On what the defense needs to do to respond to another tough quarterback next week
“There were a lot of things that we did really well. We had some breakdowns at times. I thought we made it tough on him for most of the night. Some quarterback draws that we have to get better against. We had them in some third and longs early in the game. We have to get off the football field.”
On the defensive adjustments to contain Matt Coral’s running
“Some of it is twist game. Some of it is awareness. Some of it is based on call and situation. He is a good player, and he puts you in a dilemma. Some of those plays were broken plays. Seeing what they were running on that side of the football, RPO option. The run wasn’t there, the throw wasn’t there, and he broke contain and made a heck of a play. He’s a good football player.”
On the effort by people stepping up when players go down this season
“We were probably the thinnest football team in America when we started. We have way more guys injured than you would want. The fight and competitive spirit inside of our locker room, the want to play for the guy next to you because you love him, and you’re willing to do anything. We are developing and growing the right way. Those pillars inside of our program, if we keep building upon those, we are going to have a chance to have a really special program here.”
On what he found out about his team tonight
“Defensively, you force a punt on the first drive. We dropped the punt and then gave them a short field. They capitalized offensively. I thought we did some things to stop drives and had self-inflicted wounds. Guys continued to fight and compete. We got a short field and were able to make a couple of plays and get the ball into the end zone with Cedric (Tillman). We were able to get a field goal before the half. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, and obviously, we came up on the wrong side of it. I felt like the guys never felt like we were out of it, and their body language, energy, effort, strength and competitive spirit never changed during the course of the game. We continued to fight, and that’s the positive from tonight.”
On calling the game during the delay
“Just that we were going to finish the game. I think there was concern about player safety which there should be. We were still going to find a way to finish the game.”
Continued: Everything Josh Heupel said following Tennessee-Ole Miss game