in our home stadium.”
Vanderbilt RB Jerron Seymour
On his 58-yard touchdown:
“Definitely a momentum shift after that touchdown. There’s always a momentum shift when a team gets a field goal and the opposing team responds back with a touchdown like that. You could feel the momentum shift after that point and the team kind of just built after that and have it carry over.”
On comparing his usual short touchdowns from past games to this long touchdown:
“This one was definitely more tiring. I was running out of gas; I’m glad it was 58 yards and not 65 yards. If it was 65 yards I probably would’ve gotten caught. But it was definitely enjoyable.It was a credit to the offensive line and all the effort they put in this year. It definitely wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for them. I give credit to them the most.”
On the consistency of the game tonight compared to the first four games of the season:
“It was much more consistent tonight. The guys up front were more aware and they were blocking their tails off. The communication up front was much better. UAB was doing some funky stuff up front so Joe [Townsend] did a good job communicating to everyone else up front about it. The main thing today was the execution.”
Vanderbilt DT Adam Butler
On how the team became more aggressive:
“You have to try to make it an every day thing; it has to become a routine. We were successful tonight because we played with aggression.”
On the importance of holding UAB to three field goals while they were in the red zone in the first three quarters:
“That was our plan initially. We always try to shut them out. We have to buy into the system and like I said before play with aggression. Once we put all of that together, that’s when we are at our best.”
UAB Head Coach Garrick McGee
On how redzone offense troubles in the first quarter affected the game:
“I think it would’ve been a different game because we would’ve scored more points early. But we did not play well on offense throughout the game. We made multiple mistakes and our quarterback play was not where I expected it to be. So I think that in the long run the mistakes on offense would have ended up costing us the game because we just weren’t executing on a high level.”
On what was responsible for the offensive mistakes:
“If I knew that I would’ve fixed it right there on the spot because I wanted to win. If I knew what was causing it, trust me, I would’ve fixed it.”
UAB LB Jake Ganus
On the game:
“I thought we competed for the most part. I think we played better than the score. Defensively I thought it was a missed assignment here and there. It was a hit-and-miss kind of deal. The score just really didn’t show how well we played.”
Heading into conference:
“I thought we fought hard. No one quit and everyone was still getting after it on the last play. I think our conference is still wide open and it’s pretty even-kieled. Most of us played SEC teams so I’m ready to go play and beat FAU next weekend.”
UAB kicker Ty Long
On where it went wrong for UAB tonight:
“I mean I think we started off good, I think we had a good game plan but there were a lot of little things we struggled on that we really need to get fixed fast. This team is headed in a good direction but we came into this game thinking something else was going to happen. I mean I think the score was similar to the LSU game, I’m not going to get deep into that, but I really think we had a different direction of where we think this game was going to go at the end of it.”
On worrying about the result of the game or putting it easily in the past:
“For me, any loss we have but I always want to win everything. I mean I trust my teammates, I trust our coaches and everyone in the facilities that we can get this fixed and get headed in the right direction.”
On going 3-for-3 on field goals:
“It’s fun and I am just trying to do all that I can to help my team win. It was a good experience tonight and it was fun playing here.”
