Post-Game Quotes: Texas A&M 41, Auburn 38
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Head Coach Gus Malzahn
Opening Statement...
"First of all, congratulations to Texas A&M. I am proud of our guys. We fought back. We got in a hole early. Obviously the fumble at the end was big. The fumble where we were checking the communication was big. We had three turnovers. I thought the defense at the first part of the game, (Texas A&M) was getting quite a few yards, and then in the second half we held them to two field goals. Big play in the game was right before half when they blocked the field goal and returned it for a touchdown. That was a definite impact play. Like I said, we have a lot of disappointed players in that locker room. I just told them we are going to stick together and we are not going to blame it on any one person. We fought hard, we just didn't get it done at the end."
On last fumble...
"We were trying to check a play right there which we have done many times. There was just a little bit of miscommunication there."
On running the zone read play that resulted in a fumble at the 5-yard line...
"That is just who we are. That is what we do. We have been successful with that many times and we are not going to second guess ourselves on that one. It is just unfortunate. We have done that numerous times and we have been pretty successful."
On D'haquille Williams' injury...
"He couldn't play in the second half and that is about it. I do not have any update at this time."
On Auburn's secondary...
"Well, obviously, we didn't get off to a very good start. That freshman quarterback hit some passes down the field pretty well. The second half we played much better."
On what is at stake moving forward...
"It hurts. It hurts our team. We have goals and dreams, and we did not get it done tonight. It is unfortunate, but we didn't get it done. But you have to be a big boy, you have to man up, you have to be better in the future. Like I said before, we have a lot of champions, we just have to try to improve. It is not going to affect us in a negative way the rest of the year, put it that way."
On Jermaine Whitehead...
"I thought he did some solid things. That interception was big. He is a veteran guy, he knew what was going on, and that is the way it worked out."
On routine plays resulting in fumbles...
"We just didn't get it done when we usually do. Like I sad, we aren't going to blame anybody. That is just how it goes, and we will be better next time."
On Cameron Artis-Payne...
"He is a champ. We had a fumble the first play of the game which is uncharacteristic, too, but he is a champ and a tough guy and he did some good things tonight."
On Nick Marshall...
"Nick made some big plays, he always does. He made some big plays, especially in the second half."
On Jimmy Hutchinson...
"I wouldn't say he is the punter full-time, but we are getting more and more confidence in him."
Quarterback Nick Marshall
On last play...
"It's a play we always run and it's unfortunate that it happened. We just have to move on to the next game. It was something I had seen on the defense and the ball just popped out."
On disappointment...
"We can't dwell on this game. We just have to get better and move on as a team next week."
On second half adjustments...
"We just came in and coach [Malzahn] talked all about adjustments. We made our adjustments in the second half and we started playing the Auburn football we should have been playing in the first half."
On the read-option fumble...
"He had the ball, but you can't argue with the officials. The referee made the call so we just had to deal with it. It's a play we always run, and it's unfortunate that it happened. The ball just happened to be on the ground."
Offensive Lineman Chad Slade
On second half adjustments...
"We just knew we had to put on our best. The defense was doing a great job for us and we knew we had to keep scoring for them. We had to come back from adversity, being down that many points, so we had to pull together as a unit and step up."
On playoff potential...
"We're just going to keep working. If that happens to come up, we'll be ready for it. As a unit, we are just going to keep working to get better. We're just taking it one game at a time and hoping for the best."
On next steps...
"We have to improve. We know that we got let down today and that we have stuff we need to fix as an offense, defense and special teams. We're going to get back in the film room tomorrow and get ready for Georgia."
Center Reese Dismukes
On fumble...
"It was just a miscommunication."
On disappointment...
"You can't do that and win a game."
On feeling after the game...
"We just didn't get it done tonight. We dug ourselves a hole in the beginning and we fought back to give us a chance."
Running Back Cameron Artis-Payne
On next steps...
"We bounce back and win the rest of our games. That's the focal point of what we have now. We have a tough Georgia team next week so we're going to focus on that. We're going to clean up the stuff that we can, learn from this loss and we're looking forward to being a better team."
On individual contribution...
"To me it's about a win. It goes to waste for me. As long as you don't come out with a win, it doesn't matter."
On read-option...
"It's just based on what the defense gives you. That's why it's a zone read. It was just a bad exchange. It's something that rarely happens between Nick and me. We just have to get better. We can never lose a game like that again."
On fumble...
"I got it. There's no question about that."
Wide receiver Quan Bray
On emotions after the loss...
"It's a tough loss. We came out, we fought hard and they came down on us early. We came out with intentions to win the game and we didn't. The moods going to be down, we have a whole bunch of winners. Were a championship team, we still believe that. Once you lose, it's always a bad feeling."
On last play...
"To be honest, I don't even know. I guess they said he snapped the ball so I think it should be a false start. But you can't fault the refs, we just didn't get it done."
On halftime moving forward...
"Were just going to come out and were going to fight for 30 minutes. It was in our house and we came out and we did that, we bought ourselves a few points we just didn't finish."
Linebacker Cassanova McKinzy
On overall game...
"Both sides made a lot of bad decisions, a lot of errors. We came out in the second half to fight. We feel like it was taking longer to make some plays, we made some plays and they just came out on top. Just to put it out there, they're a really good team."
On miracle finishes and close games...
"The first fumble, it was on defense, it was no problem. But the second fumble, no comment. We're a team, we all make mistakes, we all have a lot of errors playing this game, and no one has a perfect game."
On defense...
"It's all about adjustments. People watch film and they see our weaknesses and they go for it. So it's all about adjusting. I feel like in the first half we really didn't do well at adjusting and in the second half we came to play football."
On fumbling...
"I was the second person who came in and tackled and I believe we saved it, but the referees call the game and we don't control what they do. We control what we do. I believe we saved it in my opinion."
Cornerback Jonathan Jones
On first half...
"Honestly, half of it was they were making plays and we weren't and half of it was miscommunication. We'll get back to it and get it corrected and move forward."
On miscommunications...
"We have to take individual pride and as a secondary we have to stick up and do our part, we haven't been carrying our weight and we have to pick that up."
On team communication...
"It's not between player and player, you have to get your card from the sideline and you have to do your job. I don't care to blame it on one person."
On moving forward...
"It would be the same as if we won, same as when we lost to Mississippi State. Watch the film, make the corrections, and try to get better. Move forward and try to put it behind you."
On second half...
"I really think guys settled down and realized it's a do-your-job game. Especially when you play a sport like this, if one person doesn't do their job, it can be a big factor."
Defensive tackle Angelo Blackson
On the loss...
"It's a tough one. It's very tough. We came out and had a lot of opportunities, missed a lot of opportunities. We kept fighting and gave it everything we had as a team, but we just fell short."
On the public expecting an easy win...
"No we're the No. 3 ranked team, we're going to get everyone's best shot. No one's just going to roll over and take a butt whipping. They were going to give us their best shot and they did. They came out smoking and we had some defensive struggles. We came out fighting and we just kept fighting. We had guys on the sideline cheering each other on and no one gave up which is a positive, so we just want to keep moving forward."
On Duke William's injury...
"Duke's a playmaker, but that's an opportunity for guys to step up and had guys out there make huge plays when we needed them. So we were a man short, but guys got to step up."
On gameplan for TAMU's freshman QB Kyle Allen...
"We wanted to make it hard for him, but that was a great coaching staff over there and they had a gameplan to get the ball out of his hands fast, throwing and running the ball. We gave it everything we had. At halftime, we made our corrections then held them to two field goals. We did a lot of good stuff, but we did some bad stuff too."
Wide Receiver Ricardo Louis
On suffering a close loss after pulling games out in the past...
"It's not a good feeling at all. It's a tough pill to swallow right now. We've got a whole bunch of winners on this team and losing is always a bad feeling. So now we just got to try and get over it and move on to the next game."
On his big catch in the fourth quarter...
"I was just trying to make a play for the team and give us a chance to win. The only thing that was on my mind was `let's keep it going, let's keep it going, and let's get in the end zone' no matter what play we run."
On the locker room atmosphere postgame...
"It's like you would expect. All the guys are sad. Some people had their heads down. Some people were trying to encourage others. In the end we just have to come together as a team like we always do and move forward."
On the last play...
"Honestly I didn't even know what happened until I saw it on the replay."
Have you ever seen a fumble like that, even in practice?
"Never."
On the game being tougher than expected...
"Coach Malzahn said it. We knew that was going to come, that they'd give us their best shot. They were a top-10 team early and we knew they had good players and would come in ready to play. We just couldn't finish.
On Duke Williams' injury...
"You know he's a big part of our offense. He's a leader, but at the same time we have players who can step up behind him and make plays for the team and help us get in position to win the game."
On moving on and prepping for Georgia...
"We just got to put it behind us. Get all our sadness and frustration out now as quickly as we can and move forward to next week and get ready for Georgia."
On the team making mistakes...
"Mistakes are going to happen in a game, but taking care of the ball is something you have to do, especially late in the game. We have to move forward and work on these things and capitalize on Georgia."
Head Coach Kevin Sumlin
On how he was able to get the team to believe again...
"We've been talking about it for a couple of weeks. Situations like that you talk about creating your own energy, you talk about belief, practice habits. Going on the road there was a definite difference in the sideline from an energy standpoint in the pregame. I couldn't be prouder of these guys and the coaching staff to go into a situation where the odds are against us and to practice the way they practiced this week and to stay focused, particularly in this environment. It's a great environment to play and handle things the way they did from start to finish. That is a complete team and coaching staff effort."
On how Kyle Allen performed...
"I said a week ago that we learned more about Kyle a week ago, and Kyle learned more about Kyle in that game. Our ability to really get back and operate in our offense. We played a couple of different tempos. We played normal fast tempo early in the game and got the lead really throughout the game, and we were able to utilize some of our two back and tight end run sets to maybe not score as many points but to move the football enough. We would've liked to have the two touchdowns in the second half, but the two field goals were big considering the score. He made some strides during the week of preparation. He was a lot more relaxed tonight than a week ago, believe it or not. I think that showed."
On if he saw anything from ULM game film to give him confidence...
"I said that in our running game because of what we did a week ago. Stylistically it was different from what we've done in the past and there was more yards in the running game a week ago than we had, whether it was the running back, the offensive line, the will thing here or there we were a little bit out of sync. It's something we made a concentrated effort on and I think it paid off from a coaching standpoint and a playing standpoint. Our running backs ran hard, I thought our offensive line gave us a chance. We weren't perfect. We're looking to be efficient in the run game and I thought we were able to do that. What we've got to be able to do to get better at the end of the game is to get that ball off the goal line. If you get a couple first downs there, the events at the end don't have to happen."
"There's always room for improvement, but I think the lesson learned is the preparation, the focus, and the intensity level to play, particularly in this league is not something you turn on and off. To come here and win should be a great lesson for our team."
"Now the challenge is this a really good win for this team and this program, but how do you handle it moving forward?"
Wide receiver Malcome Kennedy
On the outcome of the game...
"I think everything that happened on the field explains itself. These guys played hard, we did well in all phases of the game, and I think everybody played with some emotion tonight. It's as simple as that; we won the game."
On Kyle Allen's performance...
"Great. That is why we recruited him and that is why he is here. He was the best in the nation in high school and then he was playing behind one of the best and learned a lot from him. He has his own skill set and games like these boost you to become a better player. He stepped up to the occasion tonight."
Offensive lineman Mike Matthews
On Kyle Allen's performance...
"I saw a lot of confidence in him. He definitely had a little swagger to him. He came in this game and he didn't seem like a freshman at all, he seemed like he has started four years at this university. He balled out and he had a heck of a game. We are very thankful that he came here with his mind right and got it done."
On what this win means moving forward...
"It is just another confidence booster. These past two weeks, no one really believed in us, but I feel like we always do our best when no one believes in us. When everyone turns their heads on us is when I think we thrive in that situation. We will celebrate it tonight, but then we will look at the film and see what we did right and what we did wrong and move on to this next week."
Defensive lineman Julien Obioha
On the fumble recovery...
"A lot of stuff happens at the bottom of a pile, I'm not going to say exactly who had possession of it, but when it is all said and done I ended up with the ball and we had possession, so yes I did get the fumble."
On the emotion of the game...
"With football, you are going to go through a lot of adversity. Offense had a short drive and then we gave the ball right back to their offense. We needed a stop and we didn't know how it was going to happen. We created a turnover, got the ball back, and won the game."
Defensive back Deshazor Everett
On the health of his elbow...
"It's real sore. It hurts to a certain extent, but I have a brace and coming into the game we were going to try it out. The coaches said if you get in there and it hurts to let them know and they'll get me a replacement. I just went in with the mentality that I have to ignore the injury and play my best. That's all I could do."
On the blocked field goal...
"We got a great push up front. We work on that every week and we pride ourselves on making people miss field goals and trying to block field goals. We try to work on that and we really pushed to try to get a score out of a blocked field goal. (Special Teams) Coach (Jeff) Banks is pretty happy I'm sure. I just contained, did my job on the edge and the guys really got a good push up front so I just scooped and scored."
On the confidence gained...
"Coming into the game we just looked at it as we have nothing to lose. We didn't do well for three games and we slipped by ULM. Coming into this game we were just like, `let's cut everything loose and just go out there and play together and give it our all'. Coming into this game we had the mentality that if we were going to make mistakes, we were going to make mistakes going full speed. Don't go out there and try to hold anything back."
On big road wins for senior class...
"We pride ourselves in winning big road games. We look at ourselves as road warriors, but I don't believe that we sat down as a senior class and said, `Hey, look how many games we've won on the road since we've been in the SEC.' But that's definitely something to talk about."
Head Coach Gus Malzahn
Opening Statement...
"First of all, congratulations to Texas A&M. I am proud of our guys. We fought back. We got in a hole early. Obviously the fumble at the end was big. The fumble where we were checking the communication was big. We had three turnovers. I thought the defense at the first part of the game, (Texas A&M) was getting quite a few yards, and then in the second half we held them to two field goals. Big play in the game was right before half when they blocked the field goal and returned it for a touchdown. That was a definite impact play. Like I said, we have a lot of disappointed players in that locker room. I just told them we are going to stick together and we are not going to blame it on any one person. We fought hard, we just didn't get it done at the end."
On last fumble...
"We were trying to check a play right there which we have done many times. There was just a little bit of miscommunication there."
On running the zone read play that resulted in a fumble at the 5-yard line...
"That is just who we are. That is what we do. We have been successful with that many times and we are not going to second guess ourselves on that one. It is just unfortunate. We have done that numerous times and we have been pretty successful."
On D'haquille Williams' injury...
"He couldn't play in the second half and that is about it. I do not have any update at this time."
On Auburn's secondary...
"Well, obviously, we didn't get off to a very good start. That freshman quarterback hit some passes down the field pretty well. The second half we played much better."
On what is at stake moving forward...
"It hurts. It hurts our team. We have goals and dreams, and we did not get it done tonight. It is unfortunate, but we didn't get it done. But you have to be a big boy, you have to man up, you have to be better in the future. Like I said before, we have a lot of champions, we just have to try to improve. It is not going to affect us in a negative way the rest of the year, put it that way."
On Jermaine Whitehead...
"I thought he did some solid things. That interception was big. He is a veteran guy, he knew what was going on, and that is the way it worked out."
On routine plays resulting in fumbles...
"We just didn't get it done when we usually do. Like I sad, we aren't going to blame anybody. That is just how it goes, and we will be better next time."
On Cameron Artis-Payne...
"He is a champ. We had a fumble the first play of the game which is uncharacteristic, too, but he is a champ and a tough guy and he did some good things tonight."
On Nick Marshall...
"Nick made some big plays, he always does. He made some big plays, especially in the second half."
On Jimmy Hutchinson...
"I wouldn't say he is the punter full-time, but we are getting more and more confidence in him."
Quarterback Nick Marshall
On last play...
"It's a play we always run and it's unfortunate that it happened. We just have to move on to the next game. It was something I had seen on the defense and the ball just popped out."
On disappointment...
"We can't dwell on this game. We just have to get better and move on as a team next week."
On second half adjustments...
"We just came in and coach [Malzahn] talked all about adjustments. We made our adjustments in the second half and we started playing the Auburn football we should have been playing in the first half."
On the read-option fumble...
"He had the ball, but you can't argue with the officials. The referee made the call so we just had to deal with it. It's a play we always run, and it's unfortunate that it happened. The ball just happened to be on the ground."
Offensive Lineman Chad Slade
On second half adjustments...
"We just knew we had to put on our best. The defense was doing a great job for us and we knew we had to keep scoring for them. We had to come back from adversity, being down that many points, so we had to pull together as a unit and step up."
On playoff potential...
"We're just going to keep working. If that happens to come up, we'll be ready for it. As a unit, we are just going to keep working to get better. We're just taking it one game at a time and hoping for the best."
On next steps...
"We have to improve. We know that we got let down today and that we have stuff we need to fix as an offense, defense and special teams. We're going to get back in the film room tomorrow and get ready for Georgia."
Center Reese Dismukes
On fumble...
"It was just a miscommunication."
On disappointment...
"You can't do that and win a game."
On feeling after the game...
"We just didn't get it done tonight. We dug ourselves a hole in the beginning and we fought back to give us a chance."
Running Back Cameron Artis-Payne
On next steps...
"We bounce back and win the rest of our games. That's the focal point of what we have now. We have a tough Georgia team next week so we're going to focus on that. We're going to clean up the stuff that we can, learn from this loss and we're looking forward to being a better team."
On individual contribution...
"To me it's about a win. It goes to waste for me. As long as you don't come out with a win, it doesn't matter."
On read-option...
"It's just based on what the defense gives you. That's why it's a zone read. It was just a bad exchange. It's something that rarely happens between Nick and me. We just have to get better. We can never lose a game like that again."
On fumble...
"I got it. There's no question about that."
Wide receiver Quan Bray
On emotions after the loss...
"It's a tough loss. We came out, we fought hard and they came down on us early. We came out with intentions to win the game and we didn't. The moods going to be down, we have a whole bunch of winners. Were a championship team, we still believe that. Once you lose, it's always a bad feeling."
On last play...
"To be honest, I don't even know. I guess they said he snapped the ball so I think it should be a false start. But you can't fault the refs, we just didn't get it done."
On halftime moving forward...
"Were just going to come out and were going to fight for 30 minutes. It was in our house and we came out and we did that, we bought ourselves a few points we just didn't finish."
Linebacker Cassanova McKinzy
On overall game...
"Both sides made a lot of bad decisions, a lot of errors. We came out in the second half to fight. We feel like it was taking longer to make some plays, we made some plays and they just came out on top. Just to put it out there, they're a really good team."
On miracle finishes and close games...
"The first fumble, it was on defense, it was no problem. But the second fumble, no comment. We're a team, we all make mistakes, we all have a lot of errors playing this game, and no one has a perfect game."
On defense...
"It's all about adjustments. People watch film and they see our weaknesses and they go for it. So it's all about adjusting. I feel like in the first half we really didn't do well at adjusting and in the second half we came to play football."
On fumbling...
"I was the second person who came in and tackled and I believe we saved it, but the referees call the game and we don't control what they do. We control what we do. I believe we saved it in my opinion."
Cornerback Jonathan Jones
On first half...
"Honestly, half of it was they were making plays and we weren't and half of it was miscommunication. We'll get back to it and get it corrected and move forward."
On miscommunications...
"We have to take individual pride and as a secondary we have to stick up and do our part, we haven't been carrying our weight and we have to pick that up."
On team communication...
"It's not between player and player, you have to get your card from the sideline and you have to do your job. I don't care to blame it on one person."
On moving forward...
"It would be the same as if we won, same as when we lost to Mississippi State. Watch the film, make the corrections, and try to get better. Move forward and try to put it behind you."
On second half...
"I really think guys settled down and realized it's a do-your-job game. Especially when you play a sport like this, if one person doesn't do their job, it can be a big factor."
Defensive tackle Angelo Blackson
On the loss...
"It's a tough one. It's very tough. We came out and had a lot of opportunities, missed a lot of opportunities. We kept fighting and gave it everything we had as a team, but we just fell short."
On the public expecting an easy win...
"No we're the No. 3 ranked team, we're going to get everyone's best shot. No one's just going to roll over and take a butt whipping. They were going to give us their best shot and they did. They came out smoking and we had some defensive struggles. We came out fighting and we just kept fighting. We had guys on the sideline cheering each other on and no one gave up which is a positive, so we just want to keep moving forward."
On Duke William's injury...
"Duke's a playmaker, but that's an opportunity for guys to step up and had guys out there make huge plays when we needed them. So we were a man short, but guys got to step up."
On gameplan for TAMU's freshman QB Kyle Allen...
"We wanted to make it hard for him, but that was a great coaching staff over there and they had a gameplan to get the ball out of his hands fast, throwing and running the ball. We gave it everything we had. At halftime, we made our corrections then held them to two field goals. We did a lot of good stuff, but we did some bad stuff too."
Wide Receiver Ricardo Louis
On suffering a close loss after pulling games out in the past...
"It's not a good feeling at all. It's a tough pill to swallow right now. We've got a whole bunch of winners on this team and losing is always a bad feeling. So now we just got to try and get over it and move on to the next game."
On his big catch in the fourth quarter...
"I was just trying to make a play for the team and give us a chance to win. The only thing that was on my mind was `let's keep it going, let's keep it going, and let's get in the end zone' no matter what play we run."
On the locker room atmosphere postgame...
"It's like you would expect. All the guys are sad. Some people had their heads down. Some people were trying to encourage others. In the end we just have to come together as a team like we always do and move forward."
On the last play...
"Honestly I didn't even know what happened until I saw it on the replay."
Have you ever seen a fumble like that, even in practice?
"Never."
On the game being tougher than expected...
"Coach Malzahn said it. We knew that was going to come, that they'd give us their best shot. They were a top-10 team early and we knew they had good players and would come in ready to play. We just couldn't finish.
On Duke Williams' injury...
"You know he's a big part of our offense. He's a leader, but at the same time we have players who can step up behind him and make plays for the team and help us get in position to win the game."
On moving on and prepping for Georgia...
"We just got to put it behind us. Get all our sadness and frustration out now as quickly as we can and move forward to next week and get ready for Georgia."
On the team making mistakes...
"Mistakes are going to happen in a game, but taking care of the ball is something you have to do, especially late in the game. We have to move forward and work on these things and capitalize on Georgia."
Head Coach Kevin Sumlin
On how he was able to get the team to believe again...
"We've been talking about it for a couple of weeks. Situations like that you talk about creating your own energy, you talk about belief, practice habits. Going on the road there was a definite difference in the sideline from an energy standpoint in the pregame. I couldn't be prouder of these guys and the coaching staff to go into a situation where the odds are against us and to practice the way they practiced this week and to stay focused, particularly in this environment. It's a great environment to play and handle things the way they did from start to finish. That is a complete team and coaching staff effort."
On how Kyle Allen performed...
"I said a week ago that we learned more about Kyle a week ago, and Kyle learned more about Kyle in that game. Our ability to really get back and operate in our offense. We played a couple of different tempos. We played normal fast tempo early in the game and got the lead really throughout the game, and we were able to utilize some of our two back and tight end run sets to maybe not score as many points but to move the football enough. We would've liked to have the two touchdowns in the second half, but the two field goals were big considering the score. He made some strides during the week of preparation. He was a lot more relaxed tonight than a week ago, believe it or not. I think that showed."
On if he saw anything from ULM game film to give him confidence...
"I said that in our running game because of what we did a week ago. Stylistically it was different from what we've done in the past and there was more yards in the running game a week ago than we had, whether it was the running back, the offensive line, the will thing here or there we were a little bit out of sync. It's something we made a concentrated effort on and I think it paid off from a coaching standpoint and a playing standpoint. Our running backs ran hard, I thought our offensive line gave us a chance. We weren't perfect. We're looking to be efficient in the run game and I thought we were able to do that. What we've got to be able to do to get better at the end of the game is to get that ball off the goal line. If you get a couple first downs there, the events at the end don't have to happen."
"There's always room for improvement, but I think the lesson learned is the preparation, the focus, and the intensity level to play, particularly in this league is not something you turn on and off. To come here and win should be a great lesson for our team."
"Now the challenge is this a really good win for this team and this program, but how do you handle it moving forward?"
Wide receiver Malcome Kennedy
On the outcome of the game...
"I think everything that happened on the field explains itself. These guys played hard, we did well in all phases of the game, and I think everybody played with some emotion tonight. It's as simple as that; we won the game."
On Kyle Allen's performance...
"Great. That is why we recruited him and that is why he is here. He was the best in the nation in high school and then he was playing behind one of the best and learned a lot from him. He has his own skill set and games like these boost you to become a better player. He stepped up to the occasion tonight."
Offensive lineman Mike Matthews
On Kyle Allen's performance...
"I saw a lot of confidence in him. He definitely had a little swagger to him. He came in this game and he didn't seem like a freshman at all, he seemed like he has started four years at this university. He balled out and he had a heck of a game. We are very thankful that he came here with his mind right and got it done."
On what this win means moving forward...
"It is just another confidence booster. These past two weeks, no one really believed in us, but I feel like we always do our best when no one believes in us. When everyone turns their heads on us is when I think we thrive in that situation. We will celebrate it tonight, but then we will look at the film and see what we did right and what we did wrong and move on to this next week."
Defensive lineman Julien Obioha
On the fumble recovery...
"A lot of stuff happens at the bottom of a pile, I'm not going to say exactly who had possession of it, but when it is all said and done I ended up with the ball and we had possession, so yes I did get the fumble."
On the emotion of the game...
"With football, you are going to go through a lot of adversity. Offense had a short drive and then we gave the ball right back to their offense. We needed a stop and we didn't know how it was going to happen. We created a turnover, got the ball back, and won the game."
Defensive back Deshazor Everett
On the health of his elbow...
"It's real sore. It hurts to a certain extent, but I have a brace and coming into the game we were going to try it out. The coaches said if you get in there and it hurts to let them know and they'll get me a replacement. I just went in with the mentality that I have to ignore the injury and play my best. That's all I could do."
On the blocked field goal...
"We got a great push up front. We work on that every week and we pride ourselves on making people miss field goals and trying to block field goals. We try to work on that and we really pushed to try to get a score out of a blocked field goal. (Special Teams) Coach (Jeff) Banks is pretty happy I'm sure. I just contained, did my job on the edge and the guys really got a good push up front so I just scooped and scored."
On the confidence gained...
"Coming into the game we just looked at it as we have nothing to lose. We didn't do well for three games and we slipped by ULM. Coming into this game we were just like, `let's cut everything loose and just go out there and play together and give it our all'. Coming into this game we had the mentality that if we were going to make mistakes, we were going to make mistakes going full speed. Don't go out there and try to hold anything back."
On big road wins for senior class...
"We pride ourselves in winning big road games. We look at ourselves as road warriors, but I don't believe that we sat down as a senior class and said, `Hey, look how many games we've won on the road since we've been in the SEC.' But that's definitely something to talk about."