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Butch Davis
Listen to Audio (10:38)
Opening remarks:
“I told the team in the locker room that when you win a game like this it had
to be a team victory. So many people contributed and I think to some extent
the things we were able to accomplish today, we kind of started on this
process a couple of weeks ago. Preparation gives you the best chance to win
and I think our football team is learning week-by-week how important it is
to prepare well in practice -- Tuesday, Wednesday [and] Thursday – [and] watching film.
"It gives you the confidence. By no stretch of the imagination does it ensure by
any form or fashion that you are going to win, but it gives you your best
chance. It gives you the most confidence to go out there and play well.
”We knew at halftime that Miami, as talented as they are, because they are a very good football team, they got a lot of speed, they¹ve got good players, we knew we were going to get a shot from them. These are the lessons as a young football team that you like to learn and you certainly like to learn them on the end when you win the game. I was
proud of our players that they never lost their composure, they never lost
the idea that if you kept playing well and giving great effort you had a
chance to win the football game.
”So many people did a lot of things that were very good. The turnovers -- for
the first time -- being on our side. The turnovers are the No. 1 most
indicative statistic that determines whether you win or lose football games.
”Getting the four interceptions. Connor [Barth’s] performance kicking the
ball, kicking off, kicking it deep, kicking it where they couldn¹t return it
on some of the kickoffs with some of their dangerous return people and the
four field goals was outstanding.”
On the running game:
“I thought we were a lot more balanced today than we
were in any of the previous games. I was very pleased and very proud of our
football team…
“We kind of went into the ballgame trying to find out what runs would work
and have the most success and Anthony [Elzy] got off to a hot start on the
edges. Miami’s defensive linemen are big and strong and powerful and
linebackers are very fast.
“Anthony probably gives us a little bit more speed
on the edge. Because we were having success early in the game, we just
kind of stayed with Anthony.”
On Hilee Taylor’s late sack on third down:
”That one play at that given moment was clearly huge because it broke the
momentum -- it forced a punt. It was extraordinarily important. They were
moving the football.
“I don’t think we tried to back off. We talked about at
halftime you have to keep putting pressure on [their] team offensively,
defensively and [on] special teams. But when a team gains some momentum and they
start making some plays, the thing you hate is the big play. You can’t give
up a play in 11 seconds -- those are the plays that just haunt you.
“But by the
same token, I was pleased with our kids again. They didn’t crack under the
pressure, they didn’t come to the sidelines bewildered. They knew the game
plan [and] they knew what we had to do as far as execution.”
On the postgame conversation with Miami head coach Randy Shannon:
”It was good. Randy and I have a lot of history together. Randy’s doing a
really, really good job for them and he’s a good person.”
T.J Yates
Listen to Audio (3:34)
On the game:
“We came out, scored quick and the defense did an amazing job. They gave us a little run there in the second half, but we held them off and finished the game. It’s a great feeling.”
On the impact of this victory:
“I guess it really hasn’t hit me, but it’s one of the best feelings that I’ve had since I’ve been here – definitely. Hopefully we can continue on and get some more feelings like this.”
On how Hilee Taylor’s late sack jumpstarted the offense:
“The offense and defense – we played off of each other. We were kind of slow there at the start of the second half and the defense picked it up a lot and gave us some energy. We brought that to the offensive side and got things going.”
Connor Barth
Listen to Audio (3:51)
On the victory:
“We won the turnover game, and that’s what it’s all about. If we can eliminate turnovers and play well – usually the team that does it ends up with the win. Hats off to Miami – they played an awesome game and they’re a very talented team. We got a big win today.”
On if the team wanted to win this game for Davis:
“No – we just came into as any other game. We prepared just like we do every other game. This last two weeks, we just started practicing tremendously well. Really fast, explosive – stuff like that. We put a lot of stuff together, and you can just see how that translates – if you practice well, then you play well on Saturday.”
On if the technical issues with the holds have been completely fixed:
“Mike Murphy and Ryan Baucom do a great job for me. I have a 100 percent faith in them – they’ve been doing well. We just have to keep it going – keep that streak alive.”
Hilee Taylor
Listen to Audio (5:30)
On how the victory feels:
“It feels good to be able to get this win against a great team. [Randy] Shannon’s a great disciplined coach, and you know he’s going to do a lot of great things… I knew they had a great defense, so it means a lot. I think this is definitely going to give us confidence when we play South Carolina this week.”
On the defense’s moral after the 20-point Miami rally:
“We definitely didn’t give up. We faced adversity well, and we showed we could handle it. That’s our motto… It helped the offense too, because we wanted to give them the ball back, because we knew what they could do with it. If they could run the clock down and score another touchdown, then it would bring the game close to an end.”
On the locker room scene after the game:
“It was great – I haven’t seen it [like that] in a while. It was great to have, and I just kept telling the guys, 'This feels good, doesn’t it?' We get six more opportunities and if we get every game having that same feeling, then there’s no limit to what this team can do.”