Postgame Quotes

Sept. 25, 1999

QUOTING OLE MISS HEAD COACH DAVID CUTCLIFFE -- THE AUBURN GAME

"I was real proud of our team today. We had a frustrating loss a week ago, but instead of hanging our hats, we came back and worked hard all week and improved. I think we have made some improvement from last week. When you go on the road in the SEC, you better bring your A-game. I hated to see Ben Leard get hurt. He is an excellent quarterback and a good person.

(On playing against Coach Tommy Tuberville)---
"We talked very honestly Monday with the players. We knew there would be a lot of people talking about it, but we couldn't focus on it. We had to focus on Ole Miss. I talked to my seniors and they had that knowing look in their eyes, and I knew they understood that it was about Ole Miss."

(On the TD pass from Romaro Miller to Cory Peterson in OT)---
"We went with no backs. It was an option read by Romaro, and he read it well. He saw that Cory was covered well, but he was one-on-one with the defensive back. Romaro just threw it up to him."

(On Auburn's missed field goal in the fourth quarter)---
"When that field goal didn't go through, we knew we had a great opportunity to win the game."

(On the Ole Miss fan support)---
"I couldn't be more proud of our fans. They were there in warmups. They were there during the game and they stayed after the game and supported us."

QUOTING OLE MISS PLAYERS -- THE AUBURN GAME

Cory Peterson, WR
"It feels unbelievable. It is the biggest win of my life. They played hard and had a great team and staff, but we did it in the end. I give all of the credit to our offensive line on that last touchdown pass. It is a big SEC win. We were playing against the coaches in the beginning, but after things got started it became just another SEC game. To lose last week, it was huge for us to go on the road and get one back."

Romaro Miller, QB
"I said in the lockerroom that it just didn't feel right to me. I made a huge mistake on the interception and it almost cost us. It was the same situation as last week. We were just able to pull it out this time. We felt pretty confident in overtime because it is not new to us. We have been there so much.

"I was at the bottom of the world when Auburn lined up for that kick (in the fourth quarter), but when he missed it I knew that we couldn't be denied."

Kendrick Clancy, DT
"After a tough loss last week, everybody was talking about remembering Vandy and the feeling that we felt. Our backs were against the wall and we knew that we could not be denied. I thought it was big for the overtime to take place on our end of the field. Our fans are great. We play for the fans and we wanted to win for them. When it went to overtime, I knew we couldn't lose. No disrespect to Auburn, but the whole team knew that we would not be denied."

QUOTING AUBURN HEAD COACH TOMMY TUBERVILLE --
THE OLE MISS GAME

"Those were two good football teams that played all the way to the wire. I am proud of both teams. This has been a hard week. It is tough to beat somebody in this confrence with your backup qb. Jeff Klein played well and he will get better. We made some bad plays early, but we were able to fight our way back. I am glad it is over. It has been a long time.

"Romaro (Miller) is a class young man. He has taken some licks but he has moved the football team. I have seen that pass (TD pass in overtime) a million times from him to Cory Peterson. Cory just finds a way to get open and Romaro stepped up and put it in there.

"They blitzed a little more when Ben went down. Jeff just hasn't been in the offense very long. That was the worst thing in the world that could have happened to us by losing your quarterback. It is hard to beat anybody in this conference with your backup quarterback.

"I thought about it for 10 months about having to see this day. I recruited those kids over there. I just chose to leave and it worked out that way. You see all of that red in the end zone. Last time we came here, we brought 1400 (Ole Miss brought between 8000-9000 fans.)

"In overtime, we were going to throw the football. They put six or seven men in the box. They didn't want to let us run the football. We lost both our defensive ends, and we lost Kenny Kelly. I haven't seen as many injuries as I saw today. They lost one early, too. It was a hard-hitting game.

"Jeff is a little bit more mobile (than Ben Leard). He will learn. He threw some good passes and threw some that weren't so good. Kendall Simmons didn't play today and we played a young man at left guard who hadn't played. It is hard to lose an offensive starter like that on the offensive line against a great defense like Ole Miss.

"We were moving the ball pretty good when Ben was in the game. They were scared of our receivers. It happened to us at a bad time. The shoulder came out of place. They will make a decision this week on whether he will have to have surgery."

(On the missed field goal in the fourth quarter)
"It just wasn't our day. It was a good snap, good hold, good kick. I asked the official and I asked Damon and they said he missed it a yard to the right. It curved right instead of left.

(Who is going to be the backup QB to Jeff Klein?)
"(Allen) Tillman is going to start taking a lot more reps in practice so he can get the offense down. We will make our decision in the next couple of days."

QUOTING AUBURN PLAYERS - THE OLE MISS GAME

Jimmy Brumbaugh, DT
"It was a tough loss. We had the game won, but we didn't stop them when we needed to. With the ball on the three-yard line we should have scored. We knew what they were going to do. I think the looked at the film from last year and saw the bootleg hurt us and they used that play well. As seniors, we are going to have to get these guys up. We'll just have to put this loss behind us."

Jeff Klein, QB
"We will have to regroup and focus on next week. We'll just put this loss behind us and come back next week against Tennessee and play better. I felt comfortable out there, it just wasn't our day. The offensive line blocked extremely well, we just didn't make the plays when we needed to."

Whit Smith, DE
"This week's game was really tough. They came into this game wanting to win real bad and we did as well. We played our hearts out and I am proud of our teams' effort. Last week, they had been an in overtime game and had some confidence. We'll just have to bounce back and get ready to go against Tennessee."

Ryan Hooker, WR
"They made the plays when they needed to. It was a tough game. They have a good defense that played very stingy. They gave their best effort of the season today, and they might not play this hard again all season."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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