Ole Miss vs. South Carolina Postgame Quotes

OLE MISS POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH DAVID CUTCLIFFE
"I was proud of our team. I thought our focus has been good. They displayed that by starting well tonight. We still have a lot of things to look at to get better. We have to go back to work on Monday and keep getting better as a team. I am proud of our staff. I thought the staff did a very good job of preparing our players. We put the focus on where it should be, and that was South Carolina."

"South Carolina has been extremely successful on defense and they have good schemes and some good players. They are a very physical football team on both sides of the ball. We had some match-ups we thought were in our favor. We wanted to come in and run the football. We established that we could run and ran it well early. I was real proud of our passing game. We made it count when we used it. The biggest thing about our offense that pleased me tonight was in the third quarter, which has been a concern for us, we had our most physical drive of 1999 (after the USC field goal). That was the drive that I felt like showed improvement and showed we were making a statement."

(On Romaro Miller)
"I thought he was in good command tonight. I don't think he had very many assignment errors as far as decision making. He looks like he is getting more comfortable each week. I knew he would. It just takes time to get comfortable in our system and with our schemes. That is the challenge for our players.

(On the defense)
"I thought our defense played really well. We gave them some field position with the turnover but I still don't think we've played our best game. I think we are getting there but we need to learn not to make specific penalties, protect the football, and try to avoid giving up big plays."

(On the drive after the USC TD)
"I thought that drive was huge. I don't know if you ever feel a game is solidified but I felt it was a big statement after the momentum had swung in their direction."

OLE MISS PLAYER QUOTES

Quarterback Romaro Miller
"Offensive line did a good job tonight, the receivers played well, and we put some points up on the board. We could use a few more games like this one."

"We set high goals for ourselves at the beginning of the year. We felt there was no way we could take another step back."

"We showed tonight how our coaches fired us up and kept us prepared."

Wide Receiver Cory Peterson
"We were motivated because of last week's win over Auburn."

"We knew we had to face a tough South Carolina team in their own house and we couldn't take them lying down."

"The coaches are keeping us very prepared each week and we feel like we are getting better every game."

Linebacker Al Rice
"We felt good coming in this week."

"We may have been a little unfocused towards the beginning of the week, but as it went on we got more and more pumped up and prepared."

"The defense is playing great and is getting the job done despite the injuries in the secondary."

"The last time I scored a touchdown was in high school."

Running back Deuce McAllister
"We have a lot of great weapons on this team."

"Joe Gunn and I try to be a 1-2 punch."

"What we gotta do Monday is continue to get better."

"In the third quarter, we wanted to come out and prove we could move the ball."

"We got a couple of good runs and it kind of broke their backs."

"Great job by the offensive line and the whole team overall."

SOUTH CAROLINA POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH LOU HOLTZ
"We didn't think their offensive line could dominate our defense the way they did. We got beat physically."

"The three freshmen in the backfield played extremely well. We didn't give them a lot of protection. Goodman played very well for his first game. Pinnock and Watson ran extremely well. We just have to be able to get them to the line of scrimmage untouched. That was the only encouraging thing I saw today. We will be moving back to fundamentals Monday."

"We don't have chance if we don't play decent on the offensive line. When we make a mistake we have to scramble. When the receivers get open, we have trouble getting the ball off."

"This is the first time the defense didn't show up. I have often worried what would happen when they didn't. We weren't as sharp coming off blocks. We didn't put pressure on the passer. Miller had a lot of time. This is the first time we haven't tackled well."

"I'm frustrated and embarrassed. We should be making some progress. The kicking game, it's one mistake each week. We just have to persevere."

"Critical thing was two areas" at 17-7 they went 93 yards to score, then in the second half, we had missed assignments on third and two. So we kicked a field goal. Still down two touchdowns. Then they kick a field goal, and we fumble the kickoff. They run the reverse and it is over."

"I have always prided myself on have good offensive lines. It's just a situation where we are not very effective there. You can't be a good football team without good offensive linemen."

"On distraction of the week: It was hard not to prepare or focus. Yes, it was difficult week. But you can't control that. This (the game) was difficult. You've got some control over that."

"Kelly is a solid receiver and excellent competitor. He has played well. Watson, Pinnock and Goodman, they will have a good day in this conference. Pinnock has some mental errors, but his run on the option was called back was good, his run on the goal line was good. We just got to get them to the line of scrimmage untouched."

SOUTH CAROLINA PLAYER QUOTES

Quarterback Mikal Goodman
"I thought that we played well. The offensive line played well. We just came up short tonight."

(On the TD run)
"I knew that Andrew was going to get the ball. The offensive line was pumped up. We knew it was fourth down and if we didn't get it, we would be in trouble."

(On the Ole Miss defense)
"They did not confuse me because I watched a lot of film on them. They did everything that I thought they would."

Fullback Andrew Pinnock
(About his first game)
"It was basically a dream come true to play the next level. The big crowd got me real excited. It was everything that I thought it would be."

"We had some problems up front but we stuck in there. We fought as much as we could but the injuries were a problem. We're going to keep our heads up and improve for next week."

(On his TD run)
"No matter what, I was going to get in. Antione Nesmith gave me a good block and I just pushed it across the line."

Nose Guard Cleveland Pinkney
"We know that we're not playing well but we have to comeback next week and play twice as hard. I don't think that we played the way that we can play. We can do better."

Offensive tackle Cedric Williams
"We have a lot of areas to improve on, especially on our fundamentals. You have to give Ole Miss credit because they played well. I'm ready to get back to practice and get ready for Kentucky. We have to move on and forget about this one."

Wide Receiver Jermale Kelly
"Right now, it's frustrating. We're playing our hearts out but nothing is going our way. All we can do is go to practice Monday and try to get better."

(On returning punts)
"I felt pretty good out there. We had good opportunities out there on the returns and will have to continue to work on it."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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