.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
The University of Mississippi Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State
11/29/2014 | Football
Ole Miss Head Coach Hugh Freeze
On the game…
"It's obviously good to win a rivalry game. They are a very good football team. It's a great feeling to reclaim the pride of our program and win the Egg Bowl. It's a priority we have every year. To get that done tonight, with facing some adversity, I'm so proud of our young men. We put everything in the trash in preparing for this one. We went into it with clear hearts, minds and just decided that we were going to go out and play hard. Our word for the week was resolve. We played with great resolve for 60 minutes. You see where that put us. Tonight we were the better football team. I'm extremely proud for our seniors. My heart breaks for Vince Sanders. He's one of our most consistent guys. To get hurt in this game with its value is so disappointing. In year three, this is what we consider to be a solid year. We've accomplished some good things in building this program back up."
On holding Mississippi State to 17 points…
"They're pretty good. They're going to get some yards. They have all year. At the same time, I'm not surprised. We are the No. 1 team in the country in scoring defense. We've been stingy with giving up points in the red zone. It was great to see, but I'm not really surprised. Matchups are critical. I liked our matchup with their front."
On sensing emotions changing after the loss at Arkansas…
"I sensed that it was changing on the flight home. It's the Egg Bowl. It's one of the main reasons why you come here. You come here to protect it. We're pretty good about putting things in the trash. Life is full of ups and downs. Football, in this conference, man you better strap it on every week. When you have a perfect storm like we did against us last week at the beginning of the game, those nights can happen. We did some things on Sunday to remind them how important this was."
Ole Miss Student-Athletes
#14, Bo Wallace, QB
On his ankle…
"I feel good. Thank goodness for the doctors, including some that came on Thanksgiving Day while they could be spending time with their families to do rehab with me. I can't thank those guys enough."
On last year's Egg Bowl loss…
"I felt like how last year ended pushed me the entire offseason, and there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about it. This one feels great, I can't even put it into words how it feels."
On leading team to third straight bowl…
"Coach (Hugh) Freeze came in and changed the culture around here. Hats off to the seniors who were here to see the 2-10 seasons and fought through it. You saw a lot of those guys on defense playing their hearts out tonight. I wasn't here for those times, so it's more for those guys who saw the dark days here and turned it around."
#38, Deterrian Shackelford, LB
On the game…
"I've had my share of injuries, and to be able to come out and play 60 minutes for this team and this program is a blessing. You can pretty much throw the records out the window in rivalry games. We worked hard all week and prepared ourselves. We were able to come out with a victory. Hats off to Mississippi State. You don't only lose two games in this league by not being good. I felt like we came out with a mission though."
On the intensity…
"I like to think we always play with high intensity. When you have a rivalry game, the intensity will be unmatched. We've relived a lot of those moments that happened last year. It fueled us to play hard tonight."
On the bowl game…
"I hope we get to practice and play somewhere warm. I thank God for the opportunity. It's been the best six years of my life."
#10, C.J. Johnson, DL
On the game…
"It's something I've been thinking about so long. I didn't get to play them last year. Watching that game at home, I knew I could help the team when we lost. I really took it to heart. Tonight, I was making sure everyone on the sideline knew if they were going to beat us, they were going to have to kill us. I'm so proud of the way our team fought tonight."
On the defense…
"We tried to come out fast. Last week, we didn't play with the amount of emotion we did tonight. We started too slow and dug ourselves a hole. We had to get off to a fast start tonight because they're so good on first down. Towards the end of the game, they were getting three or four yards every time on first down. We were fighting to get them back behind the chains. We knew if we got stops on first and second down, we would get some good rushing opportunities.
On defending State's offense…
"It's tough because they were hitting us deep on those play-action passes. Our corners were covering, but we have to do a better job of getting to the quarterback faster. Early in the game, we were really aggressive and getting pressure. Later in the game, they were hitting us with big plays because we were looking at the quarterback and not transitioning to play-action pass rush."
Mississippi State Head Coach Dan Mullen
On the game…
"There is plenty of blame to go around. To give up as many big plays as we gave up today is unacceptable. I think we gave up over 20 yards per play. That is pathetic. That is just an awful job by our defense. Not a great job on offense. We needed to find a way to score at the end and to punch the ball in. Those last couple possessions gave us opportunities to make plays and come back and win it. A lot of that is on me. The guys needed to be in the right situations to be in plays. Give Ole Miss credit, they battled hard and they played hard. Their kids made a whole lot of big plays in the course of the game. Obviously, one of the things you look at statistically, is that you cannot give up over 500 yards over 60 plays. You are never going to win if you do that."
On how tough this loss is …
"This is as tough as it gets. I do not care about the stakes. This game is for bragging rights in the state. It is the most important game we play. So it is obviously a devastating loss because of that."
On how to recover for the bowl game…
"We have a lot of time before we have to worry about a bowl game. We will be fine. We will have great weeks of practice. We are going to get our players healthy. We are going to give the young guys a lot of reps and experience. We are going to build on this for the future. We want to build this program. I do not plan on this team being a one hit wonder. We want to continue to build this program. A lot of quality reps with the young guys will help us continue to do that."
Mississippi State Student-Athletes
#92, Kaleb Eulls, DL
On tackling …
"We were off our game just a little bit, that is just part of the game. Tackling is something we have to continue to work on getting better at each week."
On locker room atmosphere…
"It was very emotional, especially for all of the seniors. This was their last time to play in the Egg Bowl, and it was a very special game to us."
#15, Dak Prescott, QB
On offensive problems…
"We had a lot of self-mistakes. We just have to come back out to practice and get better."
On Ole Miss defense …
"They are good. They are very fast and did some things up front to cause us some problems."
