Vanderbilt at Ole Miss Postgame Quotes

Sept. 21, 2002

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VANDERBILT HEAD COACH BOBBY JOHNSON
(On being down 35-17)
"We knew we had to keep playing. We had plenty of time. We just needed to execute. We started playing sound defense at that point. We played hard and wanted to see what we could do. We played a courageous game. We had some good throws and good runs. Not a lot of mental mistakes and I am very pleased with that. We executed well. Sometimes called the right play called and Ole Miss just executed well.

"We hung in there played hard and should have won. We allowed too many easy plays. Eli killed us. At times we made him throw too quick but we also gave him too much time. I thought the front four had good pressure at times. We hit him a couple of times. "

(On the two first half turnovers)
"Those two turnovers were caused. They got the snot knocked out of them."

(On the last drive)
"There was no concerted effort to get the ball to anyone player. We wanted to get the ball where we thought it would work. We did look for Dan Stricker on the first play and with a little more time I think we would have gotten it to him. We just had trouble keeping Ole Miss back at that time of the game. Our offensive line played 70 plays and I think they are in great shape.

(On post game locker room)
"I told them that if they thought I was going to come in talking about how well we done, they had another thing coming. I think we had ample opportunities to win the ball game. I see promise which makes us work all that harder to prevent this from happening. We are doing that in practice and need to get it in the game."

"Ole Miss has quality receivers. They got open and Eli hit them. That's what you want from your QB. He knows where to throw them and he's good at it.

VANDERBILT PLAYER QUOTES
QB Jay Cutler
(On the game)
"We played well for the most part. We came out a little slow in the first quarter and left our defense on the field too much. In the second half, we played well and gave ourselves a chance to win the game. We just didn't come through in the end."

(On his comfort level in the game)
"I felt really good coming in here after last week. Last week, we played at Auburn, and the atmosphere here is not as big as it is at Auburn. Our offensive line played well for the most part. Ole Miss' defense got through the line, and they got some open looks at me and they took them. But I felt more comfortable this week."

WR Dan Stricker
(On the Ole Miss defense)
"Ole Miss runs a unique scheme (4-2-5). I was getting double and triple teamed on most plays. We were able to take advantage of the running game and make some big plays with our receivers because of that aspect of the defense. It was good to see so many other players come through."

(On the attitude of Vanderbilt players)
"The mentality here is definitely different with the players. I have got to give the coaches a lot of credit for that because they really harp on that. The biggest part of football is the ball can bounce anyway at any time. You have to keep fighting because you never know when it may be your time."

(On the rivalry with Ole Miss)
"We have played them tough every year since I have been here. I was sitting in this game thinking about our game here in 1999 when we came back and tied them and then won the game in overtime. It's a fun game to play for me, and it's a good rivalry. I enjoy playing this game with them very much."

RB Kwane Doster
"This game today inspires me a lot. Some plays later in the game I felt like I could have done much better. You get fatigued as the game goes on, and I wasn't able to do as much as I might have had the opening come earlier. I gave all I had, and people don't expect a game like this from a freshman. It makes me feel good."

LB Hunter Hillenmeyer
(On stopping Ole Miss' running game)
"We knew when a team has a quarterback as good as Manning, they are most likely going to focus on the passing game. We have not had success stopping the run until this week, so we expected them to try to run the ball on us some. We were able to contain them and keep them from making the big plays. They had success passing the ball, so there was no need to look to run until they got a lead later in the game."

(On the defense coming into the game)
"We had missed a lot of tackles last week at Auburn, and we weren't happy about that. The coaches emphasized this week that we needed to really focus on eliminating the mistakes that help you beat yourself. I think we did a lot of that today."

OLE MISS HEAD COACH DAVID CUTCLIFFE POSTGAME QUOTES
"The first thing I'd like to say is that we were really fortunate. When you get beat in the physical part of the game, there's obviously a physical war going on out there. I thought that in the second half, Vanderbilt controlled that. I give them credit. They did a good job on both sides of the ball".

"For our team to be at its lowest point and for it to comeback and do what it takes to win the game really was encouraging. There are a lot of heroes. This was a game of big plays on both sides. There are a lot of things we're going to look at that we need to correct and fix. There are a lot of things were going to build on that we did extremely well after we look at this tape. But it's a lot better looking at it from this side of it than the other."

"We were fortunate to win, but we did what we had to do at a critical time and we made the big plays. The injury situation is not encouraging, particularly when you see seniors go down. It's something we just live with. Doug Ziegler is probably going to undergo surgery sometime this evening with his leg. I don't know any details. Lanier Goethie is probably going to undergo surgery. I don't know completely the details. Robert Williams, from what I understand, has a high ankle sprain. But we've got to evaluate this week where we are. We had some people step up when we needed and that's just what you do."

OLE MISS PLAYER QUOTES (OFFENSIVE)
Eli Manning, QB
On his play:
"It was a good day. They were stopping the run pretty well. We were able to hit a couple of big ones to start the second half. I thought the receivers played hard and the line did a good job of protection."

On his touchdown pass to Mike Espy:
"It was the same play that we ran earlier when I missed him in the endzone. The safety sat on the tight end running a curl route. I stayed in the pocket, Espy ran a good route, and he got open."

On being 1-0 in SEC play:
"It feels good. You can't beat that. You have to win these games, and there are going to be some tough ones. Everyone is going to come out and play hard, so we have to come out and play harder."

Chris Collins, WR
On his touchdown reception:
"We picked the play out for that situation. We saw that they were stacking up against the run. We picked out the play and it worked. The defensive backs were sitting on some of the routes we ran, so we had to come up with a new route."

On the offensive line
"The offensive line did a good job in the running and passing games. They really stepped it up and played well."

On Eli Manning:
"Eli came around today. He got in his rhythm and did a really good job today. He hit us on all of our routes."

Vashon Pearson, RB
On replaced injured RB Robert Williams:
"I knew I had to come in and make some big plays. I saw that he went down, and I had to come in and fill his shoes."

On the offensive line:
"They blocked really well. They cleared the way for me to get into the endzone."

On the Vanderbilt defense:
"They were crashing down on the ball a lot. They did a good job of keeping us inside."

OLE MISS PLAYER QUOTES (DEFENSE)
LP Spence, LB
On his fumble recovery:
"We never gave up on the play. I saw the ball pop loose and I went for the ball. The ball came my way, and I recovered it."

On the Ole Miss defense:
"At times, they were able to run the ball on us. We let our heads get down a little, but came together as a team in the end and we pulled through."

On the open date and preparing for Florida:
"We lost a lot of players on defense today. We have to come together as a team and see what Florida is going to bring at us."

Matt Grier, DB
On the Ole Miss defense:
"We had a couple of blown coverages. There were some missed tackles, but basically we did our job."

On getting the first SEC win:
"It's always good to get an SEC win. No matter how you get it, it's still a win."

On the open date and preparing for Florida:
"We have to correct the mistakes we made and practice hard."

On defending the option:
"I felt we did a good job in practice against the option. When you practice well, that carries over to the field."

Jessie Mitchell, DT
On the Ole Miss defense:
"I think we played poorly, but I give Vanderbilt a lot of credit. We had a lot of busts and missed assignments. A lot of people were missing tackles. We were in the right place at times, but we didn't make the plays."

On defending the option:
"I thought they were going to run some more option plays than they did, but we played it well. They hit us with a couple of formations and couple of plays that we hadn't seen at all. That threw us off, but we made some adjustments and came up big."

On getting the first SEC win:
"It feels good. Whether you're at home or on the road, it's a battle every week. You have to make all of them count. We have this one under our belt. Now we have to just keep on the right direction."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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