Ole Miss Independence Bowl Practice Quotes

OLE MISS PRACTICE QUOTES
Tuesday, December 28, 1999

Head Coach David Cutcliffe prior to Tuesday's practice:
On Oklahoma's offense?:
"He (Heupel) doesn't hold the ball a long time, he's very accurate, and he has guys that have a lot of quickness and speed that catch the ball and can get a lot of yards after the catch. That's what you see good athletes do. They have outstanding balance with backs that can run it and catch it. Right now, they choose to throw more than run at this stage. (Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops') players have done an outstanding job executing his spread offense."

(Oklahoma) is going to get yards, do you have to keep them from getting extra yards?
"You don't know how many yards they're going to get, so I don't know if you can concede that. Every time they play, there's going to be completions and they're going to get yards, you just have to try and minimize the damage and play as good as you can. It'll be a combination of throwing different things at them to try and slow down an offense as powerful as they are."

Do you look at your offense as being a defense against them?
"The best form of playing defense is to possess the football. That's going to be a great challenge for our offense."

Are you as sharp now as you would want to be three days before a game?
"I think we've had extremely good practices at home. After looking at the tape, I thought our practice was outstanding yesterday. We just have to keep pressing on. This is a Wednesday for us during a game week as far as the calendar goes. We just need to have a good work out here today."

On getting pressure on the quarterback?
"They (Oklahoma) throw the ball very quickly. Anytime you throw 500 times and only give up 15 sacks it's an indication that you're doing a good job protecting the quarterback and you're throwing the ball on time. You have to do different things defensively, you have to pressure the quarterback some, you have to defend the pass and come up with a different mix of looks that you hope works. You make a plan, go forth, and what happens, happens."

Has the time off helped some of the nagging injuries?
"I don't think there is any question it helped. We addressed it some in Oxford and got some people back. A number of guys benefitted from the break before practices in Oxford and we continued to work and have the therapy go on as we were practicing, so I think it has been positive for our team."

Following Tuesday's work out:
"I thought it was good work today. The tempo was good, they're anxious to play and I think they know what to do. We need another day of good work tomorrow. Hopefully this weather will hold, and we'll play like we have practiced."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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