Southern Miss Postgame Player Quotes

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Virginia vs. Southern Miss
Sept. 24, 2011
Southern Miss Player Quotes

Wide Receiver Kelvin Bolden
On the win:
“It was an accomplishment but we still have a long way to go. It’s early in the season and Rice is coming in next week so we have to put this game behind us and move on.”

Defensive Lineman Terrance Pope
On any adjustments Southern Miss made on defense:
“When they first came out, they scripted like 20 plays and were getting the ball out really quickly on short plays so we made some adjustments. We played a little more man-to-man. We started getting our hands up.”

Defensive Back Marquese Wheaton
On preparation for the game:
“I wouldn’t say we coaxed Rocco into throwing the ball a certain place, but we did spend a lot of time studying film this week. As a defensive back and a defensive unit, we played what we thought was coming so if we thought he was going to do a slant, we jumped on it. Throughout film study they showed a lot of tendencies so we just exploited them.”

On defensive adjustments after Virginia’s first two drives:
“They came out and did a few things differently than what we had seen on film so we regrouped and Coach did a great job of making changes on our end. On the back end, I want to say we started having a safety drop back to help out on the run. I told Coach that as far as the receivers go we can play them man-to-man. I didn’t feel like they could run away from us so Coach let us do that.”

On beating an ACC team:
“It feels just like the rest. There’s no difference between beating the ACC and the rest of them. A win is a win to us no matter whether it is by three points, one point or 30 points.”

On defending against Watford versus Rocco:
“We didn’t even notice when they brought in Watford. I’m not sure about the defensive line and the linebackers but as far as defensive backs go, we didn’t make any adjustments at all.”

On Virginia’s third down conversions:
“In the first and second quarters, they were converting third down after third down and I started getting worried. We couldn’t get off the field. All we had to do was stop them on the third down and we couldn’t do it.”

On the fake punt in the second quarter:
“It was our game plan. We see it in practice. If they aren’t disciplined then we are going to go ahead and run it. As a unit we can see that he’s probably going to run it because they aren’t disciplined. We didn’t see anything on the initial line with Virginia but if Virginia’s running all of their men down the field there is nobody there to force the punt.”