Postgame Quotes vs. Memphis

OLE MISS HEAD COACH MATT LUKE

Opening statement:
"Obviously very disappointed. I just told the team in the locker room that it is a long season. I thought defensively, there were some bright spots. Offensively, we really struggled in the first half, I thought we did a little better in the second half. Those young guys, we have to go back and watch the film, because we have to grow up in a hurry with SEC play starting next week and we're going to move forward and get this bad taste out of our mouths."

On the first half struggles:
"We struggled to block them, we struggled against the movement. At times, early on, there were a couple of bad decisions. We stayed behind the chains, couldn't get anything going. In the second half, we limited the negative plays a little bit more. Obviously, getting backed up and giving up a safety, you've got a change to drive down and win the football game right there, or at least flip field position, at worst. Our defense kept us in it for the whole game, they looked like a much-improved defense. We have a lot of growing up to do offensively."

On second half adjustments to limit negative plays:
"We ran a few more power-run plays that kept us on schedule, and we moved the pocket a little more to keep Matt out of the pocket, gave him some quarterback runs. We didn't sustain drives, make the plays we needed to. We seemed out of sync in the first half and that ended up being the story of the game.

On where the pressure came from on the safety:
"It came off of our left edge. I believe it was a mix-up between the tight end and the tailback but when I see the film, I'll know for sure. That's what it looked like from the jumbotron."

On the play of Matt Corral:
"We just have to settle him down, he has a lot of ability, a lot of talent. I think he was pressing today, trying to make things happen early. We just have to settle him down. We have some weapons, but we have to find a way to get them the ball in space to stay on track and stay out of negative plays. He pressed a bit early on in the first half. We weren't in sync, so he was pressing, I think he forced a ball in there that got picked off by the safety. Again, there are a lot of things we can do as coaches to put these guys in a better position to make plays, and we will."

On rebounding from the loss:
"Matt will bounce back. This is a long season, and we can't hang our heads. There are a bunch of young guys in that locker room, they're going to get better. We're going to build on the defensive performance and move forward."

MEMPHIS HEAD COACH MIKE NORVELL

Opening Statement:
"Really proud of our football team, that was a hard-earned victory. That was one that we knew with the regional rivalry that we have in this game, there was going to be a lot of emotion. Opening game of the season, I tell you what, I'm telling all of Tiger Nation and all of Memphis thank you. Thank you for showing up today at that Tiger Walk. Thank you for the energy that you brought into that stadium. That was an exciting atmosphere to play a game in. I'm so proud of our guys, we talked all through the week about doing whatever it takes. We knew that there would be some first game mistakes, some things that would show up, some guys that had some new opportunities. Whatever it took, we just wanted to be one point better. For our football team, hats off to our defensive coaching staff, Coach Fuller, our defensive staff, they were incredible. Kept them off-balance all game long. We knew coming into it that whoever would be able to establish the running game would put themselves in a position to be successful. You look at it, we rushed for almost 200 yards, they only rushed for 80. That was a big part of this game. I thought Coach Fuller did a great job with the personnel, how our guys attacked. It was back and forth the entire time, and I was really proud of our guys' composure. Special teams, Adam Williams did a great job flipping the field for us throughout the game. And then to end the game with a six-minute drive, that's something that I'll remember for a long time. This football team trains, it prepares itself, this team plays a top-notch, physical football game here in Memphis. We got to show the entire country that here today with how we ended it. I'm so proud of our players. A lot of mistakes that we have to clean up, you see the 10 penalties. We had some mistakes on third down offensively, but defensively we were dominant on third down. Kept them to 1-of-10, but all in all just a great team win. That's what we were hopeful for and once again, hats off to the city of Memphis, because we talk time and time again about this being a showcase game and you showed up in an incredible way today, Memphis."

On the offensive line:
"Yeah, we got tested. I think we played eight or nine offensive lineman, but they just kept battling. To run for 192 yards against an SEC defensive that has experience on that defensive line, that was the challenge of the game. We knew that was going to be their strength against some of our inexperience, but our guys never blinked. Our backs kept running, they ran extremely hard, I thought Brady managed the game in the sense of taking what they were giving him. We had some plays on the perimeter that loosened them up at times and kept them honest. I thought these guys did a nice job for their first game together."

On going for fourth down conversions near midfield:
"You always feel good about it, "Do we go for it?" I felt good about it. Those are decisions throughout a game that you have to be willing to make. I believe in our players, we wanted to have an aggressive mindset today. We look at every scenario, and our defense was playing really well, I felt really good about trying to go win the game, not just try to hold on. I thought our guys did an exceptional job. I flipped over on the headset on the fourth-and-two to Adam (Fuller) and he said "Go win it." That's what good staffs do, they talk to each other and they believe in each other. I had all the confidence in the world that if something bad happened, that we were going to do what was necessary for one more play and put ourselves in a position to be successful."

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Players Mentioned

Matt Corral

The University of Mississippi Athletics