Arkansas State at Ole Miss Postgame Quotes

Oct. 12, 2002

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ARKANSAS STATE POSTGAME QUOTES

ARKANSAS STATE HEAD COACH STEVE ROBERTS
I'm pleased with the play of our ball team. A portion of the time though we allowed some large plays. That, along with our inability to get to Eli Manning, were keys to the ball game. We had some good plays stopping the running game, but Ole Miss would follow up with key plays. We also had turnovers in crucial situations. Big plays though made the difference.

Really pleased that Danny Smith ran the ball well. He ran hard. He ran tough. He made some good cuts. I thought our line did a good job. I know he was looking forward to the opportunity to play here as were several of our guys from Mississippi. It is a great environment to play football. Their home right now is Jonesboro and we are real proud of that.

I don't think there is any magic formula to approach next week. We found some positives and negatives today. We will get the negatives corrected and come out as a football team against North Texas, it's a huge game. We are very banged up right now

We did have the ball six plays in the third quarter. We were three and out. We were just unable to get first downs in the second half. Ole Miss was able to run more players with experience in there and we are not at a point to do that. We have to be in position to run on some adrenalin, and we were unable to do that in second half. But I'm not faulting the efforts of our team. We found things to correct and will do so in a positive way. We are committed to being a football family and for everyone to achieve what they desire. Lots of more positive things ahead. Three games at home now and four of five are conference games.

RB DANNY SMITH
Ole Miss has a great defense. They played tough and we played hard. We just shot ourselves in the foot at times with penalties and other mistakes.

My whole family was here and a lot of old teammates. It meant a lot to me, and I took it personal. I wanted to be competitive. I think we just didn't play 60 minutes. I'm unsatisfied in that we didn't get a win. I don't really care how I did statistic wise.

JOHN BURKE
I think our defense can do a lot better. We play North Texas and I'm sure we can correct mistakes and benefit from this game.

The interception (snapping Eli Manning's 110 pass streak without an interceptions) meant nothing, but when we capitalized on it, I was proud of that. (Eli) is very consistent,and made some nice plays. He is a grade A ball player.

OLE MISS POSTGAME QUOTES
OLE MISS HEAD COACH DAVID CUTCLIFFE
(Opening Comments)
It's always good to get a win. It's certainly one in which we were able to play a lot of people, particularly some people that had not played a bunch. They have worked awfully hard on the practice field and that's a positive. There were a lot of positive things on both sides of the ball and in the kicking game. There were a lot of positive things that we will build on. There are a lot of things that we have to continue working on to get better. All and all, it was a real positive day. It was great to see the crowd for Homecoming. Now we have to get to move on into what is obviously the bulk of our season. I don't think we came out too badly from an injury standpoint, but that will remain to be seen until tomorrow.

(On the team maintaining the focus after beating Florida last weekend)
I was certainly hoping that we would respond. I don't know if we played as well early as I would have liked. We got better as the game went on, particularly in the third quarter. I thought we responded better after halftime.

(On the offensive performance)
Obviously, we want to have some balance and run the ball. We think we can throw the ball, but each week is a new challenge. You never know how the matchups are going to go. But it was certainly more like how I would like to play offense today.

(On where the team is at this point of the season)
Obviously, we would like to be undefeated. Our team has worked and has gotten better. We have done some good things. Now it is pretty obvious that the rest of the season is in conference play. We are going to have to play outstanding down the stretch. We have a lot of improving to do.

(On the improvements from last season to this season)
Certainly we are deeper. I think the key is this team has done a good job of taking things one game at a time. The secret to success is to really focus on the next game. So that is what we are going to have to do.

(On the defensive turn around in the second half)
I think we just got off blocks better. I thought we where sticking to blocks and that they were moving the line of scrimmage in the first half. That was one of things that we talked about at halftime. And Coach (Chuck) Driesbach and the defensive staff put them in good position to make plays in the second half.

(On the balanced offense)
I like balance when you have the ability to mix the run and the pass. When you lose the ability to do either one, it makes it difficult to play offense.

(On Eli tying the school touchdown pass record)
I hate to admit this, but I didn't really know he did. I don't keep up with those things.

(On Eli's performance today versus last week)
He had some production from some other people. He had some time. He took advantage of some big plays when he had the time. He had the one play when he had an unforced error that resulted in the interception. I know he would like to have that one back. But he pretty much plays the same every week. The numbers may not be the same, but he comes ready to play and does his job.

Ole Miss Player Quotes (Offense)
Eli Manning, QB
"A lot of people were scared that after we beat Florida last week, that we would not be ready for Arkansas State this week. Our offense did a good job and put up a lot of points. We ran the ball and threw the ball well today."

On the Running Game
"We knew we had to get back to the running game today. We hadn't been doing real well lately. We really concentrated on the running game. They lined up with a lot of guys in the box and played man-on-man, which really opened up the passing game. We had a lot of running backs do a lot of good things when they got the ball today. Our line blocked well and let us use a lot of our offensive weapons."

On the Deep Passes
"When they lined up with so many guys in the box, I still had time to sit back and wait for our guys to get open. We run that play ( to Taye Biddle) a lot in practice. The safety was sitting hard, and Biddle ran past the corner and got open for the deep pass."

Vashon Pearson, RB
On Establishing the Run
"We've been trying to establish the running game as the season as gone on. Today was a good day for us to get a lot of runs for a lot of different backs. It was good for us. Nobody really go tired. It might have disrupted a player's rhythm to go in and out, but it was good for everybody to get some carries."

On Alabama
"We have a big SEC game next week. We really need to work on our technique. Everyone has to do their job and execute in order to run the ball against Alabama. We have to come out and play with a lot of emotion. It's going to be hard to beat Alabama at their house. We need to get pumped up for that game. We have to do what we're capable of doing."

Mike Espy, WR
On the Offensive Adjustments
"We knew we had to come out and execute our game plan. Regardless of what defense they came out in, We knew we had to establish the running and passing games. It was good for us to get the big plays out of the way early."

On the Touchdown Reception
"We had a new formation we put in this week. We had five receivers out there, and I was the first inside the receiver on the left. I ran a take-off route, and read what the outside rover was doing. I just cut inside him, and Eli hit me in the endzone."

On the Passing Game
"I think Eli played a great game. He hit us when we were open and made some great plays. I think this Ole Miss receiving corp has the potential to be the best in the league. We have fast strong guys like many of the other SEC schools. I just believe that if we stick to what we are doing, we can be the best in the league."

Ole Miss Player Quotes (Defense)
Jesse Mitchell, DT
(On the win)
We knew Arkansas State was going to come out and try to run the ball on us. One of our goals was to stop them from doing that. We played a little soft in the first half and gave up some runs. Once you get the running game started, the passing game opens up and that's what happened with them. They hit us with a couple of passes that surprised us, but we came back out after halftime and regrouped and took care of business.

(On being 5-1)
It feels good. We just have to keep turning it up a notch every week. That's something our coaches are working with us. We can keep it up if we continue to work hard.

(On next week's game at Alabama)
Playing in the SEC, you have to get excited. Alabama's a great team. They have great players and great coaches and they execute well. I think they will try to come in and run the ball on us, but they have a great passing game to go with their running game. It's going to be a good challenge for us. I think we're ready to step up.

Justin Wade, LB
(On the game)
We're happy with the win today. They are a big running team. We had to come out and hit them in the mouth because they were going to bring it to us if we weren't ready. In the first half, we struggled a little and we weren't getting off our blocks. In the second half, we rallied around each other and took care of business.

(On his interception)
I have to give the credit to Matt Grier and Eddie Strong. I think they both tipped the ball and I was able to get under it. It was right in front of me and I jumped and made the play.

(On being a starter)
It's really not different than before. You just have to be ready right out of the gate. We've got good guys on our first and second strings so it doesn't matter who starts.

Von Hutchins, DB
(On the defensive play today)
We play well at times. In the first half, we got out-leveraged a couple of times. They tried to out-scheme us, but we were able to make adjustments and do our job. We came out and played Ole Miss football.

(On his interceptions)
When the ball comes your way, you have to make a play on it. If we don't make plays, we won't succeed. We have to make plays in the secondary and everywhere else on defense.

(On the 5-1 start)
We're sitting right where we need to be in the SEC. We have a great record, but we will be facing a great team next Saturday in Alabama. We just need to focus and prepare for our next game.

(On preparing for Alabama)
We just need to do our job. We need to play hard and prepare well and learn their sets and formations.

Eddie Strong, LB
(On being able to stop the run)
We were trying to stop the run. We knew they were going to try to pound the ball down our throats no matter what the score. We did a good job in stopping them today.

(On turning point in game defensively)
The turning point was in the second half. We came out after halftime and forced them into a quick three-and-out, and from that point, we shut them down the rest of the game.

(On the rest of the season)
We are 5-1, and that's a good record. But, we can't rely on that. This is when our season really starts. We have six SEC games in a row. 5-1 could easily become 5-7 if we don't keep our focus and play our game.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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