Postgame Quotes vs. Vanderbilt

OLE MISS HEAD COACH MATT LUKE

Opening Statement:
"Tough one. A lot of kids in that locker room hurting right now, and (it's) tough cause you want something good to happen for those guys. Got to find a way to regroup. It's a short week. We got a big game on Thursday. That's really the only thing that'll make this better, trying to find a way to prepare and get that taste out of our mouth."

On the reversal of overtime TD:
"They sent it to Birmingham, they weren't sure, so it went to Birmingham and they were reviewing it. It looked like he had possession, and he was down, and the guy knocked it out, that's what it looked like on the jumbotron. That's what I saw."

On going to overtime:
"I mean yeah, we battled back. Made the field goal and got it back to overtime. Won the toss and deferred trying to get a stop and win the game."

On going for it on 4^th down instead of kicking game tying FG:
"No. Not at the end. No."

On red zone offense:
"Yep that's the story of the game in my mind. Anyone of those field goals is a touchdown, you win the football game. Again, I think the ball is going to the right (place), we just got to make the plays when they're there, and score touchdowns in the redzone."

On red zone struggles all season:
"We had a couple drops. Had a couple balls that were knocked away at the last second. A couple reviews. Anyone of those go our way, we got to find a way to get in the endzone."

On quarterback Jordan Ta'Amu ankle injury:
"It looked like he was a little bit better maybe, even (better) than last week, and ran a little bit better. Not a hundred percent, but it was good enough where he was able to execute."

On responding without running back Scottie Phillips:
"We certainly missed him. Isaiah (Woullard) stepped up, I'm not sure what he rushed for, but we struggled a little bit in the first half. We got going some in the second half. Maybe missed Scottie (Phillips) a little bit in protection. And obviously his breakaway speed, but I felt Isaiah stepped in there and battled, so did (Eric) Swinney."

On final 4^th down play being the right play:
"It was a cat and mouse game. We wanted to make sure that either AJ (Brown) or (Damarkus) Lodge had a one-on-one touch. Those were our two best players and we wanted to make sure that there was a one-on-one. So, it was a little cat and mouse game with the timeouts and things like that. But wanted to get a one-on-one to our best players."

On Scottie's availability for the Egg Bowl:
"I don't know. He'll be day-to-day. We'll see if we can get him ready."

On where to enforce Vanderbilt's unsportsmanlike conduct:
"They asked me if I wanted to enforce it on the extra point try or get the ball at the 12. I wanted the ball at the 12. It was only going to be like a 30 something extra point, so I didn't feel like we would gain anything there, so I took the yardage on our possession."

On quarterback Jordan Ta'amu interceptions:
"One of them wasn't a read, it was just a one-on-one deep ball, and the guy made a play. The other one I don't think he saw the guy."

On getting guys ready to play vs Mississippi State:
"They don't have any choice. This is a huge game. They got to get up off the mat. Again, we got, four days left together, and this team deserves to go out with a win. With all the stuff they've gone through and they continue to fight, that's why I want so bad for them to experience some success and we have one more opportunity to do it."

On defensive effort:
"Good. They flew around. Played hard. Played with effort. Just again, just didn't come up with the stop when we needed it."

VANDERBILT HEAD COACH DEREK MASON

Opening statement:
"That was a tough game. I have to give credit to Ole Miss. They're a team that gave it a fight. Give credit to Coach Luke and his team. They battled to the end."

"We needed a win. Our guys knew that. You can look at the stats, and stats lie. The only stat that matters is a win. This team dug deep. It didn't start the way we needed it to, but our guys came back. In overtime, our guys made more plays than they did. We only have one more game left guaranteed."

On Vanderbilt closing out the win:
"This football team learned how to close. Sometimes you knock on a door and nobody answers. Tonight we knocked and someone was there. Lady Luck came our way."

On pressuring Ole Miss quarterback Jordan Ta'amu:
"We blitzed well. We hit him a couple times. Our guys got to him and made him move around. He's a really good quarterback."

On being aggressive at the goal line:
"Our guys moved the line of scrimmage. We worked hard. Our defense kept the ball out of the end zone against a team that scores a lot of points. We had to stand up in the end zone, and this team is growing up. Now we have to keep going."

On the blocked punt for a safety:
"That might have been the pivotal play of the game... We had an opportunity to put our hands on the ball and we did. That safety changed the momentum of the game."

On Ole Miss defending Vanderbilt running back Ke'Shawn Vaughn:
"Ole Miss' defense did a good job of tackling. They committed guys to the box, and they loaded the box. Ke'Shawn is a strong back. He ran through arm tackles."

On the touchdown by Ole Miss' AJ Brown in overtime that was overturned on review:
"I didn't think it was a catch. You have to maintain possession of the ball through the catch. They've called it that way for a couple years."

On Vanderbilt kicker Riley Guay:
"You have to believe in your guys. It's never been about his leg. It's been about the six inches between his ears. His teammates went after it tonight. He went after it tonight. Everyone had to do a little more. He did a little more. His teammates did a little more."

On next week's "win and you're in" game against Tennessee:
"It's football in the SEC. Both teams know what it means to them. We both understand what's at stake."

VANDERBILT DEFENSIVE LINEMAN DAYO ODEYINGBO

On making a statement by finishing close games:
"We've been talking all year about finishing the games. Tonight, we really fought to the end and finished it out in the last drive. That will really help out with the morale on the team. We're excited for next week."

VANDERBILT CORNERBACK RANDALL HAYNIE

On making the breakup:
"I was going against one of the best players in the nation. I knew I couldn't give up the touchdown. I tried to play my hands to his hands and knock the ball down. I was locked in and trying do my job to my best ability. I felt like I actually picked it off."

VANDERBILT CORNERBACK JOEJUAN WILLIAMS

On the final play of the game:
"They were running fades all day. Coach Mason put me in the right situation. Coach Mason called it out. He told me what they were going to do. It was up to me to make the play. They gave me the same look as last year. It was the same player and everything. I just had to go make the play."

On facing Tennessee with a bowl berth on the line:
"It's all about competition. That's what I loved about today. You have to show you're work. This is another team game next week against UT. We're both in the same position. It's going to be a battle."

VANDERBILT QUARTERBACK KYLE SHURMUR

On finishing the game:
"I think this is a little bit of a breakthrough for us with finishing because we haven't finished very well all year so it's good to finish. We're not done yet. We'll enjoy this tonight but we've got to wake up tomorrow and focus on Tennessee."

On breaking the school record for career passes:
"It was cool. It was even cooler to get the win because the defense had to come onto the field and finish the job. It made it better that we won the game."

On taking the lead on the 4th-and-1 call knowing it would work:
"We worked on it a bunch. There's been a lot of fourth downs and obviously that was a crucial point in the game. It was a good job to finish with points on that one, especially that fourth down. That was big."

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Players Mentioned

Scottie Phillips

Jordan Ta'amu

The University of Mississippi Athletics