Ole Miss-Alabama Postgame Quotes

Oct. 14, 2000

OLE MISS HEAD COACH DAVID CUTCLIFFE

"Obviously this was a very disappointing and tought loss for our football team. On the other side, (Alabama) had some good plans and threw the ball very quickly. We were not able to hold the line. At halftime, we told the team we thought we had a chance. We came out of the lockerroom upbeat.

"Alabama is very well coached and a solid football team.

"We have to refocus ourselves and get better very quickly. We had a lot of third-down situations. It's part of what we have to face. It got tough, mostly because they were able to pressure us as well as they could with a four-man rush. We had to make some adjustments at halftime on both sides of the ball.

"These are competitive young men with great spirit and character. They will come back and fight.

"I think we have good players at tailback. They are just not healthy.

"I was concerned going in because of their big, strong defensive front. We have got to focus on getting back out on the practice field. We need to be a hungry football team.

"There is some difference between our depth and Alabama's depth. They are coming off defending an SEC Championship."

(ON ANDREW ZOW): "He is a very good quarterback, a solid decision make and a good passer. "

(ON BLOCKED FG): "It was a missed technique. We just didn't seal the gap. We can not afford for that to happen."

Ole Miss Player Quotes

#24 Ken Lucas, Cornerback
"Things went against us. They created turnovers and got them on their side of the field. They capitalized on all our mistakes."

#28 Joe Gunn, RB
"We felt good going in. We felt prepared. It comes down to players making plays and we didn't make them. Their players made plays and they had a lot of players step up."

#59 Shane Elan, Defensive End
"We made a lot of bad plays. They played a well-balanced game. They moved the ball down the field and we didn't."

#22 Deuce McAllister, RB
"We have to take games one at a time. We have to look back at the film and use this as a learning experience. We didn't play well. We must all play well as a team.. We just didn't get the job done.

Talking about the blocked field goal in the third quarter: "It was deflating to drive down field and not get points.

#11 Romaro Miller, Quarterback
"We caught Alabama on a good night. The loss hurts, but it was just one loss. We must put this behind us and go to work next week. They made things happen. We are going to take things game-by-game, we have to take care of business. It was just one of those things where you couldn't get anything accomplished."

#23 Syniker Taylor, Free Safety
"They played really well. We didn't play like we should have. We have to tackle better and hold on. They came out ready to play. They got some breaks and made some plays."

Alabama Head Coach Mike DuBose

"This is a very important win. It's a big win for our football team. I'm very proud of this football team staying together and coming together, working together, believing in each other and showing the love for each other, and I thank God for them and thank God for the opportunity to work with them. They were truly a blessing the last week, week and a half to watch work and to watch play tonight. Some of their teammates were injured and not able to play, and they picked them up. When Tyler (Watts) went down they picked them up even more. I'm very proud of this football team. You don't need to be talking to me. You need to be talking to them. I'm extremely proud of this football team and extremely blessed to have the opportunity to work with them."

"We're a one quarterback football team. And we'd made the decision we were going to go with both Tyler and (Andrew) Zow with this game and probably the rest of the year because I thought both of them were bringing something a little different to the table for us. And we had a good plan to go with that. Starting out Tyler was executing the part that we were trying to do with him, and then it was not a contact injury he just felt the ACL pop and he's gone. And Andrew came in and was able to still do what we wanted to try and do with Tyler and then he was able to throw the football and set a couple of records."

"I thought Andrew played a whale of a football game. The awareness that he showed, I thought the drive just before the half was critical for us. It allowed us to use the clock and make some plays until right there at the end where he scored, we were trying to kill it just to get to the next play and Ole Miss doesn't align correctly and he sees it and runs the ball in the end zone. And we're all over there wondering what in the world is going on. And he gets there and says there's nobody there. When he doesn't listen to his coaches he does better sometimes. But it was just great awareness on his part."

Alabama Player Quotes

Andrew Zow:
"First of all I'd like to thank God. He helped me redeem myself and show my talent. I also thank Coach Stubbs for the play calling. He knows what I like and he just got me in a rhythm."

"I told him (Tyler) to keep his head up. It's a hard situation but I know he'll fight back. He'll be back next year if it's a season-ending injury because he's a fighter and a tough competitor."

"Those guys (the offensive line) did a good job. I love every one of them. As the year has gone on, they keep getting better and better."

Antonio Carter:
"My job is to catch the ball. I just had a good game. The coaches made good calls, and I played fast and played hard."

"I enjoyed that (returning punts). Freddie Milons is a play maker and I felt like I had to step up and fill that role. "

"I've gotten better since the beginning of the season. I wasn't doing the things I was supposed to do, but I had to think a lot about it, and I decided that I wanted to play, so I just started listening to my coaches and work harder in practice."

Ahmaad Galloway:
"Early I was really struggling. Brandon Miree and Zow stepped it up. The offensive line was blocking well all night, and in the second half I really got going."

"We're close to where we want to be but we're not there yet. We're coming together as a team, but there's always a little bit more we can do."

Kenny Smith:
"We went in looking to stop the run and we did a good job of that. Then we were able to play the pass and got a couple of interceptions. We played well on the defensive line and overall defensively tonight."

"I think we're in the driver's seat. It's totally up to us to come out next week and try to improve and play better than we did tonight. Next week will tell the true story. In Knoxville if we get the win we'll know whether we're on our way or not."

Kecalf Bailey:
"In practice we always work hard on extra point and field goal block. I actually wanted to get the block but my guy stepped up and blocked me. When I saw the ball on the ground, I knew nobody was going to stop me, and when I picked it up I knew it was going to be a touchdown."

Victor Ellis:
"This was a step toward the right direction. We've still got a lot to do. We were running on all cylinders tonight and played well."

"We wanted to stop number 22 (Deuce McAllister) and make number 11 win the game for them."

"The Tennessee game will probably be the biggest game for me (from Chattanooga). Hopefully we'll come out and play well. It's going to be emotional. I know a lot of these guys and we'll smile after the game, but I won't be happy without a victory."

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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