Sept. 24, 2016
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Vanderbilt – Western Kentucky Postgame Notes
Sept. 24, 2016
Houchens-Smith Stadium
Head Coach Derek Mason
Opening statement:
“I’ll tell you, first off, that WKU is a well-coached football team and they played hard. Our offense came alive in the second half and I’m excited for those guys. Defensively, we needed a lot of oil in this football game, but we came up big when we needed to, and that was important. When we needed to stop their momentum, we did; and then our offense got it rolling. I thought this team just kept grinding. This team never felt like they were out of the fight and continued to play hard.
“It’s tough to win in someone else’s house, especially a good football team. Our goal was to come out of this thing 2-2 and head into the month of October exactly that. I don’t care what the score is, I don’t care what the stat sheet looked like; all I know is that Vanderbilt won tonight.”
On the game-tying touchdown run:
“We felt like we’d been tenderizing that meat all night; just kept beating it and beating it and beating it, they looked tired inside.”
On the game-winning two-point conversion stop:
“I know that our guys had done a good job all night getting their hands up and knocking balls and tipping them and in that instance, we had bigs on the field and went to base personnel versus nickel personnel and we told those bigs to get their arms up. That ball looked like it traveled in slow motion.
“I looked up and our guys were jumping up and down, so I just started jumping up and down.”
On the final drive of regulation:
“There were just plays being made all over the place and that’s what you need; that’s what gives us balance. We managed the clock well and got to the line of scrimmage and took advantage of the clock and didn’t force something in there.
“We felt like once we got it into overtime that we had a chance to win it. It wasn’t pretty, it didn’t go the way we would have scripted it but it’s a win.”
WKU Head Coach Jeff Brohm
Opening Statement:
“Well, we’re obviously disappointed in the outcome. I think it was a good hard-fought game. These are the type of games you like to play in. Real football games against real opponents with a lot riding on it. I thought both teams played hard. I think towards the end we wore down and they found a way to make a few more plays. We had too many missed opportunities early on in the game that costed us, and against good football teams you’re not going to win those – and we didn’t’.”
On two-point conversion:
“Well, I’m always aggressive. I just thought once again, like that Marshall game, our defense was wearing down and it looked like they were going to score at will at that point. Our defense played great for three quarters and I thought we had a chance to win. I thought the play was decent and maybe Mike (White) put a little too much heat on it. I have to see the film. It ricocheted off Ace’s (Wales) helmet but I thought it was kind of hot coming out, and we didn’t get it.”
On multiple turnovers:
“Well, we work on it all the time and we talk about it all the time. It’s one of the things we stress – those are it. Obviously, we got to think of a different method and spend more time on it. We had way too many missed opportunities with going and scoring, dropping balls, and not even fumbling but a guy just stripping it right from him, and a few other things. Penalties were disappointing. That’s football and that’s life. We’ll learn from it. We’re not good enough to overcome that, especially against an SEC opponent and it cost us in this game.”
On Vanderbilt’s defensive line batting balls:
“Well, we had way too many batted balls. We talk about it, we work on it. A few are okay but when they bat that many we got to go back and do something different. I don’t know, I got to go look at it but there were a lot of batted balls.”
On the defense down the stretch:
“Yeah, I did. I mean I like our defense, we got good football players and I think they love football. Was I disappointed that we let them drive down the field with a minute left? Yes, I really was with a team that can’t throw the football very good. We gave up some big pass plays on that drive. And also in the second half on a double move against Cover 2. But we’ll learn from it.”
