ULM Quotes
On what's he's learned so far this season… “This year has taught me a lot, that it's not about me, it's about the team. With everyone talking about the record, I pretty much got into that mindset that that's a thing I must do. I learned a lot from that, I have to worry about the team not myself.”
On working out with other running backs about to come in next season… “Watching great running backs week in and week out is definitely a good thing. Its motivating knowing that I've got someone coming in that is equal or better than me. It's a drive to try to put on a show more than him.”
Overall on his performance… “I'm just glad to be back out here with the team and to help the team win. In the second half we took the cues better, just the little things correcting the timing, and getting the line right.”
On preparation coming in to the game… “All week in practice we have been working hard to create a game plan to stop them. I just tried to come back in and do my best to help the team out and do my part to help the team win.
On how his ankle was feeling coming into the game... "Ankle felt good today. I went and got treatment all week and came out today with the adrenaline going and I didn't feel it much when I was running around out there. Towards the end of game when we were trying to milk clock and slowed down it started getting to me."
On preparing this week: "We lost 2 in a row, we're 4-6 and coming off getting shut out, we had to have good mentality this week. As far as offensive practice we wanted to get tempo up and make sure the team was ready to play this weekend."
On the team in general... "We know what we're capable of and to go out and produce zero points like we did at LSU that wasn't us. We wanted to get back and show everybody what we could do and had an explosive day. Coach Farmer did a great job making play calls and our offensive line did a fantastic job of blocking up front, also running the ball for I don't know how many yards but we had a really great day running the ball and passing the ball as well. Really well done job all-around and a great win for us."
Head coach Todd Berry
On how the team played overall… “We are obviously very excited for our players and anxious to move forward from here. One of the things that is a test of a football team is how they respond to adversity and also how they respond to success. We were able to do both I think and were able to find ways to make the plays and that's huge too.”
On the offensive side of the game… “We needed someone to make some plays. It was a great call by Coach Farmer in terms of timing those explosion plays, that's hard as a play caller. The timing is a critical thing and I think we did an excellent job. Obviously from an offense perspective and executing that, that was huge for us.”
On stopping North Texas on fourth down… “It was big. I'm not surprised. Our offensive line is really starting to mature and they are starting to communicate a little better. We played physical last week and lost to LSU, but think it carried forward and it was a real challenge we put forth our offensive line. Our running backs are doing it by committee right now and I think that is a great thing. They are taking a lot of pride in the group's effort rather than just individual efforts.”
North Texas Quotes
Senior defensive tackle Kelvin Jackson
On not being able to get the stops needed... “We went out there and fought hard. We just couldn't get them off the field. Third down came and they just kept getting first downs and we could not get the feel tonight.”
On the difference between this game and others where North Texas played well recently... “Third downs. Well, really this game it was first downs. Our goal on first down was to allow two, maybe three yards. They kept getting five and six yards. When they get five and six yards it's hard for the second and third down. Their offense can run and pass and have so much they can come out and do.”
Sophomore quarterback Riley Dodge
On letting an opportunity go by for two straight wins... “I'm proud of the guys and how they fought. We answered when they scored. We started the game off high, though I wish we'd put the ball in the end zone a little more. But I'm proud of the guys. ULM is a good football team and it's tough on us all.”
On the lack of consistency in play... “Yeah, it's team football. I thought we played hard. We played until the whistle blew. But yeah, we need to play complete football. Especially on the road. ULM is a good team that took advantage of some stuff."
On what happened in the second half offensively... “We've just got to stay on pace and stay on our game plan. Just keep moving along. When something goes bad, we've got to shake it off. We had a hard time doing that tonight. We've just got to move on to the next play. I'm proud of my offensive line, they had heat on them all night and they did a great job. But we've got to come back the second half do stuff like we did in the first.”
Interim Head coach Mike Canales
General thoughts... “I was really pleased with the way we came out in the first half. We got that score at the end of the half with the good pick to lead and I told our kids we should've been up 31-21. The miscue on the first drive when we went to our wildcat and the ball snapped errantly and Lance tried to make a play and lost yards, we ended up not getting anything out of it but three points instead of a touchdown. If you're sitting on the three yard line you've got to be able to execute and get touchdowns. It happened with two field goals, which with this team I was nervous about because I thought they could score points. Did I think they'd score 49? No, but I knew they could score some points. They had the capability to make some big plays and we talked about it in our keys of victory, to limit the big plays and they made some in the second half which pulled them to the victory. We just didn't make the plays when we needed to.”
Problem offensively... “I thought we had decent pressure on them, and the kid (Kolton Browning) is a good player. He takes off on scrambles, he creates plays, and you think you've got him and he sneaks out and behind and runs for a bunch and gets the first down. What I thought they did rally effectively was the first downs. They were averaging six or seven yards a crack for a minute there and I thought we had to stop them there and get them behind the chains a little bit.”
On where the game was lost... “It's not just one side, and that's what I told the kids, it's not offense or defense it's everybody. We're going to win or lose together and we're going to lose with class and respect everyone we play. They (ULM) came out and executed when they had to and it showed.“
