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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Postgame Quotes
1/2/2009 | Football
HEAD COACH HOUSTON NUTT
"Thank you so much. I want to really thank again the AT&T Cotton Bowl. You all are the best. Our players had one of the best times ever in their life. Our seniors will never forget it.
"The memories are just awesome, to be in the last historic game right here in this stadium. This is the first time I've seen this stadium. The work done on the stadium was just awesome.
"But what I'm proud of is these guys. They have tremendous character. We're down 14 0. Just the thing we talked about not doing, we turned the ball over twice. And that's not who you want to turn the ball over to, not that fastbreak football team. Texas Tech is an excellent football team.
"You can see why they're the seventh ranked team in the country. They're spectacular, but these guys have had such great character and it's gotten better each and every week. And the last seven weeks these guys play football, and for their first Bowl experience, I was really concerned because there's so many good things to do, so many functions, the food, everything's great. But when it was time to go to work, these guys went to work. So our preparation was just outstanding.
"We knew the type of team we were playing, and I'm just really proud of our defense. Our defense stopped 'em, stopped 'em, time and time again. They never were discouraged when we turned the ball over.
"And I'll tell you, I just can't say enough about that, the effort, the attitude. I'm really proud of our seniors, the way they took ownership of this team, and we just got better each week. And it's just a wonderful day."
WR DEXTER MCCLUSTER
Dexter, the Tech coaches gave you guys a lot of credit. Also Mike went as far to say that you showed him more than he may have anticipated. Can you take us through your approach in this game, and did you have something to prove out there?
"It's been great all week. We play as a team, went out and played Ole Miss football, played as one heartbeat. I'm thankful to have Coach Nutt be the head coach. Turned this program around. The players stuck together and we played great."
DT PERIA JERRY
Peria, can you talk about the pressure on Graham Harrell getting in the backfield and how you thought you guys did with that today?
"For the most part we did really good. I felt like we could have did a little better and came up with a few tackles in the backfield, but for the most part it all played off. Everybody worked hard, ran into the ball and that's why I want to thank Coach Nutt for everything and just blessed."
Dexter and Marshay, football is supposed to be the game for big giants and you guys are two of the tiniest guys on the field. Can you talk about that?
CB MARSHAY GREEN
"First of all I want to say maybe not the size, the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog."
WR DEXTER MCCLUSTER
"It's been a lot of people looking down on me because of my size, saying I'm in the wrong sport. But I go out there play with my heart and I give it 110 percent every play, I try to do whatever I can for the team because I know they'll do the same thing for me. But I want to go out there, I feel the same size out there as everybody else when I'm out there. "
Mike, can you talk about being in and Jevan, if you can talk about this, too, the double coverage touchdown catch, just walk us through that play and Jevan if you thought you made the right decision when you threw that ball up in the air.
QB JEVAN SNEAD
I knew if I threw it out there as far as I could he'd get it great to have such a great receiver."
WR MIKE WALLACE
"Jevan did it, I stuck my hands out and it was all of him and Coach Nutt for calling the play."
Michael and Peria, you guys really took over as far as both sides of the line of scrimmage in the second half. Was that necessarily in the game plan or did you see something in the course of the first half that you could do in the second half down the stretch?
DT PERIA JERRY
"Coach has been telling us all week run to the ball, run to the ball. Our guys did a great job. I mean we just hustled to the ball when plays came our way."
OL MICHAEL OHER
"Our coach he's a hard nosed traditional guy. He drilled in our heads we have to be physical. That's what I told the guys on the sideline just to be physical. Through the second and third quarter I mean we just seen that it was they just couldn't do anything. We just came out and kept hitting them in the mouth, and that's all we did, was just be physical with them."
WR DEXTER MCCLUSTER
Dexter, how fun is it being in the Wild Rebel offense, and do you feel like it's something that is going to take a while for defenses to learn how to stop as far as SEC and everything?
"The Wild Rebel formation has been great. I'm glad coach brought it to Ole Miss it's been big time offensive it's been big for our offense. Just to go out there and keep teams off balance like that and all the speed we do have and Coach Nutt knows what plays to call and Coach Austin and the line is so physical. By me being a little guy I need a little hole and I'm out of there."
CB MARSHAY GREEN
Marshay, what was it like for you covering Michael Crabtree, you got a lot of one on ones out there. First of all, let's go back to the beginning where you fell down on the one play that resulted in an interception but it was all forgotten by the end when you had the 65 yard TD return?
"Basically, it was a big time challenge. All week we've been hearing things about Crabtree, Texas Tech, but coach challenged us to come out and play every play like it's our last play. I came out and did that. We came out with the victory."
HEAD COACH HOUSTON NUTT
Coach, will you talk about the fan support that you had today?
"The band has been great all year long I love the band. I know how many hours they spend working and preparing just like we do. But they add so much and really appreciate their effort, they just bring so much to the stadium and I love going to hear them play there at the end of a game like that."
QB JEVAN SNEAD
Jevan, can you talk about your emotions today and coming home and how special this day was for you?
"Just extremely special to be able to come back home and get a win. It feels great. I'm from about an hour and a half from here. So I had a lot of family and friends in the stands.
"Just have to thank these coaches and my teammates for getting us this win."
OL MICHAEL OHER
Michael, can you talk just, when you guys came out, there was a definite difference between the two teams, Texas Tech very quiet. You guys had a swagger to you, looked like you were having a lot of fun out there. Can you talk about that?
"This is my first Bowl game and my teammates, so, of course, we're going to be excited and fired up. And I mean, they they're one top 5 teams. We lost four games by 19 points. We got a lot of great players on this team, and they should have been watching film of it because we're a great team.
"And we had to prove it. 91 percent of the country picked Texas Tech. We just looked at that. We felt disrespected and we came out fighting. And we showed up and I guess they didn't."
HEAD COACH HOUSTON NUTT
Coach, can you just talk a little bit about Jevan's performance over the past six games, six game winning streak that turned you around?
"Last six weeks Jevan really came on. This is his first year to play if you get right down to it. I think he's done a remarkable job. I'm so proud of him. We do a lot of formations he has to be kind of the traffic controller getting the people in and out. He's watching the clock. He's the manager.
"But if you look at the last seven weeks, this guy's been so accurate. Our receivers are so fast, and he's been very, very good on a deep ball. The LSU game, Florida game, if you look at those big games, sometimes quarterbacks will shy away from a big game but the pressure doesn't bother Jevan.
"With Michael Oher up there protecting you've got Dexter and Michael Wallace, the defense the way they give us such good field position, we've played together. But Jevan has executed the plays that we call and it keeps people off balance when you can stretch the field and also run it, you've got what you want. You've got balance."
Coach, you've been involved in this game before, your time in Arkansas, can you talk about what it means to come here and get a win just for the Ole Miss program going forward?
"It's just so big. You just can't put it all into words. Our players, the expressions on their faces, every time they went to a function, went in their hospitality room.
"But what I'm so proud of is the way they went about it. The hotel people said that my guys are such class guys. Some of them went to the medieval deal or different Dallas Mavericks', I kept getting feedback from the classiness of the guys. It starts with our seniors. Our seniors took ownership and they're the example. I wish we could keep this team and bring it back, the same team. You can't leave. Bring it back one more time. But getting back to your question, the Cotton Bowl is special. It's special to me.
"And I'm just so thankful. And Rick we'd like to go ahead and just, we'll make the announcement we'll come back next year, right now, let's go."
QB JEVAN SNEAD
Jevan, you talked about the emotion of the win, but talk about the talented players around you, and the teammate and the team feeling throughout the season that led to a day as big as this?
"What coach said earlier about me, I can't do it without these guys, and they make my job so much easier. So I just feel fortunate to be on such a gifted team, and be able to play with these guys, because they're a great group of guys. And I'm going to miss the ones that are leaving.
"But I just feel very fortunate to have them."
Peria and Mike, you talked about being physical. Did you feel them wearing down and you all taking your toll on them as the game progressed?
DT PERIA JERRY
"In the first half, it was you know pretty much about equal. But going into the second half, coming in, you could see the guys slowing up a little bit. And all those extra gasses Coach Nutt put us in practice, they paid off. We weren't tired a bit. Run all day."
OL MICHAEL OHER
"Coach Decker, strength and conditioning, they got us a lot better. Like I said, Coach Markuson, he belong in the 1940s. (Laughter). He's traditional. He just stayed on us about being physical. I'm thankful that Coach Nutt came to coach us and I really appreciate what he did for me and my teammates. They got us a lot better. We couldn't ask for anything else."
Coach and Dexter, you two try to answer this question. You guys didn't have a win against SEC opponents. None of you guys have played in a Bowl game before today. What's the difference, if you could point out one thing, what's the biggest difference between last year and the success that you guys had this year?
WR DEXTER MCCLUSTER
"It's more togetherness. That's something we haven't had in the past couple of years. We're just missing one key element. And Coach Nutt came and fed that in and got us on the right track and got us to believe.
"Like I said, one heartbeat has been something we've been stressing all year. We never gave up on that. And that's what got us here. And we play for each other now, and that's a big difference."
HEAD COACH NUTT
"That's it. When I walked in the very first team meeting, I saw these beautiful athletes. And they looked the part. And they fill out a uniform just right in the SEC. But the thing that I saw early was there's a lot of individuals.
"And it wasn't all their fault. But they just hadn't had very much success. And they didn't win a game, and I noticed a lot of times they didn't look people in the eye, didn't hold their head up right. But gotta credit our staff. Our staff did a real good job. Coach Rocker played in this league. He coached this guy. Coach Rocker was an Outland Trophy winner, Lombardi winner, he understands. Seemed like they connected really early. Just like everybody else on our staff. Coach Nix, Coach Dickerson, Coach Austin with the wide outs. Takes everybody. Our theme has been one heartbeat. But those are just words.
"It takes about going by their apartment. It takes coming out to my house and my wife feeding them. It takes that. And where they know that you're real. Because you can't fool them. They're smart. You can't be counterfeit.
"So once they knew that we care, they don't care how much we know until they know how much we care, and when that hit in, that sunk in, we took off. We took off together. And when you look at it we could have won a few more games. But I'm proud of what we won, though."
Coach Nutt, what can this win do to springboard how do you build off of this, immediately recruiting, your first year at Ole Miss?
"That's the question. Because we're losing some good players. Michael Wallace, he got by a lot of defensive backs this year. We've got to get a speed guy like that. You lose a Michael Oher that protects the left side, most important side you lose Peria Jerry. You can't draw those people up they're special. What this win does, though, it really helps. We don't have many scholarships left. And they know who they are out there. They need to come join us, and it's going to be a whole lot easier holding up that trophy in the next few weeks of recruiting, though."
On calling two touchdown passes to the tight end
"We saw it was open early on, but we didn't know if it would score. We thought it would be a first down or gain eight or nine yards. Man, I'm just really proud of the whole offense."
On whether he expected the highest-scoring game in Cotton Bowl Classic history
"I was hoping that we would be able to score. I knew they were going to score. I was thinking about 35 points. I was really proud of what our defense did. (Texas Tech WR Michael) Crabtree scares you to death. I thought our corners were awesome. Our defensive line kept pressure on them. Although we might not have had as many sacks as we wanted, we hurried their quarterback. That's what makes it go when you hurry him."
On the Ole Miss offense
"We had 35 minutes of time possession. That's huge. We wanted to keep the clock going and make first downs. ... The turnovers early were frustrating. But they kept hanging on. They've got character."
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR KENT AUSTIN
On WR Dexter McCluster's performance being a surprise
"I don't think I would be surprised with Dexter. Dexter played well but a lot of other people around him played well."
On having WR Dexter McCluster in the Wild Rebel formation
"It's not just his ability to make people miss and how good he is in space; you have to have ball skills and ball-handling skills. He played quarterback in high school some as well as tailback. You have to have a little moxie about you. You can't be flustered being put in that situation out in space like that. You have to have the intangibles to be able to be in that personnel group and in that formation and he's got it."
On the success of the Ole Miss running game
"We always want to run the football. We play in a conference where you have to run the football to be successful. Our offensive line took ownership of that. We've been gradually getting better throughout the year running the football where we can sustain our aggressiveness and our physicality for a longer portion of the football game and not just have it in spurts. When they (the running backs) got called upon in the second half, they took ownership of it."
On Jevan Snead
"He's come a long way and he's got a lot of room to go too, which is good. The game slowed down for him finally and it only happens by playing. As a quarterback, you can't get better just in practice. You've got to play real games in real situations against really good teams and in all different kinds of pressure scenarios because, as a quarterback, the most valuable thing you can gain is experience playing."
DT PERIA JERRY
On the week in Dallas
"It's been a long week. It was kind of rush before but it finally came. For the most part I'm just glad we got a win."
On how big it was to get a safety just after the Ole Miss offense had turned the ball over
"That gave us another level of energy. It was one of the big plays in the game. We hadn't had a safety all year, and it was something we needed to do at that point. For the most part, our defense played well."
On whether Texas Tech was surprised by the Ole Miss defense
"I don't think they were surprised by the game plan. I just think they were surprised by an 8-4 team playing this way. We knew we could come in and win. We've been playing well all year. This was the last game. We couldn't look back."
On not giving up big plays to Texas Tech
"Basically, everything they showed us we were already prepared for. They made some catches. We missed some tackles. But for the most part, we hung in there. Coach (Tyrone) Nix prepared us for everything they showed us."
CB MARSHAY GREEN
On the punt return for touchdown called back for stepping out of bounds
"I don't think I stepped out of bounds but the cameras don't lie. I was too excited I guess."
On today's game
"Basically, we knew this was going to be a big time game. Texas Tech was ranked No. 7 coming into the game. They had (Michael) Crabtree who was a Heisman candidate and also (Harrell) was a Heisman candidate. We knew that, in all of the fuss, to win this game we were going to have to run to the ball and we were going to have to bring our A game. That's what we did."
On what makes the Texas Tech offense so difficult to defense against
"I would say it's a little bit of the spread offense and the no huddle. Anytime you have that (on offense), you're going to be tired and it makes it hard to focus (on defense). We focused and were able to come out with this victory."
WR MIKE WALLACE
On the success of the Ole Miss offense against Texas Tech
"First of all, it just came down to wanting to win the game. Our offense line, I just think is real big up front. We average about 315 pounds up front. Our offensive line really got off the line of scrimmage and moved them back. Dexter (McCluster) and Brandon (Bolden) really did a good job running the ball today."
On WR Dexter McCluster
"He's so quick and has so much body control. He's an unbelievable player. I really like playing with Dexter. He really has me trying to do the things he's out there doing. He's cutting across the field doing all type of things so that makes me want to try to do those things. It's really fun playing with Dexter. You can't ever sleep on Dexter. If he's at running back, you can't ever stop blocking. He doesn't ever want to go down. He's a really good player."
LB PATRICK TRAHAN
On the success on the Ole Miss defense today
"It was just a team effort. Everybody held their own with no weak links on the defense. That's one of our mottos as team. We saw this as a big stage to make a stand and earn some respect in the nation's eyes. We knew that our offense could score and could put up points. We knew we had to make stops and that would be a wrap for the game."
WR DEXTER MCCLUSTER
On the attitude of Ole Miss players coming into the game
"All week, we had great practices. We've been having a ball out here. ... We just wanted to come out here and play Ole Miss football no matter what everybody else said. We knew we could get the job done if we played our game, and that's what we did."
On whether Texas Tech was surprised by the Ole Miss schemes
"I think they were surprised by some things. In the past, we would get ahead and not finish it. We finished today. ... We had a lot of speed out there. All I need is one crease, and I'm going to hit it. My hat goes off to (strength coach Don) Coach Decker for getting me faster and bigger. We had a lot of speed on the field today."
On whether Tech did anything that was not expected
"It was pretty much what we planned for. We knew we just had to come out there, execute our plays and get the job done. ... This was more of a zone team, so we had to find the open hole. In the SEC, there's a lot more man-to-man coverage. ... Texas Tech is a great defense, but we executed our game plan and got it done.
OT MICHAEL OHER
On the Ole Miss offensive line play
"It was about being physical and getting that mindset. Practice makes perfect. We had a month to get ready and to learn about their defense. We came to play today."
On attacking the Texas Tech defense
"We were told by Coach (Mike) Markuson to run vertical and get physical. That's what we did. Once we did that, it opened up things for us. ... I knew we were going to come to play. I don't know if we caught them off guard or not. I just know that we have a great football team. We can play with the best."
On the Ole Miss confidence level coming into the game
"I kept telling my teammates we should blow them out. Watching them on defense, they weren't one of the better teams we had played."
On his personal performance in his senior year
"I saw something fresh when Coach (Houston) Nutt came to Ole Miss. It was a fresh start. He made me believe. To come to the Cotton Bowl and dominate is big for me. ... I expect Ole Miss to be in the top 10 next year. I expect the program to go up. I feel like Coach Nutt is going to retire at Ole Miss."
QB JEVAN SNEAD
On having an interception returned for a touchdown in the first half
"I have been in that situation before unfortunately. I knew I couldn't dwell on it. I knew I had to pick my head up and keep going. It's important for a quarterback to have a short memory. ... I knew I had to play for my teammates."
On being able to utilize WR Dexter McCluster
"He makes my job a whole lot easier whether he's in the backfield as a running back, playing as a wide receiver or at quarterback. Just having him there provides a spark for our offense and makes the rest of us better."
On growing up in Texas and watching the Cotton Bowl as a child
"Watching Cotton Bowls like this one, you always dreamed of playing in them. It's huge. It makes it pretty special. I am excited to be here and have my family and friends here. To play against a team like Texas Tech is a huge accomplishment. To play them and win is unbelievable. I feel fortunate to be here and couldn't be more excited. ... I thank God for leading me here."
On falling behind 14-0
"We have matured as a team. That is the kind of thing we are able to handle better now. Our players did a great job. Our coaches did a great job. We knew we were not out of it. We have been in this situation before. It's one of those things you learn as you go. You can come back from 14-0 down and win. We gained confidence throughout the season to know we could be in situations like that and win. It was pretty calm. We calmed down and realized there was still a lot of time to play."
