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Butch Davis
Listen to Audio (12:06)
Opening remarks:
"A great deal of tonight’s credit has to go to McNeese State. They played
better than us in a lot of phases. The only phase they didn’t play as well
in was with Brandon Tate. Brandon had a phenomenal game. He played
extraordinarily well on offense. He played extremely well on special teams.
We talked about it going into the season. He is a special guy. The Chicago
Bears have Devin Hester and every time he touches the field, he has a chance
to change the complexion of a ballgame. We’ve talked to our team, when he
walks on that field, we need to do everything we can to give him a chance to
be as successful as possible.
“We’ve clearly got to play better. We didn’t accomplish very much
offensively or defensively. We didn’t establish anything. We have been
slightly hardheaded. In retrospect, some of the big plays we got in the
passing game were things that were there and they were there because of the
nature of which they were playing defense. They were playing a lot of
eight-man fronts, trying to give you bad plays in the running game and they
succeeded. We kept trying to be hardheaded in establishing the run and trying to get
some momentum in the beginning of the season. Certainly it’s a coach’s
responsibility, it’s my responsibility as a head coach to make sure we
execute and we play better. We were very fortunate.
“I told our players a couple of weeks ago it’s the media’s job, it’s the
alumni’s job and it’s the fans job to deal with predictions and expectations.
It’s the coaches’ job and the players’ job to deal with reality. You have
to look yourself in the [mirror] tonight and find out what it¹s going to take to
play much better next week."
On the rain delay:
"The toughest thing was not really knowing the first 30-45 minutes how long
the delay was going to be. We took it like it was a halftime. We tried to
make some adjustments. Then we found out it was going to be extensive and
exhaustive so we told them to just go to their locker, sit down, put their
iPods back on and pretend like it’s pregame. It’s no excuse, because both
teams had to deal with it. To say that we came out flat after being up 14-0
would be a little bit of a cop out because they had to do the same thing."
On trying to establish the run:
"We wanted so much to establish the running game. Let’s try to be balanced.
Let’s try not to go out there and throw the ball all the time even if they
are in some eight-man fronts. They gave us enough bad plays that it put us
behind schedule. They played well. Some of the plays that we did in the
second half when we started throwing the ball better and it opened the
running game. I think Shaun [Draughn] certainly benefited from the fact that we
started completing the ball on the perimeter."
On T.J. Yates:
"I think he came out of the game totally healthy. He made some big throws
down the field. The play that he made to Hakeem that set up the touchdown,
that was a gigantic throw. It was probably as good a deep throw as he’s had
in the two years I’ve been here. I think he was probably a little nervous
today. He made have put a little undue pressure on himself."
Greg Little
Listen to Audio (1:46)
On Tate’s performance:
“That’s stepping up to the plate and that’s playing big. Those are record numbers. When you come out and play like that, sky’s the limit. He can do it anytime when he touches the ball and I felt like he made the most of every opportunity he had.”
On the rain delay:
“We don’t want to use an excuse for the delay. They had the same rain delay
that we had and I felt like we just have to come out the same way we left
off. We’ve got to come out in that same emotional way, as excited as we
were when we started the game, and we’ve got to come back out that same
way.”
Brandon Tate
Listen to Audio (2:39)
On when he knew about the record:
“When I was on the field, I wasn’t even trying to think. I was just trying to get a win for my team. After the game, [my teammates] told me about everything, so I feel real proud about that.”
On what Davis told him after the game:
“He gave me the game ball for all the plays I made and he congratulated me
in front of the whole team.”
Marvin Austin
Listen to Audio (3:31)
His impressions on the game:
“McNeese played a great game. Earlier in the week I talked about the playmakers that they had, and they came out there and made big plays. We tried our best to put out the fire. We’ve just got to work on getting better as a team, trying to work on us and not worry about anyone else.”
On his knee injury:
“They ran a screen play, and I read it, so I was chasing the screen – that little fast running back, No. 22. So he started to cut it up field and I was trying to get a good hit on him. When I was running, he cut it back and Mark Paschal came and hit him, and my foot was stuck in the ground and [my knee] went back. It hyper-extended it a little bit… I’m okay. It wasn’t too bad. It just hurt for a second and then I got up and started running and stuff.”
Shaun Draughn
Listen to Audio (4:18)
On his first ever collegiate touchdown:
“It was emotional. Before the game, I told the guys that if I got in, I was going to cry. But it was emotional. When I got the touchdown, I tried to hear the crowd’s reaction, but when you’re playing, you don’t really hear that. For me, it was a great thing. I was definitely glad.”