Vanderbilt Quotes

Sept. 18, 2010

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Vanderbilt Head Coach Robbie Caldwell

OPENING COMMENTS

It was an exciting day I was so proud of these young people what a job they did. We came here on a business trip, that's what we designated it as. They worked hard and did everything they were supposed to do. It was a quick turnaround. We had a pregame meal at 7 in the morning and got on the bus. The bus broke down, and we had to pile everyone on the other buses. They could have found every excuse to not fight hard, to throw their hands in the air, but they didn't. Every phase of the game played great, from defense to offense. We didn't have a whole lot of yards, but we rushed for about 240 or so. It was outstanding. We made 1st downs when we had to. I couldn't be more proud of them. Special teams, it was a complete effort. The punt team did a great job keeping them backed up. Richard did a good job. I am very proud. We are still nicked up a little bit, we lost some people today. Hopefully we get them back.

On first win

"It was a very emotional time. I think it's the first time my wife or daughter have been to an away game. They had a great time and got to witness this. But it's not about me; it's about the young people on this team. I'm just so thrilled that they got the taste of victory. It's been a long time for us, and we know that and we are working hard on it. It's a very special group that keeps fighting, and they wanted me to have the game ball. I told them it's not about me it's about us.

"Like I said we know we should have won one other and possibly had a chance to win another. We know that, and everyone has pointed it out to us before, so I always appreciate the help from the outside too. But these guys just kept working. We are a family, and these guys just keep paying attention to what's going on inside. That's the most important thing.

On turnovers

"Our defense works hard every day to create turnovers, so we try to create them in practice from fumbles to interceptions to however we can get the ball. It's funny we talked about it in the huddle on the sideline. Not only did we do that, we did it and scored. Foster picks it off and takes it back and Casey Hayward almost had one earlier. We talked about it all week and we'd like to get one and he almost did.

Masoli hurt you some on his feet but not so much with his arm

"The defense did a great job. He is an exceptional player, my hats off to him. We felt like if we could keep him in the pocket it would be hard for him to see over those big giants. I'm talking about those big guys in there; that was kind of our plan. He got out some you know in that short yardage; it was a mental mistake on our part. We should have had a guy standing right there and he hurt us big time but he is an exceptional player who can throw the ball on the move and run. I'm very impressed by him."

Picked up the pace a bit in the second half

"We thought we would be in pretty good shape. We had a real long fall camp, so we were not intimidated by the heat. Our first two games it was night, and it was cool. If you don't make first downs it backfires. We understand that, we practice that, we are prepared for that, and fortunately today we made some first downs."

Vanderbilt CB Eddie Foster #16

On the game

"I felt really good about it and I felt like in all phases of the game the team played really well. Personally, I think I did my job very well."

On his interception

"I started to pull especially when I saw number 2 going vertical, I saw him starting to roll out and kind of looking at that stop. I didn't really think he would throw it but I broke on it anyway, which I might get in trouble for later. But, I broke on it and got there just in time and had a clear run to the end zone."

Building on the win

"Getting the SEC win is definitely going to raise our confidence but we have to accept our past and this is the game right now."

Vanderbilt DT Rob Lohr #84

Defense performance today

"We did great defensively today. That fourth and one stop was a big stop and we just came out and did what we were trained to do so we were happy."

Team moral

"Well, we have a bye week coming up but we are going to be enthusiastic about meeting UCONN in two weeks. We are definitely going to be pumped up and ready to go."

Pressure on the quarterback

"We work on passing the rusher at practice every day. Sometimes you get back there and sometimes it is a little harder when you are double teamed. I got through there one time and it was nice to finally get that first sack."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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